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General discussion

two video cards - one pc?

Mar 28, 2004 11:12PM PST

I have a Windows XP machine with lots of memory and more hd space than I can fathom.

I have a Radeon 9600 Pro that is unable to run an older 3dfx based game, even with the latest Glide wrapper (crashes out).

Can I safely install an old 3dfx card into a free PCI slot? I understand that XP will allow you to set up different hardware profiles. Would this allow me to select which card to load on startup?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Discussion is locked

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Re:two video cards - one pc?
Mar 29, 2004 5:17AM PST

You might have a problem finding drivers for XP, since nVidia bought out 3dfx and basically killed the line off. Some of the fomer developers have been keeping the drivers up to date in their free time, or were last I knew a few years ago.

Assuming you can find drivers, there shouldn't be much of a problem with the video cards conflicting if it doesn't work like you want.

Just remember that all 3dfx cards (that I know of) only accelerate 3D graphics at the 16-bit color resolution. So if you run 24 or 32-bit on your Radeon card, it might default to that even if you use a different hardware profile.

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Re:two video cards - one pc?
Apr 2, 2004 6:57AM PST

In the past (many years ago) we used to have a PC with three 3D cards in. One was a a TNT2 Ultra (2D + primary 3D), a Righteous 3Dfx Voodoo 2 (Secondary 3D), and a Videologic PowerVR1, and they all happily co-existed in one PC.

There's still a use for setups like this, as you've rightly pointed out that 3Dfx GLide wrappers for old "classic" games just don't seem to work on modern graphics cards. The trick is to use an application to control what 3D card is to be used by the games.

The "Help" page that explains how to do it is still located at :

http://members.lycos.co.uk/gording/

GeeBee

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Re:two video cards - one pc?
Apr 2, 2004 1:39PM PST

if you have a voodoo 2 you dont even need to set up a profile. it will run when you use a game that uses glide. in fact you can put in two voodoo 2's together for double the memory via a sli cable.you can get drivers here http://www.3dfxzone.it/index.php

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Re:Re:two video cards - one pc?
Apr 2, 2004 1:40PM PST

you connect the them to your existing vga card. forgot to add that.

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Huh?....
Apr 3, 2004 1:29AM PST

News to me. Never knew you could install a older video card in WinXP to make older games compatible and play. I just don't believe that would work. Can't find anything from Microsoft that indicates a connection to the video card for game compatibility with WinXP. For compatibility of older stuff with WinXP go here for tips/info:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/gethelp/appcompat.asp

You didn't indicated what game you are trying to play on WinXP that doesn't work. It may be listed here (scroll down):

http://home.earthlink.net/~angeldancer27/XpGameList.htm

John
Also a non-pro or hard core gamer (72 yrs old). Wink