I can't find any real information about this header, but are you sure it is not a VESA feature connector, with the extended header?

the Advanced feature connector is 80 pin high density, and you can see the (unpopulated) header for it on the TGUI 9440AGI PCI cards. Most of the signals are redundant grounds, used to control noise.
https://www.epanorama.net/documents/pc/vafc.html

There is what looks like a 40 pin version on older cards as well-- which is why I ask.

PCI card with 80 pin high density header
https://web.archive.org/web/20201111212142im_ … v.h4_top_hq.jpg

PCI card with apparent 40 pin header

Looking at the 40 pin header, some of the traces DO in fact lead directly to the memory chip data lines though... so maybe it really *IS* a memory expansion... It *MIGHT* be possible to derive at least a partial pinout of the the header from looking at high resolution captures of this second card, front and back, then referencing the RAM chips used... but.. Blech.

Here's a recent scrape for the second card at archive.org.

http://old.vgamuseum.info/vlasks-collection/4 … ui-9440agi.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20240220101125/ht … ui-9440agi.html

It has HQ images of the front and back. Sadly, cannot see behind the chips and sockets to see where the traces terminate. Getting your hands on one of the cards and going over it with a continuity meter to derive pinout would be necessary I feel, but a good chunk could be gained just from the images.

The picture above the text "Tvga9440 and its "iDE" Memory expansion." in the first post with the 2x25 pin male pin ribbon header is definitely not a VESA Feature Connector at least.

They possibly have had some kind of proprietary RAM expansion card mechanism? That was popular with some manufacturers to try to control the RAM market.

Although that tvga40pin.jpg suggests maybe otherwise... there are 2x SOJ40 sockets for traditional non-proprietary memory expansion.

Or maybe they might have left the door open for either format there. Either populate the pin ribbon header, or the 2x SOJ40 sockets to control which one people would get? Mmmhmm, not quite sure.

ATI used a proprietary "AMC" (Ati Media Connector) header that was 40 pins, but was really just the VFC with some extra whizbangs.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/30265/Compa … s.html?page=233

I was wondering if Trident did something similar.

Seeing direct connections to the video ram chips' data lines however, is sufficient to dissuade me from that notion. I just have never seen this memory module, either online, or in the wild.

We could probably engineer one, (Vogons has done this kind of thing in the past...) with a full pinout of what the header, but meh.

Thanks guys for all your effort 😀 i don't wanna waste time, energy asking for a handmade 1mg vram expansion for my PC 😁 It's strange there's no any info online about this, probably it's based on Olivetti's design... I share the manual where there are the specs, mainboard layout description and jumpers settings.
PS. About the L2 cache COASt type? Any idea where to buy It? Cache seems rare as like the vram expansion 😒

Manual in attachment.

Cheers!

doloop82 wrote on 2024-02-20, 13:46:

Thanks guys for all your effort :) i don't wanna waste time, energy asking for a handmade 1mg vram expansion for my PC :D It's s […]
Show full quote

Thanks guys for all your effort 😀 i don't wanna waste time, energy asking for a handmade 1mg vram expansion for my PC 😁 It's strange there's no any info online about this, probably it's based on Olivetti's design... I share the manual where there are the specs, mainboard layout description and jumpers settings.
PS. About the L2 cache COASt type? Any idea where to buy It? Cache seems rare as like the vram expansion 😒

Manual in attachment.

Cheers!

Upgrading a graphics card with a Trident 9440 chip from one to two megabyte makes zero sense.
Re: Vesa Local Bus graphics card - upgrade video memory

CoffeeOne wrote on 2024-02-20, 19:32:

doloop82 wrote on 2024-02-20, 13:46:

Thanks guys for all your effort :) i don't wanna waste time, energy asking for a handmade 1mg vram expansion for my PC :D It's s […]
Show full quote

Thanks guys for all your effort 😀 i don't wanna waste time, energy asking for a handmade 1mg vram expansion for my PC 😁 It's strange there's no any info online about this, probably it's based on Olivetti's design... I share the manual where there are the specs, mainboard layout description and jumpers settings.
PS. About the L2 cache COASt type? Any idea where to buy It? Cache seems rare as like the vram expansion 😒

Manual in attachment.

Cheers!

Upgrading a graphics card with a Trident 9440 chip from one to two megabyte makes zero sense.
Re: Vesa Local Bus graphics card - upgrade video memory

Thanks a mil! I've read the thread you've linked, interesting 😀 Is It valid for both VLB/PCI version?
Anyway I was curious to see which type of vram expansion could fit on that connector.

Cheers!

doloop82 wrote on 2024-02-21, 10:59:

Thanks a mil! I've read the thread you've linked, interesting :) Is It valid for both VLB/PCI version? Anyway I was curious to […]
Show full quote

CoffeeOne wrote on 2024-02-20, 19:32:

doloop82 wrote on 2024-02-20, 13:46:

Thanks guys for all your effort :) i don't wanna waste time, energy asking for a handmade 1mg vram expansion for my PC :D It's s […]
Show full quote

Thanks guys for all your effort 😀 i don't wanna waste time, energy asking for a handmade 1mg vram expansion for my PC 😁 It's strange there's no any info online about this, probably it's based on Olivetti's design... I share the manual where there are the specs, mainboard layout description and jumpers settings.
PS. About the L2 cache COASt type? Any idea where to buy It? Cache seems rare as like the vram expansion 😒

Manual in attachment.

Cheers!

Upgrading a graphics card with a Trident 9440 chip from one to two megabyte makes zero sense.
Re: Vesa Local Bus graphics card - upgrade video memory

Thanks a mil! I've read the thread you've linked, interesting 😀 Is It valid for both VLB/PCI version?
Anyway I was curious to see which type of vram expansion could fit on that connector.

Cheers!

It is for both VLB and PCI.
Another user tested with the PCI variant:
Re: Bad luck with ebay video cards, asking for advice

The 9440 chip has an integrated 108MHz RAMDAC.
In theory there is one additional non-interlaced mode, when you have 2MB instead of 1MB. It is 1280x1024 256 colours at 60Hz.
But only in theory. Practically the mode is just not there.