I’m curious, what are the other specs of this Packard Bell? I’m going to guess something like Pentium 166 based on other parts you’ve mentioned. Only because I wouldn't want to recommend using the PowerVR on a 486 class machine.

That said I would totally go the PowerVR route.

BinaryDemon wrote:

I’m curious, what are the other specs of this Packard Bell? I’m going to guess something like Pentium 166 based on other parts you’ve mentioned. Only because I would want to recommend using the PowerVR on a 486 class machine.

That I would totally go the PowerVR route.

Pentium 166
40mb EDO
Windows 98SE

candle_86 wrote:

The PowerVR Card is a Matrox PowerVR PCX1 with 4mb Texture Memory

I don't think Matrox made a PCX1, the only PCX1 afaik is the Videologic Apocalypse 3D, the m3D is a PCX2?

spiroyster wrote:

I don't think Matrox made a PCX1, the only PCX1 afaik is the Videologic Apocalypse 3D, the m3D is a PCX2?

Correct. And according to https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS/ the S3 might just have a slight edge in working with the m3D in Tomb Raider. Is the output of the S3 to your liking?

I believe the PCX1 chip is marked with D62010GD001, where the PCX2 is D62011GD. So check '2010' vs '2011' on the chip.
This would be a PCX1:
http://vgamuseum.ru/wp-content/gallery/nec-po … alypse_3d_f.jpg
And this would be a PCX2:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/common … calypse_3Dx.jpg

its labeled D62011GD

The output is fine, and i found some ram to make it 2mb

So is the PCX2 a good card?

candle_86 wrote:

So is the PCX2 a good card?

Uhhh…. that's a huge can of worms you're opening there 😀
It's not quite a 3DFX VooDoo.

Scali wrote:

candle_86 wrote:

So is the PCX2 a good card?

Uhhh…. that's a huge can of worms you're opening there 😀
It's not quite a 3DFX VooDoo.

🤣 well early 3d accelerators I wasn't involved

candle_86 wrote:

So is the PCX2 a good card?

Sometimes.

The PCX2 port of Mechwarrior 2 is the best version.

Yeah I like that PowerVR MW2 port. The fog on some missions adds a lot of atmosphere.

Leileilol was working on making Quake 3 work on PCX2 once upon a time. 😎

Well I'm positive my Pentium 166 won't play QuakeIII, but i like MW2 and ive sinced heared about a tomb raider native version also

so I've decided the slot layout of my 3 avalible PCI slots and 4 ISA Slots

ISA1 - AZT3000 Soundcard/Modem Combo was in the computer when I bought it, will replace with an AWE64 or SB16 later on
ISA2 - Open
PCI1 - Matrox Millennium
PCI2 - Matrox M3D
PCI3 - 3Com 100/10 Nic (Considering buying an ISA Nic so i can add USB to this comp)
ISA 3 - Empty

I tried the onboard, max 800x600 with above 256 colors at the desktop and i can't stand it, also tried a Trio64V+ card I had in my parts bin, same issue don't like it

gdjacobs wrote:

candle_86 wrote:

So is the PCX2 a good card?

Sometimes.

The PCX2 port of Mechwarrior 2 is the best version.

Yea, basically the card is good, but it's the software support that lets it down in many cases.
It has Direct3D support, but performance isn't that great, and its unique architecture means that certain effects like alphablending may look poor.
Likewise, there's some MiniGL support, but not as widely supported as a VooDoo.
But various early games were modified by the PowerVR people themselves, with native support, and then the card really shines.