First post, by andre_6
Hello everyone,
I've done a fair look around the forum for ISA graphics cards discussion, and I'm still kind of confused as to what I should be looking for.
In order to replace the OTI-77 graphics card that came with my 486 originally (a low to mid-level ISA only board with a DX-2 66 CPU and 16MB RAM) I bought a Trident 8900CL, thinking that I had a reliable card (which I do in a way) and affordable to boot, but ended up disappointed when I found out that it was a 6-bit RAMDAC card variant, which as a learning user I didn't realise it was even a thing among variants that I had to look out for. Another disappointment was finding out that Trident cards have a jail bar effect using LCD displays in some games in DOS due to signal issues. Apparently common to the brand, that can be alleviated by recapping the card but never really disappears from what I've read, so I won't even bother. For now I don't have the space for a full CRT monitor for this particular PC, so I was considering getting another card to use in this build, but the more I read the more confused I am:
Due to increasing prices normal/good ISA graphics cards are going closer and closer to the so called "top" ISA cards, like the ET4000AX, etc., so I started considering those too, even if I had to pay some more to close this build for good. But some people say that despite the Tseng ET4000AX being a nice card the ET4000 by comparison is not worth it or good enough, or that the Diamond Speedstar does not have a clear image/signal, or that the ATI Mach is actually not that great performance wise, or that the Cirrus Logic cards are all trash as opposed to those who say that they are practically as fast as a Tseng in most contexts, etc., you get the picture. Irrespectively of a good benchmark, I end up reading something derogatory about the card in question.
Sure, this is true for practically everything, but I don't think I've seen a theme so all over the place opinion wise as ISA graphics cards. I realise that my 486 as an ISA only build will always have limitations, and I don't need it to play Doom in high detail and higher frame rate, I have a Pentium Pro build for that. What I would like is to get some advice for this particular 486 build for a good graphics card or above that doesn't come with caveats or surprises like I had with the Trident, e.g. being a 6-bit RAMDAC version or any other aspect that a beginner wouldn't know, or worse of all, the jail bar effect in LCD displays. I imagine the CPU is what counts speedwise in the end so I would prioritise affordability and only go for more if an opportunity arises, but feel free to give kudos to the top cards as well, and please do warn me of potential surprises like the ones I described. Simple DOS gaming with the occasional incursion into Win 3.1 is what I'm looking to do with it.
As always thanks for all your time and replies!