Flip a coin.

Caluser2000 wrote:

Flip a coin.

I don't gamble unless I know I'm winning.

Are they both functional still?

I own a Trident TGUI 9400 VLB card as well. It's not the fastest card, but a good performer. It's about as fast as an S3 805. However, I had problems running DOOM on it, it had completely messed up colors.

The ET4000/w32p should be quite a bit faster. If you can, keep both. A single card does not take much space and it's always good to have a spare one. I'd use the ET4000 and keep the Trident "just in case".

derSammler wrote:

I own a Trident TGUI 9400 VLB card as well. It's not the fastest card, but a good performer. It's about as fast as an S3 805. However, I had problems running DOOM on it, it had completely messed up colors.

The ET4000/w32p should be quite a bit faster. If you can, keep both. A single card does not take much space and it's always good to have a spare one. I'd use the ET4000 and keep the Trident "just in case".

Thanks. I was sort of guessing the ET4000 would be better.
I can't keep the card, though, as it needs to go into a 486 that is going to a friend, and he needs a video card that isn't ISA.
I'll try running Doom on it first to see if he's maybe just better off with the ISA card though. Messed up colors sounds bad.

If you were keeping the 5x86 I'd keep the ET4000 hands down. As you're using them on the Alaris... no idea. I'd go by compatibility tbh.

I don't even know why you'd have to ask on an opinion on this. W32P is obviously the better card, unless the manufacturer of the PCB really cheaped out.

I tried a Trident TGUI9400cxi, It worked, but it is a cheap card, you can find them on ebay for peanuts, and they are not particular desirable.

It's cheap because most people think that *all* Trident cards are crap. But the TGUI9400 is actually pretty good. It's on par with the S3 805 but adds a blitter, so Windows is even faster with it. Also worth noting is that the 9400 is pin-compatible with the 9440, so with soldering skills, you can upgrade the card and make it very decent (and unique, since no VLB cards with the 9440 were ever released).

derSammler wrote:

It's cheap because most people think that *all* Trident cards are crap. But the TGUI9400 is actually pretty good. It's on par with the S3 805 but adds a blitter, so Windows is even faster with it. Also worth noting is that the 9400 is pin-compatible with the 9440, so with soldering skills, you can upgrade the card and make it very decent (and unique, since no VLB cards with the 9440 were ever released).

I have yet to come across a TGUI9440 on a VLB board too but vgamuseum lists a VLB based 9440AGi. Is that a full fledged 9440, a somewhat crippled 9440 or just a rebranded 9400?

Good question, I've never seen a chip saying 9440AGi. It's normally called 9440-1.

No 9440 VLB cards were released? Are you certain I am pretty sure I have one. It's a 9440 with no designation (maybe -1, but definitely not AGi) . Pretty sure there are others on this forum that have them too. Admittedly, the 9440 is decent, but the card in question is a 9400. Also, the ET4000W32P sometimes comes equipped with a better RAMDAC than the one found on the tridents.

keep all of them. FOREVER.

derSammler wrote:

It's cheap because most people think that *all* Trident cards are crap. But the TGUI9400 is actually pretty good. It's on par with the S3 805 but adds a blitter, so Windows is even faster with it. Also worth noting is that the 9400 is pin-compatible with the 9440, so with soldering skills, you can upgrade the card and make it very decent (and unique, since no VLB cards with the 9440 were ever released).

This is VERY interesting to me.
I'm a deft hand at soldering and desoldering, and I've done QFP replacements on SNES 1Chips before.
Maybe I'll try this...

Here's a 9440 (no postfix) for VLB:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Trident-PB-TD9440VL- … RcAAOSwmONdiNgd

Trident. It's not as fast as the ET4000/W32, but it's more compatible for DOS games.

I'm going to do some mad scientist stuff.
I got a TGUI9440-1 208 QFP chip off a PCI version of the card, and I'm going to run some benchmarks on the standard 9400CXi and the frankenstein'd 9440-1 and post the results in this thread, comparing it to the ET4000/W32p and a Western Digital ISA card for giggles.

Would the Doom benchmark work best, or should I just run everything in Phil's Dosbench pack?

This topic ended tragically too soon. DNS, any luck with replacing the trident 4000 with the 4400?

derSammler wrote on 2019-10-20, 08:30:

It's cheap because most people think that *all* Trident cards are crap. But the TGUI9400 is actually pretty good. It's on par with the S3 805 but adds a blitter, so Windows is even faster with it. Also worth noting is that the 9400 is pin-compatible with the 9440, so with soldering skills, you can upgrade the card and make it very decent (and unique, since no VLB cards with the 9440 were ever released).

I got one--

The 9400cxi was one of the better performers out of the cards that I have. I don't have a Tseng to compare it with, sorry.

1VLB Card           Doom Realtiks
2Trident 9400cxi    2,932 (Noticeable vertical banding on LCD)
3Mach32 EXM195a     2,869 (Sharp picture)
4CL-GD5429 VLB      2,793  (Noticeable vertical banding on LCD)
5Trident 9440 VLB   2,700 (Sharp picture)
6Mach32 EXM228	   2,693 (Sharp picture)
7S3 Trio+           2,622 (Acceptable picture)

All of these cards start to get within 5% in the DOS tests as you get CPU bound. A BL@66 is going to be kind of CPU bound on either card, yes?

I think you should keep the card that has better image quality on the monitor that you use. A 5% benchmark improvement is nothing to brag about if the display image looks like trash, either because of signal interference or poor compatibility with your software.

IF money is your motivation, you probably will get a better prices for the Tseng card.