i forgot if riva supports intermediate vesa resolutions like 400x300, which univbe adds, but p2 should be able to handle any dos game in 640x480 anyway. it's usually not needed otherwise, though a handful of games incorporate it and will probably not work well with later cards.

Your best option is the MX200. You're unlikely to ever need UNIVBE, it's going to do great with DOS games, and if you want to play Windows games of the era, you're covered. The Riva is runner up, but depending on the vendor, visual output quality could be subpar. I would not use the other two cards, unless it's all I had, or I want to rebuild nostalgia. Fiddling with CIF on the ATI is interesting for a while, but again, it's not a long-term card I would keep in a system with the better options presented.

Resources to consider:

DOS Tests
https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS/

List of games with Table Fog support
https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/List_of_ … ble_Fog_support

List of games with 8-bit paletted texture support
https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/List_of_ … texture_support

not so sure that the mx200 would necessarily beat the RIVA in terms of output quality - at least the GTS is well known for often having components at the output that soften the image, plus the bottom tier mx200 wouldn't exactly be getting the fanciest PCB designs.

MX200. It might not be great but it's the best of the bunch.

Do you even need UNIVBE? With a VBE 2.0 or higher capable card, I thought it had the ability to run without needing a TSR. At least my Trio64V2 doesn't.

However, from that list - use the MX200.

Thanks everyone for the valuable input! I didn't know the MX200 was such a favorite.

gen_angry wrote on 2023-05-17, 22:25:

Do you even need UNIVBE? With a VBE 2.0 or higher capable card, I thought it had the ability to run without needing a TSR.

I thought I needed it. But is the MX200 a "vbe2+" card?

Meatball wrote on 2023-05-17, 20:03:

DOS Tests
https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS/

OH very useful, thanks a lot! I guess I have to get on testing! But probably will end up with the MX200 in that rig, and rout the other cards to other setups.

gen_angry wrote on 2023-05-17, 22:25:

Do you even need UNIVBE? With a VBE 2.0 or higher capable card, I thought it had the ability to run without needing a TSR. At least my Trio64V2 doesn't.

VBE 2.0 cards benefit a lot from using UNIVBE, not only for performance in my experience but VBE 3.0 allows you to use things like UniRefresh, which gives you higher refresh rates in DOS.

Even my Riva 128 (which is VBE 3.0) benefits from UNIVBE in some edge cases, like MEKA for example.

I just tried to run Genecyst after installing the MX200 and it crashed on launch. Not sure if it is that or something else, but it's probably that. Weird, because Callus works. I need to do some more testing