Hey everyone,

I’m putting together a VL/EISA 486, and I’ve been thinking about Windows accelerators/co-processors. I’ve seen the SuperMatch Spectrum/24 named here and there, and it seems to be an all-around competent option. That being said, I recently lost out on the only one I’ve seen for sale (on everyone’s least-favorite marketplace; but I’m thankful for this, given the obscene cost that I would have regretted paying).

This begs the question: What alternatives to the SuperMatch Spectrum/24 exist? Is there any sort of add-on card besides it that can provide 24-bit color in Windows, secondary to a fast DOS card like the ARK1000VL or Tseng ET4000/W32P?

I’ve seen Matrox cards for ISA that I *think* let you disable the VGA core, but sourcing one seems tough. The same issue persists with sourcing something exotic like a MediaVision ProGraphics. I’ve seen ATI Mach8s/8514-Ultras out there, but they seem a bit less feature-rich than I’d like. I believe the 8514 Ultra is limited to 256 colors at 1024x768? If I’m wrong, that would be great, as I believe those are easier to find.

I’ve got a TIGA card—the SPEA FGA-1—and it’s wonderful, but not the best for my needs. I’m mostly using it for Windows stuff and CAD musings on my 286-12. It seems pretty darn fast there.

Would something like a Compaq QVision be configurable to provide the desired result? As in, could I run a QVision as a secondary, Windows-only card? I’ve got one, part no. 126654-001. I believe that’s a QVision 1024/E?

Alternatively, if this isn’t an option, I’d love to find an EISA VGA card, but they seem so elusive, aside from the occasional QVision. The ELSA Winner 1000 XHR would be sweet, but I just don’t know where to even look for something like that.

Speaking of ELSA, I saw this card and was intrigued, as I have heard, read, and am led to believe that Windows acceleration over ISA is not as big of an issue; the bus bottleneck is not as much a problem, from what PC Mag mentioned over and over back in the day. This could’ve been untrue, but I’m curious nonetheless. Is this card really as fast as it seems (with 2MB of RAM installed and memory interleaving enabled)? The 805i was pretty competent, from what I understand. I also noticed that this particular card has jumpers that say “2nd board,” leading me to believe that it could be installed as a secondary Windows accelerator; is this true?

Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated!