First post, by ShovelKnight
I've been trying to find a good, compatible and fast PCI video card for a while (for some of my builds, and also because it's a nice thing to have lying around) and so far I've not been successful.
I'm mostly interested in later cards that have at least some 3D acceleration capabilities. Here's what I tried:
- NVIDIA Riva TNT2 M64 PCI. This is a good card... when it works. Very fast in DOS and fast enough for early Windows 3D games. It seems to be very picky about the motherboards! It POSTs in my GA-5AX (Aladdin V) and GA-6BXC (440BX), but not in my VIA EPIA (VIA PLE133) or Shuttle HOT-591P or HOT-597 (VIA MVP3).
- GeForce 2 MX/MX400 PCI. Same limitations as the TNT2 M64 PCI except this one POSTs in my MVP3 motherboards.
- S3 Savage 4 PCI. This one is the most frustrating one. I have three of them: one Creative and two Diamonds (S530 and S540). They all POST in all of my motherboards and work flawlessly in DOS... but NONE of them work in Windows. Once I install the drivers, the Creative card causes Windows 98 to BSOD on boot. Both Diamond cards appear to work: the machine reboots and shows the desktop in high colour... But if I try to open any window or menu (e.g. right clicking on the desktop), the PC freezes immediately. By the way, S530 was NOS, sealed in its antistatic bag and never installed before I got it (no scratches on the edge connector)
The question is: are there any other PCI cards with similar levels of performance and compatibility with DOS games, that are known to be compatible with wide variety of chipsets and motherboards?