What is the latest graphics card to work with a POD83? \ VOGONS

What is the latest graphics card to work with a POD83?

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First post, by feipoa

Posted on 2014-09-22, 04:40

feipoa Offline

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Does anyone know what is the latest graphic card which will work well with a POD83 on the socket 3 platform?

I have noticed, for example, that I can use a GeForce 2 MX400 on my POD100 system and have achieved suburb framerates in GLQuake. The driver version also seems to have a large impact. Using NVIDIA drivers 71.84 yields only 27.9 fps, while 77.72 yields 36.0 fps. 77.72, consequently, had the best results of the 7 driver versions tried.

I am curious how much more performance we can squeeze out of a socket 3 POD with more even later graphic cards and later driver versions.

Quake II yields only 18.6 fps, however I am using WinNT4. Usually Win9x gives better results. Turning off a few non-critical options, like the gun, and a few others would make Quake II playable on a POD100.

Cautionary note: Before everyone elects to purchase a GeForce 2, please be advised that these Nvidia drivers do not function on 486 CPUs.
Cautionary note update: Apparently a detonator driver version 12.41 works with an AMD Am5x86-160 in Windows 95. Nothing from 21.81 onward works with a 486 CPU. I was unable to find any Windows NT drivers to work with the Am5x86.

Last edited by feipoa on 2014-09-23, 03:12. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 1 of 9, by noshutdown

Posted on 2014-09-22, 05:40

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maybe you can try a mx440. the gf3 and gf4ti are for high-end and i doubt if any pci models existed. there are some pci models of gf5200/5600 and newer, and even 8600, but i doubt if they would do any help.
yeah i guessed nvidia drivers wouldn't function on 486 cpus, but have you tried the riva128 aswell? i would go with a rage pro so i can try its dvd decoding feature though.

Reply 2 of 9, by n1mr0d

Posted on 2014-09-22, 09:12

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feipoa wrote:
Cautionary note: Before everyone elects to purchase a GeForce 2, please be advised that these Nvidia drivers do not function on 486 CPUs.

A POD can execute Pentium instructions, but no MMX.

What exactly are you aiming for with this system? Even at 40MHz bus, the POD is still a very low end pentium. Probably all the video cards mentioned are bottlenecked by the CPU. Tip: Avoid ATI cards.

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Reply 3 of 9, by Anonymous Coward

Posted on 2014-09-22, 10:51

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Anyone tried a Geforce 9400 GT PCI?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jaton-GeForce-9400-GT … =item25937df6d4

1GB VRAM. That would be stupendous if it actually worked (doubtful).

I think you'd need XP to install the drivers. The 6200 LE however has NT4 drivers. The 7200 GS has W2K drivers.

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Reply 4 of 9, by sliderider

Posted on 2014-09-22, 17:03

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Anonymous Coward wrote:
Anyone tried a Geforce 9400 GT PCI? […]
Show full quote
Anyone tried a Geforce 9400 GT PCI?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jaton-GeForce-9400-GT … =item25937df6d4

1GB VRAM. That would be stupendous if it actually worked (doubtful).

I think you'd need XP to install the drivers. The 6200 LE however has NT4 drivers. The 7200 GS has W2K drivers.

I doubt that would work. The PCI version supported would be too late for a 486 PCI motherboard.

I thought we already decided a long time ago that a TNT was the newest PCI card that would be supported in a 486 motherboard?

Reply 5 of 9, by feipoa

Posted on 2014-09-22, 17:09

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sliderider wrote:
I thought we already decided a long time ago that a TNT was the newest PCI card that would be supported in a 486 motherboard?

For a 486 CPU, yes, but we've upped the ante with a POD due to the extra instruction set it supports.

My motherboard would not even turn on with a GeForce 6200 inserted.

I am wondering if anyone has attempted any higher-end GeForce 2's or some GeForce 3/4 cards. Or perhaps a Voodoo 4/5.

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Reply 6 of 9, by HighTreason

Posted on 2014-09-22, 17:30

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Would the power requirements not be too great for a 486 board? I seriously doubt that they were designed to power something like that.

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Reply 7 of 9, by smeezekitty

Posted on 2014-09-22, 17:56

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Cautionary note: Before everyone elects to purchase a GeForce 2, please be advised that these Nvidia drivers do not function on 486 CPUs.

What instructions are missing?

It can't be MMX. CPUID? CMPXCHG8?

Pentium didn't add that many instructions over i486

Reply 8 of 9, by feipoa

Posted on 2014-09-22, 18:24

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CPUID, CMPXCHG8B, RDMSR, RDTSC, WRMSR, RSM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_instruction_ … ed_with_Pentium

If the graphic card drivers (compiler) are (is) written to rely on certain CPU instructions which do not exist on a 486, the system will probably give out a BSOD error when these drivers are used.

HighTreason wrote:
Would the power requirements not be too great for a 486 board? I seriously doubt that they were designed to power something like that.

I do not beleive the power requirement is what is preventing the motherboard from turning on with higher-end graphic cards. The issue is BIOS related. On some motherboards, they won't even turn on with a Matrox G200, but when using a different BIOS they will fire up fine.

Last edited by feipoa on 2014-09-23, 03:12. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 9 of 9, by feipoa

Posted on 2014-09-23, 03:33

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I have an update to make to the original post. I was able to find an old detonator driver which works with an Am5x86-160. It is version 12.41. GLQuake and Quake II also work. Nvidia drivers from 21.81 - 72.72 do not work with an Am5x86, only with a POD. None of the NT4 drivers function with an Am5x86.

Since UMC 8881/6 chipsets are not able to function with Voodoo3+ cards (not sure about Voodoo2's), the GeForce2 might be the best alternative if you want to run some demanding OpenGL or DirectX titles. Unfortunately, not even driver 12.41 will work if you are using a Cyrix 5x86.

Here is the showdown using Win95c:

AMD X5-160 - UMC 8881/8886 - GeForce 2 MX400
GLQuake = 26.7 fps
Quake II = 15.5 fps

AMD X5-160 - SiS 496/497 - Voodoo3 3000
GLQuake = 27.5 fps

POD100 - UMC 8881/8886 - GeForce2 MX400
GLQuake = 28.0 fps (or 36.0 fps if using WinNT4 and driver 77.72)
Quake II = 17.3 (or 18.6 fps if using WinNT4 and driver 77.72)

Until now, I thought the ATI Rage 128 VR was the latest card to function on a 486 with UMC chipset. It does not perform nearly as well as the GF2.

AMD X5-160 - UMC 8881/8886 - ATI Rage 128 VR
GLQuake = 17.8 fps
Quake II = 9.3 fps

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