well a 250mhz is an early 6x86 part, considering P3 and Via C3 are both 686 parts also and both scaled beyond 1ghz, but I'd say either

Voodoo/Rage/Riva 128

If the integrated 2D gpu is any good I'd go with a pair of voodoo 2's. Other wise go for a voodoo 3 or banshee. Rage and riva cards are both good. But if you want to play MW2 a 3dfx card might be best as you can play the 3dfx version.Keep in mind that a voodoo 3 or banshee will not play the original 3dfx version of the game iirc. You will need the titanium version. Diablo 2 has a 3dfx mode too iirc.

frisky dingo wrote:

If the integrated 2D gpu is any good I'd go with a pair of voodoo 2's. Other wise go for a voodoo 3 or banshee. Rage and riva cards are both good. But if you want to play MW2 a 3dfx card might be best as you can play the 3dfx version.Keep in mind that a voodoo 3 or banshee will not play the original 3dfx version of the game iirc. You will need the titanium version. Diablo 2 has a 3dfx mode too iirc.

The 2D is a SiS 5598 that sucks from the system RAM. It doesn't seem to be very problematic, runs fine at 1024x768x32. SLI is not a possibility, there's only two PCI slots and one is for the network. I don't have the Titanium version of Mech2, so I'll look at Voodoo 2. I never did have a 3dfx card back then, so I don't mind software too much. Hopefully I can find one with TV-out.

I also have a TNT2 and a Rage IIc+, but both are AGP.

Just get a Voodoo 2. Anything faster will not really help. The Voodoo 2 is also a better candidate than a Voodoo 1, because it offloads the CPU a little bit. It's your best bet.

Voting for a Riva, by far the fastest card and relatively cheap.

I second HighTreasons recommendation. One can always add a 3Dfx card to play Glide games, if desired.

Well what I'd do is grab a Riva TNT M64 (they tend to be so stupidly cheap its not funny, and will outpace a Riva 128 as well as have 16mb of ram, and a voodoo 2 SLI setup.

Then you have great D3D and OGL support from the TNT as well as Glide support from voodoo 2.

If you want to play Diablo 2, you'll definitely want Glide support and a Voodoo2/3 or Banshee.

I think you're in for a shock at how slow 6x86 is though. 😀 Particularly for 3D gaming.

that I will agree to, I remember our old Aptiva had a 6x86 PR166 IBM branded of course, but it was slow in games, I remember Starfleet Academy ran like a dog on it.

If you're looking to build a gaming rig, I don't think choice of video card is going to matter as much as that CPU. Even a P-233 MMX would do games better and they are still cheap.

I already have the machine and it holds nostalgic value for me - I have some good P3s if I want to go faster.

candle_86 wrote:

well a 250mhz is an early 6x86 part

*late. 6x86s started off in the 100s and without MMX

Games to avoid are definitely some float-transform-heavy ones. Lithtech games particularly are TORTURE to 6x86s even with a good Voodoo2/Riva pair, making idTech2 engine games far more bearable.

I'm seconding the 3dfx suggestions, not for the "3dfx cred" but for the nicely-tuned drivers. It's the most practical choice for non-Pentiums anyway.

Games that will fly are anything Activision produced themselves with 3d card support and heavy integer magic (i76, bzone, mw2, heavygear).

Finally (and I have to mention this).... a PowerVR PCX2 (Matrox M3D/Apocalypse) is still a bad Idea 😀

candle_86 wrote:

well a 250mhz is an early 6x86 part, considering P3 and Via C3 are both 686 parts also and both scaled beyond 1ghz, but I'd say either

Voodoo/Rage/Riva 128

He means late 6x86, not 686, as in Cyrix 6x86/MX/M2

Btw, is this a Cyrix M2 PR333? I had one of those as a child. I actually have some fond memories of it... as long as I ignore when the onboard vídeo (cheap PCChips board) started failing.

calvin wrote:

I already have the machine and it holds nostalgic value for me - I have some good P3s if I want to go faster.

You don't have to change the machine, just the CPU. The Cyrix chips have some of the weakest FPU's of all the socket 7 chips and that is going to seriously impair its' ability to deliver good framerates regardless of what video card you put in it.

i always say go with geforce2mx. they are cheap, with t&l support, and decent power consumption. yeah they may be a bit overkill, but t&l does help your games run a bit faster than older ones.

HW T&L would only apply to moving models and such in later idTech3 and other OpenGL games though, which are impractical to play on a 6x86 in the first place. especially mcuh later D3D7+ games that began utilizing T&L extensively. i mean you wouldn't bother playing NOLF2 or BF1942 on a Cyrix6x86 would you?

Really really cheap/free and common how about a Geforce 4 mx card?

I ended up putting a Voodoo3 3000 in my Cyrix 6x86 - 300 MHz build.

Voodoo 3 sounds like a good choice to me!