Old video card headers and other question \ VOGONS

Old video card headers and other question

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First post, by TandySensation

Posted on 2015-03-05, 17:15

TandySensation Offline

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Some video cards have rows of pins, what is their function? I Have a Rage II 4MB PCI card with three sets. Are these for memory expansion daughter boards? I could see that for the two near the memory but not sure about the 3rd one. Was there some sort of old fashion SLI available?

My card looks similar to this but with 4 memory chips and S-Video/TV-out

Another question:

Is the best way to switch between an AGP and a PCI card is to toggle between them using the bios option init first PCI/AGP option? Any draw backs to doing this or is there a better way? I've been switch between a Geforce 5700le and an S3Trio3D. The Geforce seems to do everything fine in DOS but sometimes I like to try out the S3 to see if there's any difference.

One last thing:
Is it true the S3Trio3d doesn't support S3D API or does it support it but the games don't recognize it? I was thinking about looking for another S3 but maybe it's not worth the trouble for the few S3D games available.

Reply 1 of 6, by Kamerat

Posted on 2015-03-05, 17:35

Kamerat Offline

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The shortest one I guess (ATI Multimedia Channel (AMC)): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feature_connector
The two long ones for memory expansion.

DOS Sound Blaster compatibility: PCI sound cards vs. PCI chipsets
YouTube channel

Reply 2 of 6, by QBiN

Posted on 2015-03-05, 18:08

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This connector is a super-set of the old school VGA/VESA Feature connector. From my recollection, older ATI cards were the biggest user of these for their multi-media add-on cards (like the TV Wonder series).

We've hashed through this a few times. See the following thread: This video card connector used for?

Reply 3 of 6, by RacoonRider

Posted on 2015-03-05, 18:35

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TandySensation wrote:

One last thing:
Is it true the S3Trio3d doesn't support S3D API or does it support it but the games don't recognize it? I was thinking about looking for another S3 but maybe it's not worth the trouble for the few S3D games available.

While Trio3D technically belongs to Virge series, it does not support S3D. The best and the latest videocard to support S3D is Virge GX/2.

Reply 4 of 6, by TandySensation

Posted on 2015-03-05, 19:36

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Thanks for the replies, that explains it. If I see a GX2 cheap I'll pick one up.

Reply 5 of 6, by Putas

Posted on 2015-03-05, 20:00

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RacoonRider wrote:
While Trio3D technically belongs to Virge series, it does not support S3D.

Of course it does.
Just look up S3d toolkit on this very forum.

Reply 6 of 6, by idspispopd

Posted on 2015-03-06, 05:48

idspispopd Offline

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The BIOS setting is what I use, I don' know any better way for DOS. In Windows you could try how the GF works as secondary card.

Regarding S3d: You might want to use a DX or GX card for maximum compatibility. Problem is that those perform differently depending on the RAM.
GX2 cards are not that common, DX/GX, Trio3D and Trio3D/2X are more common.

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