S3 definitely, have a look here: https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS/ and see which one is the most compatible

That leaves out the ATI card.
All chips S3 Trio64, Virge and Vision864 in these cards seem to be quite equal when it comes to compatibility. Is there any reasons for choosing one of these S3 cards over others like speed or being able to use higher resolutions?

I would go for the ViRGE, as that allows you to play patched versions of the few DOS games that supported the S3D api.

I agree with derSammler. The VirgeGX is also the fastest S3 card I've tested in DOS. See link in my signature for benchmarks. It may even come with VBE2.0 (mine did, but not all do) built in.
edit: I was wrong. My VirgeDX came with VBE2.0, not the GX.

If you are going for speed in DOS Games, it is more important, which CPU you are using.
I would also second the Virge/GX over the Trio64(Diamond) > Trio64(Expert Color) > Vision864
IF the Vision864 has 2 Mb RAM
if it has 4 Mb Ram, and you also want to use it in windows I would prefer the vision 864 over the S3 Trio64 but not necessarily over the Virge.
Advantages of the ViRGE:
- not less than 2 Mb Ram
- 170Mhz Ramdac(Trio64: 135Mhz, Vision864 depends on the card)
- Best compatibility(Worst: ATI - nearly the same: every other S3 card)
- S3D
- VBE 2.0
Possible Disadvantage:
- Maybe a little bit slower in Dos compared to Stealth64, depending on the CPU(if the card is the bottleneck)

Try the ViRGE first and compare it to one of the other S3 cards. If the result the card is producing is okay, stick with it.
Would prefer the following order, if you try to measure it: Compability, Output Quality, Extra Features, Speed

PS: GX should also come with VBE2.0 if the DX is...

I tested the virge GX card. VBE test says it has VBE 2.0 and 2mb of memory. I will most likely use it then.
Thanks for the help.

Karm wrote:

PS: GX should also come with VBE2.0 if the DX is...

Not necessarily. I think that's something the vendor decides. My DX that has VBE2.0 is a Diamond, while my GX that does not is from STB. Looks like OP's does use VBE2, so awesome 😀 Compaq did him right.

How do bit more modern pci graphics cards do in dos gaming in the pentium pc that I talked about? There is couple of those for sale here locally. One is Voodoo 3 2000 PCI 16Mb and the other one is Nvidia TNT2 M64 PCI 32Mb.
The voodoo card would cost about 30 euros and the TNT 2 card 25 euros.

Compatibility seems to be ok with both cards on that chart, but do you get any advantages for having bit more modern card?

Baoran wrote:

How do bit more modern pci graphics cards do in dos gaming in the pentium pc that I talked about? There is couple of those for sale here locally. One is Voodoo 3 2000 PCI 16Mb and the other one is Nvidia TNT2 M64 PCI 32Mb.
The voodoo card would cost about 30 euros and the TNT 2 card 25 euros.

Compatibility seems to be ok with both cards on that chart, but do you get any advantages for having bit more modern card?

Both do great. I have benchmark results in the link in my signature that include both of those cards.

Thanks. Based on your tests it seems like it is the pentium cpu that is the bottleneck and not the graphics card. There isn't much of a difference between the virge GX I am using now and those more modern cards.
Even in you P3 tests, it seems that there were no games that were not playable with virge gx and became playable with voodoo 3 or tnt2

Yep, I would agree with your assessment. The GX is a very fine card

Nvidia TNT2 M64
S3 ViRGE/DX
Cirrus Logic CL-GD5446

As stated a bazillion times over the years, one can't go wrong with these for DOS gaming.

CL-GD5446 is excellent as well, although not VBE 2.0.

Yep, undoubtedly the 5446 is one of the 'best' ones.
In fact I should edit my post.

.I have all three so I can attest in favor of their compatibility.

if you also run Windows 95 i would use the ATI Card.
It offers D3D and CIF 😀
So you can play early Games like Turok and Mechwarrior.

Looks like this is a VRAM Rage ?

CIF and S3D are not great for Mechwarrior 2. PowerVR is really the best for it although Voodoo is more flexible and supported.