Mach 32 will probably be as good as anything. Look up card versions of the mach32 that may have the same memory sockets already populated and note the IC.

Usually you need no special drivers, unless you run in to a game in particular that has some known issues on that chip. As for "over 640x480" - for the most part that concern is moot on a 486 of that speed 😁

bertrammatrix wrote on 2025-05-04, 01:43:

Mach 32 will probably be as good as anything. Look up card versions of the mach32 that may have the same memory sockets already populated and note the IC.

Usually you need no special drivers, unless you run in to a game in particular that has some known issues on that chip. As for "over 640x480" - for the most part that concern is moot on a 486 of that speed 😁

I should have said at 640x480 haha that’s my mistake. I’ve attached a picture of a similar AST board I found on this forum with the same video chip and it shows the default soldered RAM chip better but still kind of hard to read and although I’m familiar with computer hardware I still don’t know what I’m looking for when shopping that same type of chip

Is this it https://share.icloud.com/photos/0c8rSs ... kfx6OQrrxQ
And would this be a good substitute since it’s still easy to find https://www.ebay.com/itm/165810999645

9646gt wrote on 2025-05-04, 01:58:

I should have said at 640x480 haha that’s my mistake. I’ve attached a picture of a similar AST board I found on this forum with […]
Show full quote

bertrammatrix wrote on 2025-05-04, 01:43:

Mach 32 will probably be as good as anything. Look up card versions of the mach32 that may have the same memory sockets already populated and note the IC.

Usually you need no special drivers, unless you run in to a game in particular that has some known issues on that chip. As for "over 640x480" - for the most part that concern is moot on a 486 of that speed 😁

I should have said at 640x480 haha that’s my mistake. I’ve attached a picture of a similar AST board I found on this forum with the same video chip and it shows the default soldered RAM chip better but still kind of hard to read and although I’m familiar with computer hardware I still don’t know what I’m looking for when shopping that same type of chip

That's more then 20 pin, I thought you had a different style in mind... For obtaining those ic's an old mach32, s3trio, virge, etc that have the expansion sockets populated may be your best bet. If you get a 4mb virge you'd usually get 4 in sockets leaving you 2 spares. They don't necessarily have to be identical, for instance the speed rating (those look like 70ns), you could toss 60 or 50ns from another card in there with no ill effects

The Mach32's DOS VESA compatiblity is a bit hit and miss, see here for a list of test results:
https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS_VLB/

Look up games you might specifically be playing; if the Mach32 isn't great, you'll see what is.

Note however that your Mach32 is hooked up via VLB whereas the expansion slot on this LPX board is ISA. That means that anything else you add will be much slower. So only consider something else if you have more than enough performance to spare and whatever SVGA issues there are are severe.

Mach32 is an excellent Windows accelerator, so for Win3.1 nothing else makes sense.

My 486 has a very similar VLB Mach 64 onboard, I've never had a need to replace it.
especially if you have a P233 as "backup" for the few games that do have compatibility issues.

bertrammatrix wrote on 2025-05-04, 16:05:

9646gt wrote on 2025-05-04, 01:58:

I should have said at 640x480 haha that’s my mistake. I’ve attached a picture of a similar AST board I found on this forum with […]
Show full quote

bertrammatrix wrote on 2025-05-04, 01:43:

Mach 32 will probably be as good as anything. Look up card versions of the mach32 that may have the same memory sockets already populated and note the IC.

Usually you need no special drivers, unless you run in to a game in particular that has some known issues on that chip. As for "over 640x480" - for the most part that concern is moot on a 486 of that speed 😁

I should have said at 640x480 haha that’s my mistake. I’ve attached a picture of a similar AST board I found on this forum with the same video chip and it shows the default soldered RAM chip better but still kind of hard to read and although I’m familiar with computer hardware I still don’t know what I’m looking for when shopping that same type of chip

That's more then 20 pin, I thought you had a different style in mind... For obtaining those ic's an old mach32, s3trio, virge, etc that have the expansion sockets populated may be your best bet. If you get a 4mb virge you'd usually get 4 in sockets leaving you 2 spares. They don't necessarily have to be identical, for instance the speed rating (those look like 70ns), you could toss 60 or 50ns from another card in there with no ill effects

Yeah that’s what I get for going off blurry pics before getting the hardware in hand haha. 40pins sounds more appropriate haha. And yeah those are good points. The CAS and cycles ratings and stuff are what confused me as to what will work and what won’t work

dionb wrote on 2025-05-04, 16:15:

The Mach32's DOS VESA compatiblity is a bit hit and miss, see here for a list of test results: https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS_ […]
Show full quote

The Mach32's DOS VESA compatiblity is a bit hit and miss, see here for a list of test results:
https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS_VLB/

Look up games you might specifically be playing; if the Mach32 isn't great, you'll see what is.

Note however that your Mach32 is hooked up via VLB whereas the expansion slot on this LPX board is ISA. That means that anything else you add will be much slower. So only consider something else if you have more than enough performance to spare and whatever SVGA issues there are are severe.

Mach32 is an excellent Windows accelerator, so for Win3.1 nothing else makes sense.

Thank you for confirming my suspicions on it being VLB! That makes the decision to stick with it make much more sense especially given what you mention about the Windows 3.x performance. If I upgrade it to 2mb and avoid the troublesome games from that link (I don’t think I’d be playing any of those specific ones) I’d probably be set for up to 640x480 and anything that requires better hardware but isn’t speed sensitive I’ll have my P233 machine for!

chinny22 wrote on 2025-05-05, 01:04:

My 486 has a very similar VLB Mach 64 onboard, I've never had a need to replace it.
especially if you have a P233 as "backup" for the few games that do have compatibility issues.

That’s great to hear!