Looks like I can't help you. I tested with a Trio64, 2x Trio64+, a Virge/DX and a Virge/GX. All worked perfectly except for the DX of course, which doesn't work at all! Ah well, at least it gave me an opportunity to test some cards. Can't see what could be wrong with the thing - it looks perfectly fine. Sadly the BIOS isn't socketed.

brassicGamer wrote:

Looks like I can't help you. I tested with a Trio64, 2x Trio64+, a Virge/DX and a Virge/GX. All worked perfectly except for the DX of course, which doesn't work at all! Ah well, at least it gave me an opportunity to test some cards. Can't see what could be wrong with the thing - it looks perfectly fine. Sadly the BIOS isn't socketed.

Is there actually such a significant difference between the Virge/DX and Virge/GX graphics adapters?

Tetrium wrote:

Is there actually such a significant difference between the Virge/DX and Virge/GX graphics adapters?

AFAIK ViRGE/DX uses FPM\EDO memory while /GX uses SGRAM\SDRAM (probably other diffirences can be but I'm not sure)
They are using even same BIOS images 😀

wbc wrote:

Tetrium wrote:

Is there actually such a significant difference between the Virge/DX and Virge/GX graphics adapters?

AFAIK ViRGE/DX uses FPM\EDO memory while /GX uses SGRAM\SDRAM (probably other diffirences can be but I'm not sure)
They are using even same BIOS images 😀

Cheers 😀.

The few GX ones I saw do have other chips, though I kinda assumed these were later cards intended mostly for cheap OEM systems (even more so than the earlier Virges). These S3 cards looked to be made specifically to be manufactured with as few components as possible (having fewer RAm chips for instance). The earlier ones were more common where I live.

It's quite possible there are more differences (mostly small progressive tweaks that might not have been well documented).

vlask has some S3 specs up here:
http://vgamuseum.info/index.php/component/k2/ … 367-s3-virge-dx
http://vgamuseum.info/index.php/component/k2/ … 368-s3-virge-gx

See also Putas's DX/GX comparison:
http://vintage3d.org/virgedx.php

Cheers Stiletto, I actually ended up reading more than just those 3 pages 😀

For all Virge cards is frequency what counts. With Virge/GX you have higher chance for higher frequency (better memories). Here's some results from mine old tests....

Virge DX (86C375) - 4MB EDO 1cycle 3,5ns memory and clock 50,11Mhz - Eagles
DIAG Text - 29,19 MB/s
DIAG Graphic - 21,38 MB/s
Quake 320x240 - 129,6 FPS
Quake 360x480 - 62,8 FPS
Quake 640x480 - 20 FPS
GLQuake 320x240x16 - 15,6 FPS
GLQuake 640x480x16 - 4,9 FPS
Unreal Software 640x480x16 - 41,65 FPS

Virge GX (86C385) - 4MB SGRAM 0ns memory and clock 73,38MHz - Gainward
DIAG Text - 47,66 MB/s
DIAG Graphic - 29,88 MB/s
Quake 320x240 - 151,4 FPS
Quake 360x480 - 75,8 FPS
Quake 640x480 - 19,9 FPS
GLQuake 320x240x16 - 17,8 FPS
GLQuake 640x480x16 - 5,7 FPS
Unreal Software 640x480x16 - 43,65 FPS

Fastest Virge/DX i seen was Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 Pro with 4MB 72,19MHz EDO 1cycle 0ns. But most cheap cards are somewhere between 50-55MHz.

Oh by the way, I tested all that graphics cards that I took photo of earlier, here are the results, if anyone is interested.

Also, I started hunt after any 3D ready graphics card that fits into PCI slot, something like Banshee or whatever, but is seems like they are way more rare than unicorn horns in my country...

Nice! The nvidias rule the roost! Confirms my tests that they make great DOS cards, even if they were made a few years after DOS was relevant. Even pass the Keen tests. 😉

Now I'm interested if TNT2 was made in PCI version...

krivulak wrote:

Now I'm interested if TNT2 was made in PCI version...

There are PCI TNT2s. I have a TNT2 M64 PCI. Search around on ebay. 😀

clueless1 wrote:

krivulak wrote:

Now I'm interested if TNT2 was made in PCI version...

There are PCI TNT2s. I have a TNT2 M64 PCI. Search around on ebay. 😀

TNT2 PCI (if it exists, I don't know for sure) is another beast compared to TNT2 M64 though.

TNT2 M64 was not rare at all, even PCI ones were not obscure pieces of hardware.

Tetrium wrote:

clueless1 wrote:

krivulak wrote:

Now I'm interested if TNT2 was made in PCI version...

There are PCI TNT2s. I have a TNT2 M64 PCI. Search around on ebay. 😀

TNT2 PCI (if it exists, I don't know for sure) is another beast compared to TNT2 M64 though.

TNT2 M64 was not rare at all, even PCI ones were not obscure pieces of hardware.

I was lumping the M64 in with all TNT2s, so if a non-M64 PCI is rare, my apologies.

The TNT2 is a beaSt compared to the M64--but only in Windows. In DOS they should perform the same.

TNT2 Pro/Ultra's are getting harder and harder to find regardless if they are AGP or PCI.

For Vanta and M64s PCI is less common then AGP but still pretty common. You can't hardly give AGP M64s away where someone might actually spend 5 bucks on a PCI version.

Pricing on the TNT2 Pro/Ultra is all over the place you can still get a good deal if your patient but If some folks are selling them for quite a bit although not as much as 3dFX hardware is going for.