Mac cards only work in Macs. You'd have to BIOS flash the card to get it to work in a PC, but since Mac cards cost more than PC cards you'd be wasting money buying a Mac card. The DVI may not even work with a BIOS flash since the PC version did not have a DVI port.

the PC V4 does not have a DVI connector

schlang wrote:

the PC V4 does not have a DVI connector

Then a BIOS flash probably won't work since the DVI port wouldn't be supported in the PC BIOS.

ok that's a point. maybe someone who uses a V5 MAC in a PC can clear things up?

I wish you luck trying to find somebody who flashed an expensive Mac video card into a cheaper PC video card. It usually doesn't happen. People buy Mac cards to put in Macs, not PC's.

Crazy 3Dfx enthusiasts have flashed V5 and V4 PCI mac cards to work in PC's specifically because of the DVI port.

I'm not sure it's worth the added expense (they cost more even today), when with good cabling 1600x1200 looks almost as good on SVGA. HDTV's are the only application I can think of.

However, if the problem is that the card has >32MB of ram, perhaps it doesn't like 32MB of ram either. In that case, you'll have trouble with the v4 as well.

They did make 16MB PCI video cards with DVI. The first search I did came up with the Matrox G400 (16mb version). Sexy looking card too. Creative also made a TNT2 pro PCI with 16MB. I see two of them on the bay right now for 50 shipped (US).

EDIT: also check out the matrox G200. Like the 400, it's going to have a non standard port that uses a break out cable for either 2x DVI or 2x VGA (I forget the port name now, but it's not proprietary to just Matrox, Nvidia uses it too IIRC). Basically, look for workstation cards.

Double Edit: Look for the matrox G2+. There are several on the bay.

thanks for the info, I never saw a TNT PCI card with DVI before. I will try that one out 😀

SavantStrike wrote:

Crazy 3Dfx enthusiasts have flashed V5 and V4 PCI mac cards to work in PC's specifically because of the DVI port. […]
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Crazy 3Dfx enthusiasts have flashed V5 and V4 PCI mac cards to work in PC's specifically because of the DVI port.

I'm not sure it's worth the added expense (they cost more even today), when with good cabling 1600x1200 looks almost as good on SVGA. HDTV's are the only application I can think of.

However, if the problem is that the card has >32MB of ram, perhaps it doesn't like 32MB of ram either. In that case, you'll have trouble with the v4 as well.

They did make 16MB PCI video cards with DVI. The first search I did came up with the Matrox G400 (16mb version). Sexy looking card too. Creative also made a TNT2 pro PCI with 16MB. I see two of them on the bay right now for 50 shipped (US).

EDIT: also check out the matrox G200. Like the 400, it's going to have a non standard port that uses a break out cable for either 2x DVI or 2x VGA (I forget the port name now, but it's not proprietary to just Matrox, Nvidia uses it too IIRC). Basically, look for workstation cards.

Double Edit: Look for the matrox G2+. There are several on the bay.

Is the DVI port supported in the PC cards BIOS? Since the PC version doesn't come with one, it doesn't make sense that the PC BIOS would even recognize it.

schlang wrote:

thanks for the info, I never saw a TNT PCI card with DVI before. I will try that one out 😀

Yeah, they look pretty sweet don't they? Heatsink on the VRM and every thing. I had no idea there were even TNT2 cards with DVI to begin with.

As for the DVI ports on the V4/5, I'm sure someone modded the bios to add that functionality, but the files are floating around on the internet these days. It wouldn't be hard either as the spot for the silicon image chips is simply unpopulated in all of the V4/5 boards, even the PC ones, so it's possible it was always an option and 3dfx didn't think it was necessary.

SavantStrike wrote:

schlang wrote:

thanks for the info, I never saw a TNT PCI card with DVI before. I will try that one out 😀

Yeah, they look pretty sweet don't they? Heatsink on the VRM and every thing. I had no idea there were even TNT2 cards with DVI to begin with.

As for the DVI ports on the V4/5, I'm sure someone modded the bios to add that functionality, but the files are floating around on the internet these days. It wouldn't be hard either as the spot for the silicon image chips is simply unpopulated in all of the V4/5 boards, even the PC ones, so it's possible it was always an option and 3dfx didn't think it was necessary.

You still have the issue, though, of V4/V5 Mac cards costing a helluva lot of money. I'm not sure how much the OP is willing to spend, but I wouldn't count on finding a V4/V5 Mac edition for under $150 and for that money better PC cards can be had that have DVI.

sliderider wrote:

I wish you luck trying to find somebody who flashed an expensive Mac video card into a cheaper PC video card. It usually doesn't happen. People buy Mac cards to put in Macs, not PC's.

Oh but it does. Whenever there is a shortage on PCI V5 5500, someone always pulls out a MAC version and flashes it to PC 😉

And it doesnt cost that much either, guys cmon. A decent V5 5500 PCI /w DVI should not cost more then 75$. Everything above that is highway robbery. Check out falconfly.de forum for 3dfx market.

elfuego wrote:

sliderider wrote:

I wish you luck trying to find somebody who flashed an expensive Mac video card into a cheaper PC video card. It usually doesn't happen. People buy Mac cards to put in Macs, not PC's.

Oh but it does. Whenever there is a shortage on PCI V5 5500, someone always pulls out a MAC version and flashes it to PC 😉

And it doesnt cost that much either, guys cmon. A decent V5 5500 PCI /w DVI should not cost more then 75$. Everything above that is highway robbery. Check out falconfly.de forum for 3dfx market.

Not up to date on the price of Mac video cards? Mac video cards typically run around 2-3X the price of equivalent PC parts because they are so rare. When was the last time you saw a PCI version of a V5 for $75? The last time I saw one for that price was back around 2001 which was what I paid for mine. There's a V5 AGP on ebay every day of the week but not the PCI cards. You might see one 3 or 4 times a year, and a Mac version even less than that.

SavantStrike wrote:

Yeah, they look pretty sweet don't they? Heatsink on the VRM and every thing. I had no idea there were even TNT2 cards with DVI to begin with.

received them today, but unfortunately my 486 won't boot with it 🙁

After that I tried to put the mystique in pci slot #1 and the tnt2 in pci slot #2, but even then the pc won't boot...

Have you made sure the TNT's are in working condition? (tested in another board)

Have you tried using a VGA-DVI adapter on a card that you know does work with a 486 motherboard? A 486 is probably going to be below spec for most cards that come with a DVI port on them.

What's the chipset on that Asus? A Matrox G450 may work if the chipset is Intel-based.

Once upon a time I had a similiar ambition (DVI+486), but gave up as there seemed to be a trade-off between best the 486 motherboard features and hardware support.

From my past testing experience, Intel chipset boards tended to be older, often found on Asus motherboards, where CPU and PCI features were somewhat lacking. The ALi's I've tested were problematic on my hardware, and UMC-based boards seem to be the best all-around-solution, but I've het to find a UMC board that supports graphics cards above a Matrox G200-16MB (I've tried a lot).

I don't have much experience with SiS chipsetted boards, but from what I've read online, they tend to work best with more modern graphics cards, even a voodoo4, not Win9X drivers may not work so well.

I would tell you what cards worked on my SP3, if only it hadn't blown up on me 😜

it's some crappy SIS chipset. I will try the TNT2 later in my K6 pc

ok, both cards do also not work in my K6...

I have checked the bios, there is no setting like "init display first: pci/agp"