Start with making a list.

I assume you want good DOS and Win95 performance?
Best DOS card that year was ARK2000PV. It was decent in Win95 performance too.
The Matrox Millennium was probably the best Win95 card that year, but even though its DOS performance was very good, it had some compatibility issues with some DOS games.
The best from S3 that year were the Trio64V+ and Vision 968. The 968 was better in Windows, the Trio was better in DOS.

Here's how I might rank them:
In DOS:
1) ARK2000PV
2) Trio64V+ (Millennium is faster but Trio wins due to better compatibility)
3) Millennium
4) Vision 968

In Win:
1) Millennium
2) Vision 968
3) Trio64V+/ARK2000PV (tie)

Overall:
1) ARK2000PV
2) Trio64+
3) Millennium
4) Vision 968

Clueless1, thanks for the great info. I will look into those cards!

ATI: 3D Rage, Mach 64 GX, Video Xpression+
Nvidia: Edge 3D (NV1) cards
Cirrus Logic: Cl-GD5436

Anyone have experiences with any of these and have a preference? I'm not too familiar with any of them.

Also, was there really much as far as games and/or software released yet for Windows 95 at this point?

The Video Xpression+ is just a variant of the Mach64 core - Mach64 VT4 if I remember correctly. I had a Mach64 VT or VT2 with 2 MB in 1997 and was pleasantly surprised by the far average Windows drivers, in terms of support, quality and stability. Another plus is the MPEG1 video acceleration of Mach64 chipsets, although I can't remember why but on my system ATI's own MPEG video player was a little bit finicky. ATI's DOS compatibility is almost unrivaled and I never experienced any unusual slowdowns or graphical issues back in the days. The Mach64 core in all variants is a great choice overall and is together with the S3 Trio one the cheapest chipsets you can get on eBay. If I had to choose I would go the Mach64 route. These cards are reliable partners in crime for 2D processing in DOS and Windows.

Can't tell anything about the NV1 and GD5436 although I have heard more than once, that later Cirrus Logic chipsets were not bad.

AFAIK 3D Rage came to market in 1996. 1995 is hardly the year of PC transition into 3D.

fsmith2003 wrote:

Also, was there really much as far as games and/or software released yet for Windows 95 at this point?

There sure was, though a lot of them were Win32s compatible. Win3.1 was still very used