Hey all,
Since 3 days ago on September 01, 2016 I got my first 2CPU system that I built on January 28, year 2000 alive again after replacing it's CMOS Battery and refitting it's Intel Pro 1000MT Gigabit Ethernet PCI Adapter card.
Here the system I will use for this fun project
Gradinko SMP 2000
2x Intel Pentium!!!/EB 1Ghz Coppermine, 2x 256KB L2
ABiT VP6 Raid Ver 1.0
4x 512MB PC-133 ECC Reg CL2.5 HP / Micron Crucial
Matrox Parhelia AGP 256MB 256Bit DDR Rev.A 0105 @ AGP x4
3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI 64MB 256Bit SDR Rev.A1 2900 [in practical 2x 32MB 128Bit SDR]
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 Platinum eX
Intel Pro/1000 MT Fast Ethernet Adapter
ASUS NEC 5 ported USB 2.0 PCI 32 bit card
1x Seagate Barracuda V 10+ 80 GB 7200 rpm Ultra ATA 133 HDD @ Ultra ATA 100
1x NEC DVD-RW ND 1300A Ultra ATA 100
Addtronics 7896A Server Tower
Antec True Power 550P EPS 12V + 2.3V 550Wat PSU + External Molex
Samsung SyncMaster 943
Compaq S710 17" CRT
Windows XP Professional USA + Service Pack 3
Matrox Parhelia Power Desk Drivers August 05, 2007
SFFT Alpha 41 Modified by ps47 for 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI
It's main GPU the Matrox Parhelia AGP 256MB 256Bit DDR Rev.A 0105 ( Week 01 Year 2005), which VA member CryptonNite fixed some time ago, Is the main subject of this topic
It's the one I want to bring in to the foreground of this topic, what if we did have a 3rd player in the GPU market, I would choose Matrox for that part, they have been around since 1976, think about it right, if one has experience it's certainly Matrox.
This is also for all you Matrox fans out there as well
After I got Matrox Parhelia Reef Demo up and running, even today it looks awesome It really does.
The Parhelia 512 GPU uses HDM, which is short for High Displacement Mapping, this technology is the predecessor of Tessellation, which is widely used on today's GPU's from AMD & NVIDIA
This card added Surround Gaming over 3 Monitors and 6 Monitors if a Parhelia PCI-X 256MB was added
This feature was named Surround Gaming =)
Kind of funny that NVIDIA calls it the same Yet Matrox had this back in 2002 with their Parhelia AGP 128MB to begin with
The Parhelia AGP 256MB, Parhelia PCI-X 256MB and Parhelia PCI-E 128MB were all released later in 2003.
The following setups were possible:
Parhelia AGP/PCI-E 128MB + Parhelia AGP/PCI-X 256MB does
3x 1280x 1024 or 2x 1920 x 1200 in 2D & 3D with 16.8 Million & 1Billion Colors.
Parhelia AGP 256MB + Parhelia PCI-X 256MB does:
6x 1280x 1024 or 4x 1920 x 1200 in 2D & 3D with 16.8 Million & 1Billion Colors.
The Parhelia PCI-X 256 MB allowed the system to add the extra Monitors, this made the setup as fast as one card using 3 x 1280 x1024 & 2x 1920 x1200, only with double the monitors
The Parhelia PCI-X 256MB was connected to the Parhelia AGP 256MB via that white 9 pin connector top left:
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5354…_A+0105+top.jpg
Here some more pics of this Parhelia AGP 256MB:
Rear:
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5354…A+0105+rear.jpg
Headshot:
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5354…05+headshot.jpg
Top Angled:
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5355…dooAlert_de.jpg
Rear Angled:
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5355…dooAlert_de.jpg
Here the system with the Parhelia in place after I exchanged the PSU as well, an Enermax EG365 VE
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5895…Replacement.jpg
Here a closeup of the Matrox Parhelia AGP 256MB and the Voodoo5 5500 PCI 64MB:
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/58958-1/Power+Cables+redone.jpg
Parhelia's also added Displacement Mapping which is a vital part of Tessellation, Parhelia's were also hybrid GPU's, Half DX 9.0a & Half DX 8.1
They have Vertex Shader 2.0 and Pixel Shader 1.3.
The Matrox Reef Demo showed this very well to it's true functions as the fish and Sharks went.
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/4287…f+Demo+V1-1.png
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/4282…1+beginning.png
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/4285…reef+zoomed.png
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/42834-1/reef+centre.png
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/4285…of+the+reef.png
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/4283…reef+plants.png
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/4281…d+tiny+fish.png
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/4286…ms+the+reef.png