VOGONS


DOS vga recommendation

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First post, by keropi

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My trusty Diamond Stealth 3D 2000pro malfunctions. I have put back in my pc a generig virgeDX/4MB card, but it's horrible... it has some vesa2 modes , and not so great picture quality...
So before I go to eBay and get a replacement 2000pro , I thought I would ask : has anyone found another card for DOS , that is speedy (compared to virgeDX) and is not plagued with scrolling bugs in games like Keen ? (all tseng cards are disqualified because of that) I want to use it in my 5x86/133 pci system, dos gaming and Quake/Duke3d being the most "heavy" games...
What about matrox cards? never tried one...
What are your opinions on the matter? 😊 thanks!

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Reply 2 of 39, by Dominus

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I had a Matrox Mystique back in the days and it worked ok, along with the Voodoo2 I later had as well. I don't think I had any problems in dos games but I also didn't play Keen, so I don't know about that.

Edit: I wrote this before Hal's post was there, so better believe him, not me 😀

Reply 3 of 39, by ux-3

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We are talking PCI?

I have been using a Viper330. The Voodoo Banshee and Voodoo 3 are both very fast DOS cards, but I don't know if they work with your particular game.

Retro PC warning: The things you own end up owning you.

Reply 4 of 39, by keropi

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voodoo3.... yeah I have a 2000 and 3000 pci models.... will give them a shot , thanks for reminding me of them ux-3!

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Reply 5 of 39, by leileilol

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s3 Trio 64v+ is the best for a reason IMO. I've never had jerky id scrolling with those, or at least I don't remember. It's also fast for Quake. It's what I have in my old rig 😀

Voodoo are also great DOS cards as mentioned too, but I don't like their output quality too much...

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long live PCem

Reply 6 of 39, by keropi

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that is why I ws using a virgeDX card... plus it is faster than the trio card I also have...

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Reply 7 of 39, by Amigaz

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The VirgeDX and VirgeGX are the best compatability wise and are quite speedy but if you're looking for a soeedier card with crisper image quality the Matrox cards are way better...just some incompabality issues with a handful of ganes

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

Reply 8 of 39, by swaaye

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As others have said already, if you desire wide compatibility, S3 or Tseng cards are the only options IMO.

Amigaz wrote:

but if you're looking for a soeedier card with crisper image quality the Matrox cards are way better

Have I told you the legendary story of my blurry Millennium G200? Yah it's blurrovision at high resolutions. Voodoo3 and lots of other stuff kicks its ass. 😁

Matrox cards are not good for DOS games, they aren't good choices for 3D (not even G400, IMO), and their 2D GUI advantage is almost non-existent compared to TNT or Voodoo3. They were quite overrated and I haven't really figured out how it happened. I think it is some sort of intangible quality perception, honestly. Almost urban legend. Actually, I was quite a fan of theirs for years starting with Mystique 220, going to G200 and then G400. But I got over it once I started trying out other cards from those days and found out how much better they could be (Voodoo3 in particular).

Reply 11 of 39, by Amigaz

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swaaye wrote:
As others have said already, if you desire wide compatibility, S3 or Tseng cards are the only options IMO. […]
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As others have said already, if you desire wide compatibility, S3 or Tseng cards are the only options IMO.

Amigaz wrote:

but if you're looking for a soeedier card with crisper image quality the Matrox cards are way better

Have I told you the legendary story of my blurry Millennium G200? Yah it's blurrovision at high resolutions. Voodoo3 and lots of other stuff kicks its ass. 😁

Matrox cards are not good for DOS games, they aren't good choices for 3D (not even G400, IMO), and their 2D GUI advantage is almost non-existent compared to TNT or Voodoo3. They were quite overrated and I haven't really figured out how it happened. I think it is some sort of intangible quality perception, honestly. Almost urban legend. Actually, I was quite a fan of theirs for years starting with Mystique 220, going to G200 and then G400. But I got over it once I started trying out other cards from those days and found out how much better they could be (Voodoo3 in particular).

I think Keropi is looking for a gfx card for his 486 box if I'm not mistaken...

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

Reply 12 of 39, by keropi

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yep, a 486 system with a 5x86/133 cpu , pci based mobo (a NOS Soyo SY-4SAW) ...

I am about to try a pci voodoo3 2000 and 3000 card, sure they will go to waste but if they are nice 2D cards it is fine 😊

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 13 of 39, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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keropi wrote:

yep, a 486 system with a 5x86/133 cpu , pci based mobo

How about ET6000-based cards, then? IIRC Tseng ET6000 is the fastest PCI DOS card around (at least according to November 1996 issue of CGW).

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 14 of 39, by Amigaz

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Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:
keropi wrote:

yep, a 486 system with a 5x86/133 cpu , pci based mobo

How about ET6000-based cards, then? IIRC Tseng ET6000 is the fastest PCI DOS card around (at least according to November 1996 issue of CGW).

Fast as hell but It has probs with some games too

btw. I have two of these for sale..one 4mb and one 2mb version 😀

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

Reply 16 of 39, by keropi

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update:

I have tried voodoo3's , both pci and AGP , models 2000 and 3000. they are FAST dos vga's , with vesa2.0 support out-of-the-box. They do not suffer from the scrolling bug. BUT , if for example you try Commander Keen 4. then the screen will have EXTRA red !!! Tested 4 voodoos, pci/agp in 2 different systems. Same behavior.

So I remembered I have an AGP STB riva128 4MB card... guess what? It works perfect! No scrolling bug, no red tint and vesa2.0 support! Speedy too, both v3/128zx max out my p200mmx system with a 21.3 pcpbench score!
Gonna test it moar!

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 17 of 39, by TheLazy1

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That's weird with the voodoo3 since it doesn't even post in any of my 486 boards, it always starts up with a green or red screen.
Maybe it's related to the red tint bug?

Reply 18 of 39, by keropi

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commander keen is an EGA game, sensitive with the vga etc etc.. maybe it just changes some register in the v3 and output more red or something...

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 19 of 39, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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Amigaz wrote:
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:
keropi wrote:

yep, a 486 system with a 5x86/133 cpu , pci based mobo

How about ET6000-based cards, then? IIRC Tseng ET6000 is the fastest PCI DOS card around (at least according to November 1996 issue of CGW).

Fast as hell but It has probs with some games too

Why? What problems?

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.