Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2022-03-25, 16:25:

Tetrium wrote on 2022-03-25, 15:27:

Would be interesting to hear more about the origins of Vanta and M64. GF MX has seen more exposure the last years at least.

From what I remember, the Vanta and M64 models were very popular during the first half of the year 2000. They provided acceptable performance for very little money. But, at the same time, everyone who bought one of those cards knew that they were merely a stopgap.

When the GeForce2 MX400 came into the picture, the situation was a bit different. It delivered pretty solid performance in all but the highest resolutions, and had decent staying power. Even today, it's a pretty good card.

I just went to my attic to check on a card that I apparently do not have (alas), but I did happen to browse through my box of TNT2 M64 cards and one was even made in 2001 even (didn't check the week).
I'd say these cards were used as 'simple display adapters' at the end of their product cycle life for boards that didn't have onboard graphics, kinda like a display adapter for office PCs with no real gaming intended (but basic 3D available if needed).
These cards just worked 😋

GF MX was a really good successor to the M64 cards. Btw one could say that the TNT2 M64 and Vanta were basically the TNT2 MX cards 😜

Don't underestimate the power of Vanta/M64... They're great for Vesa support as well!
And indeed, in Windows they're not fast, just better than Intel. You could play a game on lower res that you couldn't in the Intel. And it comes with it's own ram, where Intel uses main ram.

And ofc, they are great for testing. They just work, are not draining too much current and cost next to nothing, so if you burn a few accidentally you'll get a box of new ones for the price of three drinks at your favourite bar.

it's a valid combination for up to late 90s and older games,
not the best video card but also not terrible at all,

waterbeesje wrote on 2022-03-25, 20:27:

Don't underestimate the power of Vanta/M64... They're great for Vesa support as well!
And indeed, in Windows they're not fast, just better than Intel. You could play a game on lower res that you couldn't in the Intel. And it comes with it's own ram, where Intel uses main ram.

And ofc, they are great for testing. They just work, are not draining too much current and cost next to nothing, so if you burn a few accidentally you'll get a box of new ones for the price of three drinks at your favourite bar.

SPBHM wrote on 2022-03-25, 20:52:

it's a valid combination for up to late 90s and older games,
not the best video card but also not terrible at all,

For testing I always used a SiS6326, unless it's an AGP 8x board which doesn't support my SiS6326.

I don't think we need to convince each other, we all like TNT2 M64/vanta 😋

Ah, I had to give away my TNT2 due to a mishap when fixing a friends computer. Brings back fond memories. And like almost everyone else said. There are a lot of games / apps from that era (and before it) that would benefit both from the greater bandwith than what a PCI card can provide and somewhat of a bit better than the chipset laughable 3d "deceleration" (I should know. Gamed a lot on intel's 810/815, and I still have one of the rare, agp memory expansions. They're not as bad as the SIS 6326 (I used to have one but it misteriously died (mua ha ha ha ha) but the TNT2 is much better (even if it's the budget version)

My current retrobuild has an MX2 400 and I have both variants. The cool one and the "Im as slow as an original TNT" one.

On a separate note. Can anyone point me in the right direction to find -if such a thing exists- the Spanish community here? Been a long time reader but just came here and I cant find the spanish groups if there are any. Thanks 😁

Doornkaat wrote on 2022-03-17, 05:51:

The GeForce 4 MX 440 is a very fitting card for this motherboard CPU combo.👍

Awesome!

Tetrium wrote on 2022-03-25, 21:28:

For testing I always used a SiS6326, unless it's an AGP 8x board which doesn't support my SiS6326. […]
Show full quote

waterbeesje wrote on 2022-03-25, 20:27:

Don't underestimate the power of Vanta/M64... They're great for Vesa support as well!
And indeed, in Windows they're not fast, just better than Intel. You could play a game on lower res that you couldn't in the Intel. And it comes with it's own ram, where Intel uses main ram.

And ofc, they are great for testing. They just work, are not draining too much current and cost next to nothing, so if you burn a few accidentally you'll get a box of new ones for the price of three drinks at your favourite bar.

SPBHM wrote on 2022-03-25, 20:52:

it's a valid combination for up to late 90s and older games,
not the best video card but also not terrible at all,

For testing I always used a SiS6326, unless it's an AGP 8x board which doesn't support my SiS6326.

I don't think we need to convince each other, we all like TNT2 M64/vanta 😋

Hahaha, graphics card wars... I'll go and get some popcorn ։P

Donovan V. wrote on 2022-03-25, 21:53:

Ah, I had to give away my TNT2 due to a mishap when fixing a friends computer. Brings back fond memories. And like almost everyone else said. There are a lot of games / apps from that era (and before it) that would benefit both from the greater bandwith than what a PCI card can provide and somewhat of a bit better than the chipset laughable 3d "deceleration" (I should know. Gamed a lot on intel's 810/815, and I still have one of the rare, agp memory expansions. They're not as bad as the SIS 6326 (I used to have one but it misteriously died (mua ha ha ha ha) but the TNT2 is much better (even if it's the budget version)

My current retrobuild has an MX2 400 and I have both variants. The cool one and the "Im as slow as an original TNT" one.

On a separate note. Can anyone point me in the right direction to find -if such a thing exists- the Spanish community here? Been a long time reader but just came here and I cant find the spanish groups if there are any. Thanks 😁

Ahh, sad... I have an 815EP motherboard, supposedly they're fairly high end?

UltimateElectronic wrote on 2022-03-29, 07:46:

Donovan V. wrote on 2022-03-25, 21:53:

Ah, I had to give away my TNT2 due to a mishap when fixing a friends computer. Brings back fond memories. And like almost everyone else said. There are a lot of games / apps from that era (and before it) that would benefit both from the greater bandwith than what a PCI card can provide and somewhat of a bit better than the chipset laughable 3d "deceleration" (I should know. Gamed a lot on intel's 810/815, and I still have one of the rare, agp memory expansions. They're not as bad as the SIS 6326 (I used to have one but it misteriously died (mua ha ha ha ha) but the TNT2 is much better (even if it's the budget version)

My current retrobuild has an MX2 400 and I have both variants. The cool one and the "Im as slow as an original TNT" one.

On a separate note. Can anyone point me in the right direction to find -if such a thing exists- the Spanish community here? Been a long time reader but just came here and I cant find the spanish groups if there are any. Thanks 😁

Ahh, sad... I have an 815EP motherboard, supposedly they're fairly high end?

Depends a bit on the board, but 815 chipset is basically the higher end version of the i810 chipset.
It's kinda hard to recommend i810 chipset btw, if only because of its limitations (and especially the no-AGP bit and PCI bus issues this chipset seemed to have).

Tetrium wrote on 2022-03-29, 08:53:

UltimateElectronic wrote on 2022-03-29, 07:46:

Donovan V. wrote on 2022-03-25, 21:53:

Ah, I had to give away my TNT2 due to a mishap when fixing a friends computer. Brings back fond memories. And like almost everyone else said. There are a lot of games / apps from that era (and before it) that would benefit both from the greater bandwith than what a PCI card can provide and somewhat of a bit better than the chipset laughable 3d "deceleration" (I should know. Gamed a lot on intel's 810/815, and I still have one of the rare, agp memory expansions. They're not as bad as the SIS 6326 (I used to have one but it misteriously died (mua ha ha ha ha) but the TNT2 is much better (even if it's the budget version)

My current retrobuild has an MX2 400 and I have both variants. The cool one and the "Im as slow as an original TNT" one.

On a separate note. Can anyone point me in the right direction to find -if such a thing exists- the Spanish community here? Been a long time reader but just came here and I cant find the spanish groups if there are any. Thanks 😁

Ahh, sad... I have an 815EP motherboard, supposedly they're fairly high end?

Depends a bit on the board, but 815 chipset is basically the higher end version of the i810 chipset.
It's kinda hard to recommend i810 chipset btw, if only because of its limitations (and especially the no-AGP bit and PCI bus issues this chipset seemed to have).

The 815ep is kind of "high end" if you can find a motherboard that supports messing with memory timings, maybe even overclocking. I would describe them as "rock solid" just because you dont have to worry too much about compatibility, unless you're trying to use things like too old memory or agp1x cards or things of that sort. The integrated graphics though.... they're fine for most DOS games but thats the extent of it. Anything else... no. Even a SIS PCI card WILL beat that chipset. Used to have a SIS 300 adapter, PCI and it worked better than the onboard graphics.

Tetrium wrote on 2022-03-29, 08:53:

UltimateElectronic wrote on 2022-03-29, 07:46:

Donovan V. wrote on 2022-03-25, 21:53:

Ah, I had to give away my TNT2 due to a mishap when fixing a friends computer. Brings back fond memories. And like almost everyone else said. There are a lot of games / apps from that era (and before it) that would benefit both from the greater bandwith than what a PCI card can provide and somewhat of a bit better than the chipset laughable 3d "deceleration" (I should know. Gamed a lot on intel's 810/815, and I still have one of the rare, agp memory expansions. They're not as bad as the SIS 6326 (I used to have one but it misteriously died (mua ha ha ha ha) but the TNT2 is much better (even if it's the budget version)

My current retrobuild has an MX2 400 and I have both variants. The cool one and the "Im as slow as an original TNT" one.

On a separate note. Can anyone point me in the right direction to find -if such a thing exists- the Spanish community here? Been a long time reader but just came here and I cant find the spanish groups if there are any. Thanks 😁

Ahh, sad... I have an 815EP motherboard, supposedly they're fairly high end?

Depends a bit on the board, but 815 chipset is basically the higher end version of the i810 chipset.
It's kinda hard to recommend i810 chipset btw, if only because of its limitations (and especially the no-AGP bit and PCI bus issues this chipset seemed to have).

Fair enough. The board I have is an ASUS CUSL2-C. Has AGP, 5 or 6 PCI slots and that smaller expansion slot down the bottom (I've seen modem cards with this connector).

UltimateElectronic wrote on 2022-03-29, 23:02:

Tetrium wrote on 2022-03-29, 08:53:

UltimateElectronic wrote on 2022-03-29, 07:46:

Ahh, sad... I have an 815EP motherboard, supposedly they're fairly high end?

Depends a bit on the board, but 815 chipset is basically the higher end version of the i810 chipset.
It's kinda hard to recommend i810 chipset btw, if only because of its limitations (and especially the no-AGP bit and PCI bus issues this chipset seemed to have).

Fair enough. The board I have is an ASUS CUSL2-C. Has AGP, 5 or 6 PCI slots and that smaller expansion slot down the bottom (I've seen modem cards with this connector).

Imo ASUS CUSL2-C should be basically as good as it gets. I've never used that particular ASUS board but I have used numerous contemporary boards and usually ASUS is one of the better brands during that era. I reckon it's basically a TUSL2-C without Tualatin support.

That small slot is probably the AMR/CNR/ACR slot (pick whichever, it doesn't really matter since they share the same basic lack of usefulness even from a retro perspective)

Donovan V. wrote on 2022-03-29, 19:20:

Tetrium wrote on 2022-03-29, 08:53:

UltimateElectronic wrote on 2022-03-29, 07:46:

Ahh, sad... I have an 815EP motherboard, supposedly they're fairly high end?

Depends a bit on the board, but 815 chipset is basically the higher end version of the i810 chipset.
It's kinda hard to recommend i810 chipset btw, if only because of its limitations (and especially the no-AGP bit and PCI bus issues this chipset seemed to have).

The 815ep is kind of "high end" if you can find a motherboard that supports messing with memory timings, maybe even overclocking. I would describe them as "rock solid" just because you dont have to worry too much about compatibility, unless you're trying to use things like too old memory or agp1x cards or things of that sort. The integrated graphics though.... they're fine for most DOS games but thats the extent of it. Anything else... no. Even a SIS PCI card WILL beat that chipset. Used to have a SIS 300 adapter, PCI and it worked better than the onboard graphics.

Chipset is one thing. BIOS features is another. I still like good boards even if they lack certain features, the Intel boards I used were a treat even though the BIOS lacked most flexibility (ands could sometimes be annoying but at least they just worked and this I prefer over 1337 overclocking options).

I find the onboard VGA to be at least useful when testing the board 😋

Tetrium wrote on 2022-03-30, 08:46:

Donovan V. wrote on 2022-03-29, 19:20:

Tetrium wrote on 2022-03-29, 08:53:

Depends a bit on the board, but 815 chipset is basically the higher end version of the i810 chipset.
It's kinda hard to recommend i810 chipset btw, if only because of its limitations (and especially the no-AGP bit and PCI bus issues this chipset seemed to have).

The 815ep is kind of "high end" if you can find a motherboard that supports messing with memory timings, maybe even overclocking. I would describe them as "rock solid" just because you dont have to worry too much about compatibility, unless you're trying to use things like too old memory or agp1x cards or things of that sort. The integrated graphics though.... they're fine for most DOS games but thats the extent of it. Anything else... no. Even a SIS PCI card WILL beat that chipset. Used to have a SIS 300 adapter, PCI and it worked better than the onboard graphics.

Chipset is one thing. BIOS features is another. I still like good boards even if they lack certain features, the Intel boards I used were a treat even though the BIOS lacked most flexibility (ands could sometimes be annoying but at least they just worked and this I prefer over 1337 overclocking options).

I find the onboard VGA to be at least useful when testing the board 😋

Yes. That I can get behind. Unless something has gone catastrophically wrong with the board (or the processor) even without ram they will annoyingly tell you "BLEEEEEP I HAVE A PROBLEM" I've seen a few boards that cant even manage that. The old PCChips for the Pentium 4 comes to mind.

I know I am late to this topic, but I was just trying the TNT2 M64 PCI on a Pentium 4 1.4, just for the pain, on WinXP.

Colin M. Rally 2 I am getting 21 FPS on cocpit view and the other cameras 30fps. NF3 27FPS, Warcraft 3 17FPS and Quake 3 Arena around 40FPS. With Max Payne, less than 30 FPS with T&L software rendering. All games at 800x600 resolution and mostly low settings.

Yes it's slow, but somehow charming. 😀