I would imagine it is a Trident card, they had a line of ISA cards with integrated ROM and google search shows PCI cards without a ROM also. I haven't seen anyone else do that.

I found this page that lists a CyberRex Wizard with "128bit, MPEG acc" but no other info. Tellingly, it's a page for video cards with "integrated 3D-Glasses controller". Could it be related?

Good sleuthing gang! 🤣

I totally forgot to check out Trident cards.

SW-SSG, that page is where I figured out what glasses came with the Canopus Total3D Verite. I still haven't gotten around to testing them but I did find an original retail boxed set of the NuVision VR glasses that Canopus bundled with the Total3D. The NuVision glasses actually work via a Parallel port adapter when playing compatible games in software mode, but they do use a small 1/8" plug that also fits the Total3D. I guess it's possible that Trident had built in support for glasses like this in supported software mode or 3d accelerated (or, in the case of Trident, decelerated) games.

Oddities like this intrigue me, so I would definitely like to get to the bottom of this.

You could remove the sticker from the chip and see if it has any markings underneath.

Look at Power On for Video BIOS Output or if you can see it:

Put it into a PC and readout the BIOS.
View the BIOS inside a Hexeditor and look for Manufacture String.
This way you don't have remove the Sticker.

As mentioned, I just saw this online. I don't own it. If i do get my hands on it Windows 98se would likely find a compatible driver for it if it is indeed Trident based. Either way, I could get more details using Everest.

Finding the software to make it work with shutter glasses however, that may be trickier... Assuming that's what the jack is for.

This page might have what this card would need for 3D support:

https://web.archive.org/web/19981202103223/ht … 0/supported.htm

I mostly have doubts that it could be Trident-based... their chip with actual 3D rendering going on and PCI support (3DImage9750) is paired with a discrete BIOS on every card I've seen, and even the newer AGP Blade3D 9880 retains the 64-bit "core" and memory interface. Meanwhile, the earliest 3D-less ones that support MPEG decoding (TGUI9680 series) also appear to require a BIOS chip. The TGUI9440-2 and -3 are PCI and integrate the BIOS, but these are 32-bit and don't accelerate video.

So I don't think it's a Trident, but I can't think of a chip with 128-bit core/memory and MPEG support and with/without 3D acceleration that also integrates the BIOS...

I found a pic of the box, but this isn't going to help much...

Maybe a different angle: could this be a video card with regular (S3 Virge?) chip but no VGA BIOS for dedicated 3D glasses use?

dionb wrote:

I found a pic of the box, but this isn't going to help much... […]
Show full quote

I found a pic of the box, but this isn't going to help much...

Maybe a different angle: could this be a video card with regular (S3 Virge?) chip but no VGA BIOS for dedicated 3D glasses use?

Wow, where'd you find that?

I'm glad I'm not the only one intrigued by this. 😀

Honestly, I'm leaning toward a Trident TGUI9440-3. The -3 seems to be the model that usually has no BIOS chip, and it is the ONLY card from this era that I've seen without a BIOS chip. Also, this model seems to be almost always made in Korea, which matches the card and the memory.

https://www.google.com/search?safe=active&cli … img.GREaLfjv-j4

Since the card has memory and there are no known 3d-only accelerators made from any of the horrible early attempts at 3D from 2D card manufacturers (S3, Trident etc, would never have made a dedicated accelerator), it is most likely a standard VGA card with the added ability to sync 3D Glasses with compatible software rendered games. Since several companies made 3D shutter adapters that plugged into a parallel or serial port and were meant to be used with software rendered games, it doesn't seem far fetched that at least one manufacturer had one of these devices built into a basic VGA card. It's possible that it wouldn't even require any complicated logic by tapping into an existing feature connector with all of the needed syncing information easily accessible, and a small bit of software to configure it independently of the VGA card itself.

Ozzuneoj wrote:

dionb wrote:

I found a pic of the box, but this isn't going to help much... […]
Show full quote

I found a pic of the box, but this isn't going to help much...

Maybe a different angle: could this be a video card with regular (S3 Virge?) chip but no VGA BIOS for dedicated 3D glasses use?

Wow, where'd you find that?

I'm glad I'm not the only one intrigued by this. 😀

Googling on various combinations of Cyberrex, Cyber Rex, 128VR and 128 VR 😉

Honestly, I'm leaning toward a Trident TGUI9440-3. The -3 seems to be the model that usually has no BIOS chip, and it is the ONLY card from this era that I've seen without a BIOS chip. Also, this model seems to be almost always made in Korea, which matches the card and the memory.

Sort of makes sense, but shi-iit, the thought of using one of the slower 2D-only accelerators as a VR chip? The mind boggles...

Since the card has memory and there are no known 3d-only accelerators made from any of the horrible early attempts at 3D from 2D card manufacturers (S3, Trident etc, would never have made a dedicated accelerator), it is most likely a standard VGA card with the added ability to sync 3D Glasses with compatible software rendered games. Since several companies made 3D shutter adapters that plugged into a parallel or serial port and were meant to be used with software rendered games, it doesn't seem far fetched that at least one manufacturer had one of these devices built into a basic VGA card. It's possible that it wouldn't even require any complicated logic by tapping into an existing feature connector with all of the needed syncing information easily accessible, and a small bit of software to configure it independently of the VGA card itself.

Sounds plausible. And slow. Then again, I have a VLB S3 928 board with 3D glasses connector, and that's certainly not going to be any faster than a TGUI9440.

I'm pretty sure the 3D means only the visual effect and not acceleration for games.

I'm really curious about the 128 marking. Did the company that made this card really have the the audacity to sell a "128-bit" card with a 64-bit trident 9440 chip? I am only aware of two cards from 1996-1997 (which I presume is when the card was made) which had 128-bit chips. One was the Imagine 128, which this card definitely doesn't use. The other was the Tseng ET6x00 series. The only thing that throws that one off is that ET6000 and 6100 did not have integrated BIOS, and normally used MDRAM. Anyone know if ET6x00 chips could also use EDO DRAM? Tseng was working on a "3D" card called ET6300, but it was supposedly not brought to market...but I guess stranger things have turned up before.

Are there any other 128-bit chips that could possibly fit this card? What about OAK or ARK? SiS 6215?

Anyone know if the trident 9440-3 can have 4MB of RAM?

Anonymous Coward wrote:

... a 64-bit trident 9440 chip? ...

Not even that; the 9440 series is 32-bit. I mentioned that earlier.

The Alliance AT24 from ~1996 is 128-bit with MPEG1 acceleration and support for up to 4MB of EDO RAM, but again, no integrated BIOS.

Though I'm starting to think it likely the card was indeed sold as a "dedicated" accelerator, as dionb posited, being otherwise a bog-standard Alliance (or whatever)-based card with the video BIOS lopped off to lower the price. After all, the empty through-holes more or less imply that the graphics chip in use could support a BIOS ROM if one was soldered in.

SW-SSG wrote:

Though I'm starting to think it likely the card was indeed sold as a "dedicated" accelerator, as dionb posited, being otherwise a bog-standard Alliance (or whatever)-based card with the video BIOS lopped off to lower the price. After all, the empty through-holes more or less imply that the graphics chip in use could support a BIOS ROM if one was soldered in.

Is there any precedent for such a product though? Using a 2D only card as a non-bootable desktop accelerator with a VGA output but no passthrough would entail having a VGA switch or moving the VGA cable to actually use whatever the card was accelerating. Even if there was some convoluted way to do this (external switch or something) it still wouldn't make much sense, because it is only accelerating MPEG playback. MPEG accelerators generally either just provide acceleration internally or have a VGA IN and OUT to act as a passthrough (like a Voodoo, except for MPEG video) for the 2D desktop. This card would have to be doing the same job as the main 2D card, unless it is ONLY meant for watching 3D stereo MPEG videos, which are decoded on the card with the VGA and 3D stereo outputs synced... its possible, but it just doesn't really sound like a product that would exist since it would still require a second display or external VGA switching.

Is it possible that it is not a PC compatible device? I'm totally unfamiliar with Macs or whatever kinds of computers were being used in Asia and other parts of the world... is it possible that it is meant for a system that doesn't require a video card to have its own BIOS?

It's an ALG25128.

Rawit wrote:

It's an ALG25128.

Never heard of that one before. I wonder if it does anything well.

Interesting. Anyone able to read this review?
https://retrosoundcards.files.wordpress.com/2 … nster.jpg?w=830

LunarG wrote:

Interesting. Anyone able to read this review?
https://retrosoundcards.files.wordpress.com/2 … nster.jpg?w=830

My Polish is pretty non-existent, but this is mostly numbers & specs, techspeak in any language.

It just lists the specs (refresh rates, resolutions & colour depths), then it goes on with some benchmarks - apparently testing video memory bandwidth, concluding that the card performs at about 1/2 of the speed of a Hercules Dynamite 128 (i.e. Tseng ET6000). Pretty iffy way of measuring performance...

The last paragraph is the trickiest, it seems to recommend not buying this card and instead to go for a Matrox Mystique, 3D Blaster or Riva 128.

All in all, pretty useless review regardless of language.

Given how unusual this chip is - none of us had heard of it 😜 - I'd definitely get the card, just to get some baseline info on whatever this is.