dionb wrote on 2022-06-22, 10:56:

*snip cause it didnt quote correctly

Initially I went for the V330 simply because fo the ones OP listed its got the best windows 98 compatibility with some rock solid drivers too, unless I missed something where did the OP list the V2100 ?

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-06-22, 11:42:

dionb wrote on 2022-06-22, 10:56:

*snip cause it didnt quote correctly

Initially I went for the V330 simply because fo the ones OP listed its got the best windows 98 compatibility with some rock solid drivers too, unless I missed something where did the OP list the V2100 ?

In the OP:

I also have a Viper v330 4Mb, and a Stealth II S220 4mb.

Ah, I did miss that ...skim reading has become a bane of my internet existence.

dionb wrote on 2022-06-22, 10:56:

Exception: analog image quality is determined by the choice and quality of components on the specific card, not on the chip on it. So a lot of S3 Virge cards have bad/washed out image quality but it is possible (and if I recall correctly true) that this need not apply to the Diamon Stealth3D series.

True. Other excellent manufacturers that didn't have any compromises regarding analog image quality with video cards were ELSA, STB, Number Nine and Compaq.

This is one of my pet peeves: People tend to judge the entire chip based on a single implementation of it without taking account the variations between manufacturers.

The Stealth II S220 with the Rendition Chip is very slow in some VGA Modes: From here:

VESA support is good and performs quite well. Plain VGA modes are, however, very slow. There is a utility called "RenUtil" which remaps regular VGA to a VESA mode, but this doesn't work for ModeX (like lots of DOS FPS games).

HI,
Back to this.
WOW !!
lots of very helpful input!!!
Very much appreciated !!!

I have a sightly different set of cards not. The ones not listed from post 1 have died when the PSU that took up smoking and died taking a card or two with it. 🙁
My list now for your very helpful consideration are:
Geforce 3 64Mb AGP
Viper II Z200 32Mb AGP
Viper V330 8Mb PCI

and the Diamond Monster 3D II PCI

My PIII system now has more swapable HD's with OS's from DOS 6.22 through XP SP3 MCE and OS/2 ver2.1 & OS/2 Warp ver 4. I have a Linux somewhere too
So what combination of cards will get me the most bang for the buck from late DOS gaming to XP SP3 gaming?
Or is there a different set of cards that might cover more ground. As before, I am not asking that every game ever made work, just the most popular tittles Doom, Quake, Myst, Duke Nuk'm 3d, Simcity, star trek 25th anniversary, Wing Commander, stuff like that.

The Geforce 3 with the Voodoo2 would be a combination that covers a huge range of games and API support, the Voodoo2 can even be made compatible with DOS Glide games with a few Autoexec settings, the GF3 naturally has a great DOS 2D core so there wont be many issues using it there nor in Windows for D3D and OpenGL.

The V330 is a Riva 128 and likely has terrible image quality which the Riva 128 was well known for, if it doesn't then its still a wee bit under powered here, same goes for the Z200 which is a Savage 2000 and never had great drivers along with its lackluster performance.

You may also want to look into the Mods for the Voodoo2 that can improve the pass through image quality substantially if that sort of thing bothers you, for my part I added some ferrite chokes to the pass through cable which helped a bit with noise and didn't involve modding the card.

Thanks,
That is what I kind of thought was the best combo. But outside opinions make me feel better

About modding the cable. That could be fun. Where to get the chokes the I do not have to cut the cable? Links or threads? I do not know what I should be searching for.

What setting/switches would be helpful in the autoexec.bat file? thread link?

Oh, what drives for dos and windows. I could not find any for the GF3 for dos.
What about XP drivers for both card?

Again thanks. I find lots of help and support in here !!

KLund1 wrote on 2023-07-09, 10:33:

Thanks, That is what I kind of thought was the best combo. But outside opinions make me feel better […]
Show full quote

Thanks,
That is what I kind of thought was the best combo. But outside opinions make me feel better

About modding the cable. That could be fun. Where to get the chokes the I do not have to cut the cable? Links or threads? I do not know what I should be searching for.

What setting/switches would be helpful in the autoexec.bat file? thread link?

Oh, what drives for dos and windows. I could not find any for the GF3 for dos.
What about XP drivers for both card?

Again thanks. I find lots of help and support in here !!

GF3 doesnt need DOS drivers, im not 100% sure about the DOS settings for the V2 but there are a lot of people on here that can answer that question. As for the chokes, I got mine from old crt cables, they are the kind that come apart so you can put them on the cable.

You can find ones exactly like this on Amazon, no idea if I can link Amazon here but https://www.amazon.com/ferrite-chokes/s?k=ferrite+chokes should get you started.

Voodoo 2 DOS Glide compatibility matrix is a thread for Voodoo2 DOS settings, have a read of it.

https://www.3dfxzone.it/dir/3dfx/voodoo2/drivers/ for Voodoo2 drivers, the Geforce 3 Im sure will use the older nVidia drivers, I cant remember which ones are best but im sure someone here will point them out for you. (Detonator 45.23 or 56.64 sound like they might be suitable for older gaming)

Both can be found here along with a selection of other newer detonator drivers http://vogonsdrivers.com/index.php?catid=5

Trashbytes wrote on 2023-07-09, 11:05:

GF3 doesnt need DOS drivers

Well, the GeForce3 needs "DOS drivers" for getting 15bpp (which some games use it) and some low resolution VESA video modes: NVPatch - making UniVBE work on NVidia cards

OUCHH !!
18 pages of posts, more that I can with.

Not putting anything on the last people to post here, but someone.....
Post latest updated correct divers as needed in post Today, 01:54 7/9/2023
I'm not as smart as you all,
Appreciate the help !!

KLund1 wrote on 2023-07-09, 14:49:

OUCHH !!
18 pages of posts, more that I can with.

Just only read the very first post on that thread which has the compatibility matrix and the last post from me on page 18 which has a link to modded DOS Glide 2.4x files for the handful of games that don't work according to that matrix.

In conclusion, there isn't any real compatibility loss with the Voodoo2.

Not putting anything on the last people to post here, but someone..... Post latest updated correct divers as needed in post Tod […]
Show full quote

Not putting anything on the last people to post here, but someone.....
Post latest updated correct divers as needed in post Today, 01:54 7/9/2023
I'm not as smart as you all,
Appreciate the help !!

https://falconfly.vogonswiki.com/voodoo2.html

This link has all the essential drivers for the Voodoo2. Note that the DOS driver (GLIDE2X.OVL) are found in the Windows 9x drivers.

WOW !!!
Very Cool !!! Of you to post this !!

Looking at the link, me being nube/stupid, Which driver link is best for me. (link?)

GeForce3:

• Windows 9x: Detonator 8.05 for early games and it is the fastest one regarding performance. Detonator 12.41 and 21.83 works too. Don't bother with the latest ones, they have quality and compatibility issues.
• Windows 2000/XP: Either Detonator 28.32 or 30.82.

Voodoo2:

• Windows 9x: 3.03.00 is the one that I would recommend, being dated 18 Jun 1999 and it is not actually the latest one despite the version numbering.
• Windows 2000/XP: It is safe to get the latest official 3.02.02 version.