A-Trend Helios 3D Voodoo
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This is my first 3Dfx card I ever had (and still have). The card has been purchased on a fair named 'HCC Dagen' and did it's job for quite a while in my systems. At the time I bought it the card was brand new but the technology was aging. If I recall correctly it was 2001 when I bought this card for my Intel Pentium II.

Later on I sold the Pentium II as it didn't run as it should be (Deschutes 350MHz on a 440LX chipset running at 83FSB / 291MHz). My trusty Intel Pentium 133 @ 166 (83MHz FSB, 430TX chipset) was back in action along with this 3Dfx card. Tweaking everything on the PC made it flew like madness. Some of the SET variables I used to tweak the 3Dfx card are: SET SST_SCREENREFRESH=75, SET SST_GRXCLK=57, SET SST_FASTMEM=1, SET SST_FASTPCIRD=1, SET SST_VIDEO_24BPP=1, SET FX_GLIDE_NO_SPLASH=1, SET FX_GLIDE_SWAPINTERVAL=0. Also setting the GAMMA correction lower (default is 1.3) resulted in an increase of the image quality.

As seen on the pictures this board has a yellow dot (sticker) on the back. Along with the AQA sticker on one of the D-SUB's this is a characteristic of A-Trend. Some Voodoo Graphics cards have a red dot. The blue dot can only be found on the Voodoo Rush. A-Trend produced a lot of boards which other companies rebranded. This Helios 3D card was sold using the name 'A-Trend Helios 3D'. Other cards were sold with a total different name but the comming A-Trend markings reveal their true identity.

Specifications
Chipset
SST-1
PCB date
9818
Chip date
0000
RAM
4MB EDO 35NS (tm)
Interface
PCI
Condition
Retail
TV functions?
No
Engineering sample?
No
RAMDAC
ICS GENDAC
Board revision
?

Drivers

MS-DOS
Recommended driver: V3.01.00 for Windows 9x (Download here)

Setup
Download and unpack the latest Win9x 3dfx reference driver dated 01 May 1999 with version number V3.01.00. The file 'vg-w9x-q3' has to be unpacked as well. This can be accomplished by either run (double-click) or unpack with WinRAR or alike.


Copy the GLIDE2X.OVL file to a directory which is included in the PATH-Environment. In DOS you can check the PATH-Environment by typing PATH on the DOS prompt. It might look like C:\;C:\DOS;C:\SB16. If a program needs to access a file which is not in available in the current directory it will look in one of the directories entered in the PATH-Environment. This is exactly what we need with the 3dfx-files. Instead of copying the GLIDE2X.OVL file to the main directory of every game we just copy it to C:\DOS (in this example). Now the file can be accessed from everywhere since it's in the PATH-environment.


Of course it's possible to create your own directory for the 3dfx files. Just create a directory like C:\VOODOO and set the PATH-Environment to that directory. This can be done by entering PATH=C:\VOODOO .


Note: Some 3Dfx games are shipped along with a GLIDE2X.OVL file. If the GLIDE2X.OVL doesn't match with your 3Dfx board it's most likely the game will not detect your 3Dfx card. Scan the directories of the game for the GLIDE2X.OVL and delete the file (or overwrite with the GLIDE2X.OVL of the appropriate driver).


Note 2: If you previously used a different 3Dfx card (like Voodoo Rush of Voodoo II) it's possible some drivers for that card still exist on the harddrive. Please verify that there are no other GLIDE2X.OVL files in the directories included in the PATH-Environment.


It doesn't work!
Let's categorize this in two things: The driver is not copied correctly and/or the PATH environment is incorrect or the Voodoo card isn't working properly. Try downloading the GTA 3Dfx demo or the GTA ECTS demo. They will allow you to use the 3Dfx card. If GTA tells you 'What 3dfx card?' it's most likely the drivers aren't recognized. If so, please follow the steps above again and verify everything.


To exclude the PATH-environment thing you can also try copying the GLIDE2X.OVL file into the root directory of the game. In case of GTA 3Dfx demo you will run DEMOFX.EXE in the GTADOS directory so you have the copy the GLIDE2X.OVL to the GTADOS directory.


Using tools of the 3Dfx Voodoo developers kit you can check whether the card is detected or not. Download the detect utilities here, unzip and read the README.TXT file for instructions.


If you get a black or disordered screen after starting the game GTA either your board is defective or not compatible with your system. The Voodoo Graphics (SST-1) is old and might not work with faster processors (Depending on chipset/CPU combination. nForce2 with an overclocked AMD Athlon XP at 2533MHz is actually possible but an Intel Desktop Board VC820 wih 667MHz Pentium !!! might fail.) or large memory configurations. Try removing some internal RAM or swap/downclock your processor.


Windows 95/98/ME
Recommended driver: V3.01.00 and IceMan Win9x Driver (V3.01.01) (Download here)

Unpack the drivers. Run the EXE file and read the README.TXT for instructions. If it doesn't work, please read the 'It doesn't work'-section above (MS-DOS driver) regarding the black screen and new hardware.


Windows 2K/XP
Recommended driver: IceMan Win2K Driver (V1.00.01) and Basic Voodoo1 Driver (for Win2K and WinXP) (Download here)

Unpack the drivers. Run the EXE file and read the README.TXT for instructions. If it doesn't work, please read the 'It doesn't work'-section above (MS-DOS driver) regarding the black screen and new hardware. Please keep in mind that the Vooodoo Graphics card is quite old so driver support for newer operating systems like Windows 2000 and XP isn't as good as driver support for DOS and Windows 9x. Please consider using Windows 98 for the Voodoo Graphics; it's the best operating system for these boards.

Benchmarks
A similar card has been benchmarked! Click here to see this card and the benchmarks.