Grzyb wrote on 2020-07-30, 14:05:

Somehow I can't believe in two ISA VGAs working together.
But feel free to prove me wrong...

it'll actually be the onboard gpu and an isa gpu , the onboard gpu is a cl-5429 , but i have no idea interally if its just isa or vlb

also heres the information on the board if you need it or are interested , the board has 3 isa risers

http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/pb/mb/450.htm

emosun wrote on 2020-07-30, 12:38:

the machine is isa only and this is within/for windows ui , where you can have as many gpus as desired

Why don't you try to do what you're doing with the onboard "GPU", first?
I'm pretty sure despite being onboard, the VGA and primary IDE adapter on that board are VLB.
As others have pointed out, multiple graphics card support wasn't introduced until Windows 98.
Also, "Windows Media Player" as in the version that comes with IE 5 and a 486 really don't go together. The 486 is the era of pre-MPEG codecs like Cinepak and Indeo. You can expect the video compression to be super lossy, and only postage stamp-sized videos to play back smoothly on an ISA card.

It sounds like the closest thing to what you're trying to do is an mpeg decoder card?

jakethompson1 wrote on 2020-07-30, 15:26:

Why don't you try to do what you're doing with the onboard "GPU", first? I'm pretty sure despite being onboard, the VGA and prim […]
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emosun wrote on 2020-07-30, 12:38:

the machine is isa only and this is within/for windows ui , where you can have as many gpus as desired

Why don't you try to do what you're doing with the onboard "GPU", first?
I'm pretty sure despite being onboard, the VGA and primary IDE adapter on that board are VLB.
As others have pointed out, multiple graphics card support wasn't introduced until Windows 98.
Also, "Windows Media Player" as in the version that comes with IE 5 and a 486 really don't go together. The 486 is the era of pre-MPEG codecs like Cinepak and Indeo. You can expect the video compression to be super lossy, and only postage stamp-sized videos to play back smoothly on an ISA card.

It sounds like the closest thing to what you're trying to do is an mpeg decoder card?

The board and machine already natively support mpeg 1 decoding

Elsa supported Multi Graphics (up to four Winner 2000 Pro/X) with one large Desktop in its Win 3.x Driver and above. So yes, Win95 can be used with Multi Graphic Cards / Displays. But don’t know whether its possible with Onboard CL 5429 + Elsa S3

ok so an update , I found in my storage unit a machine with another regular ISA cl-5429.... pretty awesome it saves me having to buy one i didnt even know i had one! 🤣.

I'm gonna start a new thread about getting it to work as now it's really a different issue.

PC-Engineer wrote on 2020-07-30, 17:28:

Elsa supported Multi Graphics (up to four Winner 2000 Pro/X) with one large Desktop in its Win 3.x Driver and above. So yes, Win95 can be used with Multi Graphic Cards / Displays. But don’t know whether its possible with Onboard CL 5429 + Elsa S3

Well you find out things on this forum all the time. Were those for a specialized application, like digital signage maybe?

kixs wrote on 2020-07-30, 06:23:

ATI Mach64 VRAM 4MB ISA

I looked for on of there and the only one I found make RTX 4090s look like a bargain!

Do >= 8MB ISA GPUs exist and are there any >= 4MB ISA GPUs with less insane prices?

... and it just a basic 2MB DRAM version. I have seen 4MB VRAM card sold for around 800€ some years ago.

I haven't seen more then 4MB and I doubt it exists. Prices are insane all over the retro scene at the moment...

red-ray wrote on 2023-03-30, 12:15:

Do >= 8MB ISA GPUs exist

I've got a Miro Tiger 12, based on TMS34020, with 4 MB VRAM for frame buffer + 8 MB DRAM for software + 0.25 MB DRAM for separate VGA chipset.

Same ISA compatible ATI Mach64 chip was also used on some PCI cards, but they seem very rare. Iv been lurking for one to make my own ISA Mach64 card 😀

Grzyb wrote on 2023-03-30, 12:36:

I've got a Miro Tiger 12, based on TMS34020, with 4 MB VRAM for frame buffer + 8 MB DRAM for software + 0.25 MB DRAM for separate VGA chipset.

I guess these are quite rare, are they, is there an NT 4.00 driver and what resolutions does it support? I guess 1280 x 1024 x 16-bit colour.

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-03-30, 13:00:

Same ISA compatible ATI Mach64 chip was also used on some PCI cards

Exactly which chip is it please? I suspect it's not the one I have.

red-ray wrote on 2023-03-30, 13:05:

I guess these are quite rare, are they, is there an NT 4.00 driver and what resolutions does it support? I guess 1280 x 1024 x 16-bit colour.

That card is earlier than Windows NT, and AFAIK there's no drivers for any NT version.
Software support is limited to AutoCAD and Windows 3.0/3.1, other DOS software using the TIGA API may also work.

There's no 24bpp mode, so the max is 1280 x 1024 x 16bpp and 1024 x 768 x 32bpp.

red-ray wrote on 2023-03-30, 13:23:

Exactly which chip is it please? I suspect it's not the one I have.

That's CT, while ISA cards use the GX variant.

Does the CT support ISA? A number of graphics chips from this era supported older interfaces, no examples were produced.

red-ray wrote on 2023-03-30, 13:23:

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-03-30, 13:00:

Same ISA compatible ATI Mach64 chip was also used on some PCI cards

Exactly which chip is it please? I suspect it's not the one I have.

mach64 GX 210888GX00
https://www.vgamuseum.info/index.php/cpu/item … 7-ati-mach64-gx
PCI cards are still in $10-20 range

I'll stay with my ISA ET4000 W32.

It is Cirrus Logic GD-5434 2Mb of course : )

It seems that not all 2MB GPUs are equal, below you can see my ISA S3 Trio64 does not support 1152 x 864 x 16-bit colour, but my PCI ATI Mach64 does.

Do you know of an ISA CPU that supports 1152 x 864 x 16-bit colour on Windows NT 4.00 please?