Scored a System from someone that was tossing it out that has a Pentium 60 Chip in it, ISA and PCI slots. Don't know how much RAM but I can upgrade it to what I want.
What would be a great Video Card for this that could be used for best compatibility / use with the Proc and not be bottlenecked by it?
There are better VGA pundits here than me, but i generally use a PCI Matrox Millenium on non AGP Pentium builds. It has crisp 2D performance, so that would be a good choice. Anything 3D-y would be better if coupled with a more powerful CPU.
The question is which OS you intend to use. Agreed with flupke11 that Matrox' image quality is hard to beat - the question is whether that is relevant. If you want to run Windows (3.x, 95) you'll probably have a relatively high-res desktop and then that is very important. Also, the Millennium Windows drivers are good.
But if you want to run DOS, VESA support is the most important, which means you can't really beat S3, particularly the Vision 8xx/9xx range and the Virge.
My main system from 1995-1999 was a P60 with an S3 Vision 868 1MB card. The only thing I'd do different if I could go back in time was spending extra for 2MB. Oh, and do my RAM upgrade from 8MB to 16MB in March 1996, not January 1996 (would have saved 3/4 of the January price 😮 )
I am still trying to figure out what OS I want to run, as I have a 486 DX-2 running DOS and Win 3.11 as well as P-166 running Win 95C, but I want to get this P60 setup and running as I havent messed with one before. More than likely, i will go with DOS and Windows 3.11 similar to the 486 DX-2 and then maybe test them against each other. That being the case, I have a bunch of different S3 PCI Cards, and can add the extra RAM so I will go that route.
I appreciate the assistance!
I have a Millenium running in the P66 as the Riva wouldn't work - recommended but I do not know your usage patterns so you might be better of with an S3.
You could try OS2/Warp4 which I had installed back in the day on my Vobis P60(actually Warp3 in 95?).
An ATI Mach64 would probably do as well. Personally, I'd use an S3 Trio32 or Trio64.
Oddly enough, I also use a Matrox Millenium for my Pentium 60 build but never really thought about it.
I guess, I consider Pentium 60 to be a kind of a high-end build for its time, which is why I try not to use cheaper S3, ATI or Cirrus Logic Mach64 cards. Then again, Millenium came out somewhere in 1996, so it's not really period correct.
I'm also using DOS 6.22/Win 3.11 — I kind of think of Socket 4 as a high-end 486 that is just more stable/easier to configure.
I use a S3 Virge DX in my P75. Very good compatibility with early svga games like SimCity 2000 or Warcraft 2.
Yes, for DOS games the S3 Virge/DX have the best compatiblity. For all VGA and SVGA DOS games. Card manufacturers using who has made S3 chips usually made cards with not perfect signal/image quality what can be annoying in Warcraft 1 (I have tested 5 Virge/DX card frm different manufacturers). All Matrox Millennium cards have great signal/image quality but have weak compatibility with old DOS games (screen scrolling problems). OAK Spitfire card (FCC ID: IDW1112002) has very good DOS compatibility and good signal/image quality (at least there is no "noise"/problem in Warcraft 1). If you are want acceptable 3D performance on P60 I recommend 3Dfx Voodoo1 (it is 3D add-on card).
I've found Voodoo Banshee / Voodoo 3 nice too. Super fast DOS and GUI, crystal clear VGA signal, and of course very useful Glide support.
I have seen DOS issues with say Terra Nova for example, but it was fixable with the 3dfx VESA fix utility.
VESA Fix Utility Listing (for old video cards)
I went with the Millenium 4 MB Card in mine and really like how it turned out!
