How bad would a random S3 PCI graphics card be on my 486SP3? \ VOGONS

How bad would a random S3 PCI graphics card be on my 486SP3?

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First post, by hargcore

Posted on 2010-09-15, 21:40

hargcore Offline

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Ok, so I know I should be going for a nice ISA card something like an ET4000 W32P but I can't find anything so I'm looking at a dodgy unbranded S3 Trio PCI card as a temporary stop gap.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/S3-VIRGE-BOARD-VGA-VIDE … =item3f02c1e7b4

Now I know the motherboard I am to receive (ASUS PVI-486SP3) has poor PCI implementation and I'm getting some random cheap card for it so it doesn't bode well, but I just wanted to know how bad exactly do you reckon a setup like this will be?

What kind of game performance should I expect!?

This card will be replaced in time of course but I aren't paying £60 for something decent from the US.

Reply 1 of 5, by leileilol

Posted on 2010-09-16, 00:01

leileilol Offline

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Assumingly great. Don't bother with its 3D portion, as long as you don't even care about its infamous 3d decelerator, it's an okay makeshift S3 Trio substitute.

As for dodgy PCI implementation i've have one of those myself (as do all 486s) and the S3 still wasn't a bad idea. Its a definite step up from my Diamond Speedstar VLB ISA card from back in the day. 😀

long live PCem

Reply 2 of 5, by 5u3

Posted on 2010-09-16, 00:07

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S3 Trio PCI and the Asus PVI-486SP3 are a perfect match. The S3 Trio is very compatible with early SVGA games (the ones a 486 can run fast enough).

I'm not even sure a ET4000 would be much faster than this.

Reply 3 of 5, by sliderider

Posted on 2010-09-16, 15:01

sliderider Offline

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I wouldn't bother with a 3D card in a 486 system. The CPU is going to be a huge bottleneck. It won't be able to pass off calculations to the GPU fast enough to be playable. Just go with a good 2D card.

Reply 4 of 5, by hargcore

Posted on 2010-09-16, 16:04

hargcore Offline

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Thanks for the responses - I've picked up the S3. I'll hit the pentium up with a better 3D solution when I get round to building that.

Reply 5 of 5, by 5u3

Posted on 2010-09-16, 16:22

5u3 Offline

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S3 Trio doesn't do 3D acceleration anyways.

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