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Number 9 "Hawkeye"?

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First post, by Hans

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Hello, im new today and my english isnt so good (im a swede)
Found this nice forum when googling "vesa local bus".
Here are a lot of threads about that, so i try here to ask about the card
"Hawkeye" from Number 9.
It seems not to be mentioned anywhere, and i didnt find it at ebay,
my old variant with the vesa bus.
My reason is that someone i hardly know, want to buy it.
But i have no idea if its a good card and its value.
At ebay i found some Number 9 cards but for pci bus.
I didnt use 486 since around 1997, but that was a nice time and i was
engaged in the (bad) DOS and helped some friends with the struggle.
I really like some old games but im not that entusiast to keep a special
PC for them even if i can understand the idea very well.
(I have too much old stuff and will sell or give it away, cause i will leave
Sweden and cant carry it all, I already was selling much of it very cheap
but by some reason this card, Hawkeye" "talks to my heart"
Im curious to know how the Hawkeye card is regarded.
Its with the S3 chip.

Last edited by Stiletto on 2021-01-27, 04:22. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 5, by mkarcher

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Hans wrote on 2021-01-24, 10:09:
Here are a lot of threads about that, so i try here to ask about the card "Hawkeye" from Number 9. It seems not to be mentioned […]
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Here are a lot of threads about that, so i try here to ask about the card
"Hawkeye" from Number 9.
It seems not to be mentioned anywhere, and i didnt find it at ebay,
my old variant with the vesa bus.

[...]

Its with the S3 chip.

"HawkEye" is not the name of a specific card by Number 9, but it is the name of the Windows utilities to configure different Number 9 cards (like custom video modes and refresh rates). That's why you can not find information about a card with that name.

There are a multiple number 9 cards with VESA local bus and an S3 chip, for example

  • The #9 GXE VL (928 chip).
  • The #9 Motion 531 (868 chip).

It seems like VESA local bus cards with those S3 chips are indeed hard to find on ebay right now, but on ebay levels, my personal guess for a valid price would be around 80€/USD for generic S3 cards with either of those chips. The 868 is way more modern, and provides a basic level of video playback acelleration, but the 928 uses VRAM which (only under certain circumstances) can considerably increase performance in high-resolution modes at high refresh rates. So the 868 might have more practical value, but the 928 definitely scores bonus nerd points for using VRAMs.

As #9 is a well-regarded brand name, prices for #9-labelled card with that chips, and especially if the original software (like the HawkEye utilities) is included, might be considerably higher than 80€/USD. My personal estimate for I price I would expect to see on ebay for such a number nine card would thus be around 120€/USD. (Disclaimer: This is no financial advice. I take no responsibility for mis-estimating the value of your card.)

Last edited by Stiletto on 2021-01-27, 04:22. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 2 of 5, by Hans

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Thanks! intresting!
Was confusing that card cause at the backside its printed "Hawkeye", big letters.
I would post a picture but seem to have to load it up to some site or cloud first.

Reply 3 of 5, by Anonymous Coward

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That is indeed pretty interesting, because they usually have "ticket to ride" stamped on the back.

"Will the highways on the internets become more few?" -Gee Dubya
V'Ger XT|Upgraded AT|Ultimate 386|Super VL/EISA 486|SMP VL/EISA Pentium

Reply 4 of 5, by mpe

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I believe Hawkeye is a trade mark Number Nine used for feature set in their graphics drivers (font smoothing, virtual resolution), etc. rather than any specific model of graphic card.

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Reply 5 of 5, by mkarcher

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Hans wrote on 2021-01-24, 10:57:

Thanks! intresting!
Was confusing that card cause at the backside its printed "Hawkeye", big letters.
I would post a picture but seem to have to load it up to some site or cloud first.

Oh, that's interesting then. Many cards have Beatles quotes on the back. Don't confuse the Motion 531 with the printing "Your Ticket To Ride" with later #9 cards that provide 3d acceleration are officially called "Ticket to Ride". So obviously your card if not the Motion 531. The #9GXE VL has "#9GXE" on the back side. So your card is neither of the cards I found.

You can attach pictures to forum posts here on VOGONS. You might need to shrink it to a smaller size if the file is too big otherwise, though.