I think VESA is your best bet. Haven't seen any game needing more than 2.0 VESA (even version 1.2 should suffice). And for compatibility reasons I would choose (for games that don't support VESA natively):
+ ATi Rage, +, 3D, LT, 128. Have owned some of these. I always had a hell of a time with their drivers (OS/2 drivers were a nightmare and windows ones weren't better). Not recommended. Now i have a Radeon 9600, which is WAY BETTER.
+ Cirrus Logic CL-54XX models (ISA & PCI?). Good cards. A friend of mine had several of these. Never had any problems running games. I have seen what seems to be the same Quadtel chips on both CL and Trident cards, but CL performed better.
+ Intel i740. YEAH. Intel even made some mainstream PCI cards. I still have an i740 lying around. Decent acceleration but POOR, CRAPPY driver support (damn Intel). I discarded it almost inmediately. Intel has also released some integrated (built-in) video cards for its chipset designs.
+ Matrox Millenium, Mystique. I have never had any of those. But some people claim they were the best 2D cards ever made, both in terms of image quality and 2D acceleration. Too expensive for my taste.
+ nVIDIA TNT2. Good card with decent 2D acceleration, good VESA support and decent 3D acceleration too. A friend of mine is STILL USING THIS CARD FOR GAMING. Unbelievable. (But he was unabled to play his beloved Freedom Force 2, muahahahaha). Reason: No T&L engine yet.
+ OAK OTI 067/077. ISA only?. Very bad card. 067 wasn't even VGA registry compatible with some games. Awfully slow performer. It made possible for Trident cards to appear good. I think model 077 was slightly better.
+ Paradise PVGA - My AMSTRAD PC2086 had a PVGA 1A integrated on board. Most compatible VGA ever made. It has a video mode switcher that emulated all other standards (HERCULES, CGA, EGA) almost perfect. Too bad it had just 256KB of memory. But it was amazing being able to run Deluxe Paint Enhanced at 640x400x256c. I say to you, *AMAZING in 1988*
+ Permedia 2/3. I don't know much of these cards. I think they were expensive and aimed mostly at CAD design.
+ Rendition Verité. I think it was some *unsuccesful* 3D accelerator, right? Do Kyro cards fall into this category?
+ Trident (well documented and extended. Older ISA models (8900, 8900CL) were utter crap. Newer PCI models (3D Image 975) not so bad). Good 2D acceleration. Crappy 3D acceleration à-la S3.
+ S3. ViRGE, ViRGE DX,GX - well documented and extended. Good 2D acceleration. Some of them even claim to have 3D acceleration to some degree. I have always considered this a joke. I have even seem some bundled games with propietary S3 versions (Descent, I think, and Tomb Raider).
+ SiS 6326 AGP (Don't know if PCI exists). Does anybody remember this card? Yes, sometime I had one of these. BEST VESA 2.O SUPPORT EVAH.... And with the right drivers you would even get OpenGL acceleration (albeit fucking slow for my 4MB card) for Quake 2. Hooray!
+ TSENG. The ET4000 was ISA I think. Very known in the good ole' ms-dos days. Very compatible. Did they ever produced any VL-Bus or PCI models? I think there exists a ET6000 model too. I have never used any TSENG card.
+ Any good 2D card + Voodoo card combo: For those pesky GLIDE games.
Ah, this post makes feel nostalgic... 😁
PS - Sorted all brands by alpha.
Intel i7 5960X
Gigabye GA-X99-Gaming 5
8 GB DDR4 (2100)
8 GB GeForce GTX 1070 G1 Gaming (Gigabyte)