The ATI Mach32 VLB was a pretty well-disliked card. It would cause hangs with even basic VGA modes in games -- particularly through windows. If I recall correctly, it also has to be manually configured to operate with specific monitors and refresh rates through some program that I don't know if is even available anymore.

The Cirrus Logic cards were pretty much the opposite. I used a Cirrus 5424 VLB before I got my 3D Blaster VLB, and had nothing but good experiences. The only thing I ever had real problems with is that it did not like running at anything higher than 256 colors at 800x600 or above, but that was because my DRAM was mis-timed (my fault).

termynuss wrote:

The ATI Mach32 VLB was a pretty well-disliked card.

Interesting.. I have an ISA Mach32 and a PCI Mach64 in two separate machines. I've never had an issue with either one of them. Even the Win3.x drivers for the ISA Mach32 were a breeze.

I've had the ATI mach32 vlb since it first came out and never had any problems with VGA or EGA compatibility. The only problems I had with mine were with a handful of older CGA games, one I remeber being Monuments of Mars. And ATI stepped up to the plate and actually sent me a new version of the card that fixed the CGA problems as well. I never owned a Cirrus Logic card so I can't comment on it.

I never had the VLB Mach32, was just reporting what I recalled from when they came out. A quick search on Usenet seems to affirm what I had remembered (in a fairly vitriolic way in some places), but I suppose it really is a mixed bag!

Thanks for all your responses. I am mainly using MS-DOS 6.22 on my 486 machine, but I'm thinking of putting Win 3.11 on top of it later on.
So, I probably won't be playing any games that require a higher resolution than 800x600 and 256 colors.

I also have seen older posts on different sites about certain problems with both of these cards, in which even the Cirrus Logic card supposedly has some problems when used with the Creative Soundblaster 16 ISA, in that there will be some audio distortions in games that use VESA, for example.

In any case, please keep the suggestions coming, and I will most likely come to a decision later on tonight about which one to get.

Thanks!

I have a CL 5428 VLB card, it's OK for games (even very old ones), albeit a bit slow, and it sometimes hangs when running a 40 MHz bus clock. It wouldn't really matter in a 486DX2-50 system, because the bus clock is only 25 MHz in this configuration.

5u3, thanks for your input. Right now I am using a normal ET4000 ISA card on my 486. In your opinion, do you think the CL 5428 vlb card (the same card you have is the one up for sale) would bring a substantial speed benefit to my DX2 50mhz system compared to the ET4000?

Thanks

pianoman72 wrote:

In your opinion, do you think the CL 5428 vlb card (the same card you have is the one up for sale) would bring a substantial speed benefit to my DX2 50mhz system compared to the ET4000?

I think it would be barely noticeable, because the ET4000 is a very fast ISA card, while the CL5428 is a rather mediocre VLB card. But the main impact comes from the bus speed.
Upgrading to a VLB card would make more sense if you also upgrade the CPU to a model that runs at a higher bus speed, like an Intel 486DX2-66 or an AMD 486DX2-80. In case you could get the VLB card and a faster CPU for little money, it might be worth it.

It also depends on the games you play. More demanding titles like Quake, Duke3D or System Shock are never really smooth on a 486.

About the Cirrus Logic / Soundblaster 16 problem you mentioned: I never encountered this, but it seems to be a faulty VESA bios on some cards. You can overcome this by using the UniVBE driver (which is recommended anyways).

Great, that's what I was hoping to hear. Right now I'm playing Elder Scrolls I: Arena, on my 486, and it works very good, but I can tell the performance is a bit slow playing on the maximum textures setting.

Once I will upgrade the CPU, I will most likely use the VLB video card.

Dreamiest VLB cards:

DOS: ET4000/W32p. Very compatible and very fast.
WIN: Maybe a S3 Trio VLB. Or Mach64?

Cirrus Logic cards are okay for DOS, but they are nothing compared to an ET4000/W32p. I'd stay away from that old ATI card....

Always try to use Scitech display doctor.

Useful links:
http://www.computercraft.com/docs/Videochipsets.html
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.os2.mi … e6a02910e?hl=en&

Swaaye, thank you very much for the pertinent information and links on the vlb video cards. I am happy that I held on purchasing either of the cards I previously mentioned last night, since you convinced me that the ET4000/W32 is one of the best options to have for raw DOS performance, with a VLB setup above 33mhz system bus.

I will wait until I can find such a card, coupled with a faster 486 CPU.

5u3 wrote:

It also depends on the games you play. More demanding titles like Quake, Duke3D or System Shock are never really smooth on a 486.

True. I'd also like to add that when playing texture mapped, non-accelerated 3D games in high resolution (Duke 3D, Jane's ATF, Top Gun: Fire At Will, etc), CPU speed matters more than video card.

That's right, I am playing System Shock on my AMD K-6 @ 266mhz, at the higher resolution (640x480) with full screen, and of course it works beautifully. I know that my 486 PC would not handle this game smoothly, even at the lower resolution, so I would not even think of playing it on that computer.

However, with Elder Scrolls: Arena, my AMD K6 is too fast, and even with the provided Pentium slowdown in the game, it does not play smoothly, the framerate is not fluid, but jerky, especially when moving and rotating my character.