clb wrote on 2025-08-30, 21:56:

I second the recommendation with ARK1000PV. in our CRT Terminator tests, ARK1000PV has been one of the most compatible and capable graphics adapters that we've seen: https://oummg.com/manual/adapters.html . It "maxes out" Doom timedemo as well (i.e. gets the same best score on the test system as many other PCI cards), so performance is great as well.

Both compatible and fast: not something that Tseng ET4000/6000 was ever able to do.

I played Warlords 2 Deluxe fine on Stingray Pro. I will try the normal version.

The ARK cards are fast, but not as fast as the Cirrus Logic GD5480.
https://www.vgamuseum.info/index.php/cpu/item … logic-cl-gd5480

This is the last and fastest pure 2D Cirrus Logic card based on Alpine (like the more famous GD5446)
This card also gives excellent DOS compatibility (even better than some of the S3 Virge cards), although not listed, the GD5446, based on the same architecure is:
https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS/

Unfortunately, the card is very rare.
They were mostly used as 'frame grabbers'.

When you search for them, it helps to know the brands and type names which used the chips.
I know and own these:
- Coreco Oculus Bandit
- Color graphic Evolution 2
- Integral (don't know the type name)
- Pixelview PV-CL548XP+

I should add that the performance could also differ per card and system combination.
The ARKS are particularity fast in pure VGA and the GD5480 isn't always faster.
The GD5480 is stronger for SVGA, Quake and Build-games.

ejs wrote on 2025-09-05, 08:14:

The ARK cards are fast, but not as fast as the Cirrus Logic GD5480. https://www.vgamuseum.info/index.php/cpu/item … logic-cl-gd5 […]
Show full quote

The ARK cards are fast, but not as fast as the Cirrus Logic GD5480.
https://www.vgamuseum.info/index.php/cpu/item … logic-cl-gd5480

This is the last and fastest pure 2D Cirrus Logic card based on Alpine (like the more famous GD5446)
This card also gives excellent DOS compatibility (even better than some of the S3 Virge cards), although not listed, the GD5446, based on the same architecure is:
https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS/

Unfortunately, the card is very rare.
They were mostly used as 'frame grabbers'.

When you search for them, it helps to know the brands and type names which used the chips.
I know and own these:
- Coreco Oculus Bandit
- Color graphic Evolution 2
- Integral (don't know the type name)
- Pixelview PV-CL548XP+

yeah i had high expectations on the cirrus5480 aswell, but its damn rare and i havn't seen any benchmark results.

Good brand 5446 (like PixelView from my benchmarks) has pretty decent performance, so I expect that a card with SGRAM would be pretty fast, probably tied with Matrox Mystique 220.

Here are some bench results
(AMD K6-III+ @600 MHZ GA-5AA 525)

I added the Tseng and Voodoo for reference, both fast cards as well.
The Tseng is on par with the GD5480, but the GD5480 has superior compatibility.

From dosbench:
Doom High details
GD5480: 121.45
Tseng labs 6100: 121.45
Voodoo 3 3000 PCI: 104.46
Ark 2000PV 2mb: 117.07

Chris 3d 640x480
GD5480: 91.6
Tseng labs 6100: 91.4
Voodoo 3 3000 PCI: 71.9
Ark 2000PV 2mb: 99.5

pc player:
GD5480: 179.3
Tseng labs 6100: 196.4
Voodoo 3 3000 PCI: 194.5
Ark 2000PV 2mb: 185.3

pc player 640x480
GD5480: 63.1
Tseng labs 6100: 63.3
Voodoo 3 3000 PCI: 42.8
Ark 2000PV 2mb: 55.7

Quake:
GD5480: 105.5
Tseng labs 6100: 108.7
Voodoo 3 3000 PCI: 108.6
Ark 2000PV 2mb: 105.9

Quake 640 x 480
GD5480: 30.9
Tseng labs 6100: 29.6
Voodoo 3 3000 PCI: 26.1
Ark 2000PV 2mb: 20

Build-games:
Duke3d 640x480
GD5480: 87
Tseng labs 6100: 87
Voodoo 3 3000 PCI: 67
Ark 2000PV 2mb: 75

Duke3d 800x600
GD5480: 57
Tseng labs 6100: 57
Voodoo 3 3000 PCI: 44
Ark 2000PV 2mb: 47

Blood 800x600
GD5480: 36
Tseng labs 6100: 36
Voodoo 3 3000 PCI: 24
Ark 2000PV 2mb: 31

Redneck 800x600:
GD5480: 43
Tseng labs 6100: 43
Voodoo 3 3000 PCI: 36
Ark 2000PV 2mb: 36

ejs wrote on 2025-09-05, 14:44:

Here are some bench results (AMD K6-III+ @600 MHZ GA-5AA 525) […]
Show full quote

Here are some bench results
(AMD K6-III+ @600 MHZ GA-5AA 525)

I added the Tseng and Voodoo for reference, both fast cards as well.
The Tseng is on par with the GD5480, but the GD5480 has superior compatibility.

excellent, i guess the ultimate final of fastest 2d card would be between cirrus5480 and s3 968. 968 would be at noticeable disadvantage in 8bpp svga dos games, but windows truecolor results remain undecided.
et6100 is eliminated at semifinals due to lower maximum resolution(no 1600*1200 hicolor, no 1280*1024 truecolor).

however, even the 5480 cannot match 968's output quality.
5480 supports: 60 hz at 1600*1200 hicolor, 60hz at 1280*1024 truecolor, 85hz at 1280*1024 hicolor, which is up to "mainstream standard".
but s3 968 supports up to 85hz even at 1600*1200 truecolor(8mb vram required), or thats what claimed in the datasheet.

Voodoo 3 has some typical performance problems that can be fixed with nopageflip (Quake) and NOLFB. Overall I don't see ARK 2000PV as being anything special, probably won't beat my ExpertColor DSP-3364 (S3 Trio 64). I found one that was cheap enough to buy and will look how it scales on Athlon XP 3000+.

Dropping ARK 2000PV (Diamond Stealth 64 2001) tests here. To see my testing methodology, visit my benchmark topic.

Doom Shareware v1.09 - 119.6 fps (this pretty much confirms ARK legendary status in Mode X)

Quake VGA - 293.2 fps
Quake 640x400 (nopageflip) - 127.5 fps
Quake 640x480 (nopageflip) - 109.0 fps
Quake 800x600 (nopageflip) - 72.9 fps
Quake 1024x768 (nopageflip) - 45.7 fps
Quake 1280x1024 (nopageflip) - 26.3 fps (unfortunately ARK 2000PV can't display this mode without very heavy noise on the screen)

PC Player Benchmark VGA - 424.9 fps (slower than majority of S3 cards)
PC Player Benchmark 640x480 - 154.5 fps (on par with good S3 cards)

Duke Nukem 3D 800x600 (NOLFB) - 192 fps
Duke Nukem 3D 800x600 (NOLFB) - 120 fps
Duke Nukem 3D 1024x768 (NOLFB) - 71 fps
Duke Nukem 3D 1280x1024 (NOLFB) - 40 fps (same as Quake, very noisy)

To summarize DOS:
Doom Mode X - fastest PCI card in my tests, definitely could help some 486 systems which struggle to maintain stable 35 fps. But there are better ways to play Doom nowadays, which makes this advantage moot.
VGA - good, but nothing special.
VESA - trades blows with good S3 cards, but gradually falls over in high-res modes.

Unfortunately ARK 2000PV suffers the same issue as many other cards with cheap external DACs - they fall over in high-res modes due to various output glitches. ARK 2000MT cards don't have better DACs, so I expect the same problems, although it might be slightly faster due to EDO memory (not a guarantee in 256 color modes).

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2025-09-05, 23:03:

Dropping ARK 2000PV (Diamond Stealth 64 2001) tests here. To see my testing methodology, visit my benchmark topic. […]
Show full quote

Dropping ARK 2000PV (Diamond Stealth 64 2001) tests here. To see my testing methodology, visit my benchmark topic.

Doom Shareware v1.09 - 119.6 fps (this pretty much confirms ARK legendary status in Mode X)

Quake VGA - 293.2 fps
Quake 640x400 (nopageflip) - 127.5 fps
Quake 640x480 (nopageflip) - 109.0 fps
Quake 800x600 (nopageflip) - 72.9 fps
Quake 1024x768 (nopageflip) - 45.7 fps
Quake 1280x1024 (nopageflip) - 26.3 fps (unfortunately ARK 2000PV can't display this mode without very heavy noise on the screen)

PC Player Benchmark VGA - 424.9 fps (slower than majority of S3 cards)
PC Player Benchmark 640x480 - 154.5 fps (on par with good S3 cards)

Duke Nukem 3D 800x600 (NOLFB) - 192 fps
Duke Nukem 3D 800x600 (NOLFB) - 120 fps
Duke Nukem 3D 1024x768 (NOLFB) - 71 fps
Duke Nukem 3D 1280x1024 (NOLFB) - 40 fps (same as Quake, very noisy)

To summarize DOS:
Doom Mode X - fastest PCI card in my tests, definitely could help some 486 systems which struggle to maintain stable 35 fps. But there are better ways to play Doom nowadays, which makes this advantage moot.
VGA - good, but nothing special.
VESA - trades blows with good S3 cards, but gradually falls over in high-res modes.

Unfortunately ARK 2000PV suffers the same issue as many other cards with cheap external DACs - they fall over in high-res modes due to various output glitches. ARK 2000MT cards don't have better DACs, so I expect the same problems, although it might be slightly faster due to EDO memory (not a guarantee in 256 color modes).

man there is nothing better than a 486 to play doom, IS the system to play this game

I mostly keep my cyrix 5x86 for doom only

Another system that ark make fly is cyrix media GX, is the only graphic card that make callus not slowdown to less than 60 fps

486s in general are horrible systems to play Doom engine gaames and especially Doom II and Heretic. Anyway, I mostly confirmed that ARK is not worth all that hassle.

It all comes down on what you want to use it for.

When you are on a faster system and these are the benchmarks:

Doom:
Card a: 100 fps
Card b: 150 fps

Duke3d:
Card a: 60 fps
Card b: 50 fps

In this case, for me, card a would be the one to go for. It is useless to have doom potentially running at something like 100fps, while for Duke 3d, 60 vs 50 fps does make a difference.

Generally, I think that the game where the fps is generally the lowest, has the more important fps
score. But it also depends on you preferring what games you want to play. Or for whatever software you want to use it for.