Can I use a 3Dfx Voodoo 2 card as backup, when I flash my Radeon 9700 card?

[thatsright]

Hi All. I just bought FarCry on eBay ($18, a steal for US retail Ver, IMHO) and realized that if I want to play it @ 1280 with eye candy, I gotta OC my PowerColor Radeon 9700 NON-pro card. I think I have everything I will need to do this, but just in case there are any problems when I flash the 9700 BIOS, I should have a backup PCI card.

Way, Way...........back in the day I bought 2 of the 3Dfx Voodoo 2 cards, to run in SLI. Could I use one of them in a PCI slot, in case my 9700 Bios flash goes FUBAR? Or, does the card only work in 3D mode; so booting into XP n stuff is all 2D card work, and the Voodoo 2 wouldn't work at all??

I have a ABIT IC7 and XP Pro. Would the Voodoo2 card even show up if I tried to install it using default XP drivers?

Let me know, thanks!!

FYI: I have installed the Omega Drivers, and Rage3d to try and OC the R9700 Card, IT DOES NOT WORK AT ALL!!!

 

[WT]

The Voodoo2 cards are 3D only, meaning you still need a working 2D card to boot up. Try leaving the eye acndy off for now. You aren't gonna stand there and stare at cocoanuts on tress while getting shot to pieces, so put less faith in the flash and more into the gameplay for now.

 

[thatsright]

Originally posted by: WT
The Voodoo2 cards are 3D only, meaning you still need a working 2D card to boot up. Try leaving the eye acndy off for now. You aren't gonna stand there and stare at cocoanuts on tress while getting shot to pieces, so put less faith in the flash and more into the gameplay for now.

Well said, WT.

BUT,........... the Hardware freak in me is just itching to try and ratchet up the default 275core/270mem speed of the card. I know mem isn't going to get up to far as my memory chips suck, but I know that many have gotten the core usually up to Pro levels.

What to do, what to do?

 

[Brian48]

The V2 does not completely "work" under Win2k and WinXP. It will only run Glide and OpenGL via a Glide wrapper, no Direct3D and definitely no 2d.

 

[WT]

Well then, we all have a hardware geek in us. You can O/C it, but honestly, what you will gain will undoubtedly leave you wanting more. Trust me, this game does not benefit greatly enough from a minor bump in the gpu speeds to make you forget about the outdated card itself. I bought a 5900FX NU and assumed it would allow me to run the game at High GFX settings. It auto'd to Medium and I see why after cranking up a few options to High. Granted, Far Cry and an Nvidia card are a less than appealing setup, but I didn't buy the card to play Far Cry exclusively. I had hoped it would run Doom3 at least enough to make it playable.

Bottom line, if you want to play current games that are graphically intense, expect to replace your vid card every year. At $200 average over the past few years, I simply cannot continue to do that. Better luck to you in your eye candy quest, but I recommend you try and live with what you have and hope Far Cry is the biggest gaming rig stress test that you will see for a few more months.

 

[apoppin]

EVERYTHING you NEED to know about flashing your cards BIOS.



Everything. Piece of cake and NOT dangerous. Don't let the n00bs discourage you.

:roll:

If you wanna know IF you old PCI card will work? . . . try it!

Install it (leave the agp one in; connect the monitor cable to PCI card) and go into BIOS to boot from video PCI 1st . . . not working? . . . restart and go back into BIOS and boot from agp.

The chance of a bad bios flash is really (really) small anyway. Nice to have a backup PCI card (i have an old 8MB PCI video card).

 

[BFG10K]

and realized that if I want to play it @ 1280 with eye candy, I gotta OC my PowerColor Radeon 9700 NON-pro card.

You need a new card. Overclocking certainly won't help you reach that goal.

I think I have everything I will need to do this, but just in case there are any problems when I flash the 9700 BIOS, I should have a backup PCI card.

Instead of flashing the BIOS why don't you just overclock normally?

Piece of cake and NOT dangerous.

:roll:

You do know that overclocking can damage hardware, right? Or are you one of those types that thinks overclocking is a guaranteed right?

 

[thatsright]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

and realized that if I want to play it @ 1280 with eye candy, I gotta OC my PowerColor Radeon 9700 NON-pro card.

You need a new card. Overclocking certainly won't help you reach that goal.

I think I have everything I will need to do this, but just in case there are any problems when I flash the 9700 BIOS, I should have a backup PCI card.

Instead of flashing the BIOS why don't you just overclock normally?

Piece of cake and NOT dangerous.

:roll:

You do know that overclocking can damage hardware, right? Or are you one of those types that thinks overclocking is a guaranteed right?

Yes I know that OCing my Vid card, or a shoddy attempt thereof is dangerous for the long term health of the card. But I'm willing to take that risk. I will prob only have this card for maybe another year, if that at all.

Also, the Cards Bios HAS TO be flashed, as the Bios of the PowerColor 9700np locks the speeds. All prior attempts to OC using Rage3d tweaker, or the Omega Drivers result in nothing. The card refuses to OC in its current config.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

Instead of flashing the BIOS why don't you just overclock normally?

Piece of cake and NOT dangerous.

:roll:

You do know that overclocking can damage hardware, right? Or are you one of those types that thinks overclocking is a guaranteed right?

You DO know you are MISquoting me . . . i said the BIOS FLASH was not dangerous in that it is REVERSIBLE - i said NOthing about o/cing being "safe" . . .

of course an UNsavy user might flash it to an o/c'd card which would damage the card (not that they mightn't notice artifacting first)

:roll:

 

[Boogak]

Originally posted by: apoppin

If you wanna know IF you old PCI card will work? . . . try it!

Well in this case, we all know it won't work since a Voodoo2 is 3D only.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: thatsright, the Cards Bios HAS TO be flashed, as the Bios of the PowerColor 9700np locks the speeds. All prior attempts to OC using Rage3d tweaker, or the Omega Drivers result in nothing. The card refuses to OC in its current config.

it does not have to be flashed...........get the omega drivers......my 9500pro will not overclock with any util.......got the omegas and it goes all the way to 380mhz! on stock cooling, but i darent keep it there long even tho it was safe in atitool for 2 hours

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Boogak

Originally posted by: apoppin

If you wanna know IF you old PCI card will work? . . . try it!

Well in this case, we all know it won't work since a Voodoo2 is 3D only.

Hello Mr OBvious NitPicker,

What is wrong with my GENERAL statement?



:roll:

the 2nd post already adressed the VooDoo2 specifically . . .

 

[thatsright]

FYI: I have installed the Omega Drivers, and Rage3d to try and OC the R9700 Card, IT DOES NOT WORK AT ALL!!!

 

[BFG10K]

You DO know you are MISquoting me . . . i said the BIOS FLASH was not dangerous in that it is REVERSIBLE

If the flash goes wrong I'm not sure if it can be reflashed.

i said NOthing about o/cing being "safe" . . .

In some cases a BIOS flash automatically raises clock speeds.

 

[Avalon]

In what way is the overclock not working, specifically?
I remember when I got my 9500 and I couldn't hold an overclocked setting. Radlinker would tell me it accepted the new speeds, but it would boot them back down to stock. I had to flash to unlock the card. Perhaps you may just have to do that if you want to overclock it. Honestly, even after you get it overclocked to pro speeds, you won't notice much of an improvement if your card is already struggling.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

You DO know you are MISquoting me . . . i said the BIOS FLASH was not dangerous in that it is REVERSIBLE

If the flash goes wrong I'm not sure if it can be reflashed.

i said NOthing about o/cing being "safe" . . .

In some cases a BIOS flash automatically raises clock speeds.

are you doing this on purpose?

Quoting little bits of my posts to make them look bad and yourself good?

did you MISS my very NEXT line?

of course an UNsavy user might flash it to an o/c'd card which would damage the card (not that they mightn't notice artifacting first)

Jeez

:roll:

 

[nitromullet]

Go a computer parts shop that sells used parts and pick yourself up a cheap (<$5) pci card to use. Either that or ask around a bit to see if anyone you know has an old system tucked away in their attic that they haven't gotten around to tossing. It is almost impossible to imagine that you won't be able to dig up a suitable PCI video card somehow.

 

[BFG10K]

are you doing this on purpose?

No, are you. Pay attention to what you post and the natural contradictions that stem from it.

 

[imported_Apophis]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

are you doing this on purpose?

No, are you. Pay attention to what you post and the natural contradictions that stem from it.

You're being an ass.