bump

So in general you can get a good idea of the performance just by looking at reviews for the S3 Virge DX. While it was one of the most notoriously slow cards of the era for 3D, it was a solid 2D card. Additionally there was a vast build quality gap across the various vendors, where some were running at basically half the clock rate of the fastest boards (or well, least slow) with horrible, noisy output.

If you're just interested in reviews, a member here puts together some very nice reviews of 3D cards from this era. This would probably be enough to paint a clear picture for you.

https://www.vintage3d.org/virgedx.php

One specific question I can answer is that there essentially is no rare, valuable Virge card out there. They were affordable, sold by the truckload, and plenty are still out there and available for retro builds. I think it would be a bit of a waste chasing down any one specific model if you wanted to experience it again and I'd highly recommend just looking for a a good price on any well made, decently clocked Virge.

It is nice card for its purpose: DOS gaming and very early 3D. Asus card should be better than no name ones. I personally like them.
Although it is not so rare. It uses video chip that was very common for its time and doesn't offer anything extra. Maybe because it was one of the earliest Asus video cards it can be problematic to find one.

DrAnthony wrote on 2024-03-24, 15:11:

One specific question I can answer is that there essentially is no rare, valuable Virge card out there. They were affordable, sold by the truckload, and plenty are still out there and available for retro builds. I think it would be a bit of a waste chasing down any one specific model if you wanted to experience it again and I'd highly recommend just looking for a a good price on any well made, decently clocked Virge.

I agree that there is no point in chasing a specific model to try the S3 Virge experience. Even common unnamed cards can usually be overclocked to the level of expensive ones without problems. Though their output quality can be abysmal.
However, rarer and more interesting Virges still exist. This VIVO (!) Virge GX2-based card on PCI bus (!) with memory expansion board is very unusual: Re: your last purchased retro graphics card or any of your collection