286 to 386DX-40. But some also use them for XT as generally they support 8-bit bus with proper jumper configuration.

You can use them as far as ISA bus is supported and use it as a CPU slowdown 😉

286 to 386 range then... Basically speaking, they would be perfect in a 386sx33 with 4mb Ram then?
They tend to be cheap, so I kept thinking on what system they would suit.

On general they are around 20-50% slower then the fastest ISA cards (depends on the model as some can be as fast as good ISA card). But work good anyhow. Even on a 286-16 there is a noticeable speed difference between 8900 and ET4000. But there are even slower cards on ISA then Trident. Back in the days when I swapped some C&T VGA 256KB card for 8900 I was amazed how fast can 486slc-33 be (ISA bus only) 🤣

Speaking of Cyrix 486 SLC machines. I had an ET4000 in mine, and it was just pain in the **** (you know), so I sold that and got an CL-542? for that. Why it became faster, I really do not know. Anyway...

What type of software are the limit for an 386sx33 with an Trident 8900c ?
I plan on playing some of the really old games, that I used to play on the 286-8/10 with EGA, that my parents had back then.

The card is even too slow for a 286-16..

matze79 wrote:

The card is even too slow for a 286-16..

Ahhh.... Slower than ET-3000 or faster, as I have only tried that and an ET-4000 on my 386sx33.

I remember these Trident ISA cards were in most 386 SX 33/40, DX 40 and early 486 systems, you'll be fine with one. I do prefer the WD Paradise cards, and I expect they are the same money too today. Tseng is nice, but not the money asked today nice.

For 486 fast ISA or VLB, PCI are more appropriate. 386DX - fast ISA.
For 386SX/286 - would be interesting to make performance comparision between Trident and good ISA like CL542x. In Doom, PCPlayer, etc.
XT may to be "perfect" as they are slow for VGA anyway.

True, but early 486 was ISA only anyway. I'm not saying they were the fastest, because they were clearly not that, but they were cheap, common, compatible and perhaps quick enough. I really don't think VGA speed became a big deal until win 95 and the later Hi-res DOS games.
I would think Trident is quite "good enough" untill Pentium, then of course there were better Trident like the 9680 PCI, that was pretty much the same as a S3 Trio card.

brostenen wrote:

...They tend to be cheap, so I kept thinking on what system they would suit.

Intrigued by this I just did a quick ebay search because this was a card I owned and, despite it's a total failure for everything else except an 8bit slot, I really wanted one again just for the sake of it.
I didn't find anything cheap about them though 😀 Prices + shipping are really getting more and more weird.

Hmmm.... That's strange.
I was more like thinking of Trident's in general, when I spoke about cheap.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=isa+vga& … rident&_sacat=0

Wow, last Trident card I bought was a 3D Blade Turbo AGP for 10 euro's, I assumed the ISA cards would be peanuts.

The 8900 and the 9000 Tridents are already bottlenecking a 286 System.
Also the OAK OTI-077 or PVGA Cards.

A GD5422 or ET4000AX are around 2 fps faster in 3dbench on my 286-16.
CPU limits the GPU with this combination.+

A Cirrus Logic GD5422 is much faster, you need at least a 486DX to get the most out of it.
There is also a 8900D-CR with 32bit Memory which is too fast as ET4000. They are made for industrial use.
And where not avaible at the good old times 😀

brosten:
If you want a 9000i Trident Card, i can send you one if you pay postage.
i got a lot of them (~8 Pieces).

Two years ago i visited romo and a few other places in denmark, a nice country 😀
Postage from germany isnt soo much, may could be send as big size letter

brostenen wrote:

Hmmm.... That's strange.
I was more like thinking of Trident's in general, when I spoke about cheap.

Yep, I agree. That's a different story and definitely cheap enough. At least on .com ebay.

konc wrote:

Yep, I agree. That's a different story and definitely cheap enough. At least on .com ebay.

😀 Amen....

The Ukraine seems to be the only place You can get old hardware, 486 and earlier, at reasonable prices nowdays.
But occasionally bargains pop up, You just have to be patient.

There is no doubt in my mind that the last few months prices have gone stupid on ebay. I refuse to pay
excessive $$$ for stuff from greedy sellers, and anyone who does is helping the prices to stay that way.

On the subject of Trident ISA cards though, I got a 9000i-3 card for $22 AUD delivered recently. I bought it
hoping it might work in my XT motherboard, but it didn't. I have a Western digital card coming though that
might work.

Imperious wrote:

There is no doubt in my mind that the last few months prices have gone stupid on ebay. I refuse to pay
excessive $$$ for stuff from greedy sellers, and anyone who does is helping the prices to stay that way.

I have actually written a couple of thought's in that "Why are stuff so expensive" tread a minute ago.
And yes. Ukraine are the place to look for cheap stuff in, these day's.
I have seen an Trident 8900 (something) from Spain on eBay today. Really cheap. (compared to other sellers)
It was listed at 5 euro plus something like between 13 and 15 Euro for shipping.

Anyway...
I have an theory about that cheap prices in Ukraine. And it might not be pretty.
They have all these kind of issues between the Ukrainian state, nationalists and Russia.
(perhaps, who knows what's true or not) All I can say, is that it might be war spoils being sold on eBay.
If that is true. Then I perfectly understand the cheapness of Ukrainian sales add's.

This is only a theory that I have. And as I wrote between the lines. I really have no clue on what's the
real honest truth of what is going on down there. The Danish media's are not reporting anything anymore.
It's all about health stuff these day's, and stuff like that. Plus the fact that the state have bought F-35's
as replacement's for the aging F-16's.

I have two Trident 8900D (based on the 8900CL i think) and i tried to get it working on a Pentium II, the card worked fine in Win 98 SE, but the 2D perfomance was poor and some old Directdraw games like Starcraft was running with stuttering. Also only 256 color mode worked

Starcraft.... That's a 1997/98/99?? game is it not?
If I would use a Trident 8900c, it would be on a 386sx33 with 2 or 4 megabyte of Ram.
The software that I will be using, are MS-Dos-6.22 and games from 1985 to 90.
Perhaps I will use MS-Dos-5 to keep it more era correct.