kickarse wrote on 2025-05-23, 23:04:

Switching Windows to 32-bit color causes screen tearing when closing or moving windows (visible redraw "tearing" effect). This doesn’t happen in 16-bit mode. I get it that TNT2 Pro is not ideal for 32 bit, but I had one of those back in the day (the entire system is a part-perfect replica), and I don't remember ever having those GUI issues with 32 bit color?

This is very suspect, and it is a good place to start from. Since this symptom is present with both cards, I would move on to the other parts of the PC. I don't have any experience with Via Apollo, only with the KT133A (and newer AMD chipsets).

Mani have some slowdown problems.in VisualBoyAdvance even in a athlon 1.2ghz

Yup, I'm quite open to being in the wrong here, but if I remember correctly, I was able to enjoy decent speed with VBA emulation and no screen tearing in Windows when I had this system in the early 2000s. Is my memory at fault here, does anyone else have issues like that per chance? And it's also particularly confusing due to the mixed bag nature of the issue - some apps/games work well, others do not. Out of my more recent tests, Starcraft works perfectly well (no wonder, this ran even on a wind-powered potato back then), but I am seeing framerate issues with Winamp Milkdrop visualizations for example - the framerate in there is more or less stable at what feels like 15ish FPS.

I don't think it's too far outside the performance of a TNT2 at 1024 x 768 x 32-bit. Could try the latest drivers 71.84 from Nvidia's website: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/

Motherboard drivers might have an updated agp driver.

A Geforce2 Mx should be much faster (1.5-2x) if you need it to be faster

You should try even older nVidia drivers, like 8.05, 6.18 or even 3.68. If that doesn't solve it, then you're probably remembering incorrectly. I also remember Doom being super smooth on my 486DX2 66MHz, but playing it now on the same specs it's actually more like 15 to 20fps 😆

Gotcha, thank you for the input guys! Funny thing, I also remember Doom being quite smooth on a 486, so I guess you have a point. 😁

I am going to test with earlier nvidia drivers and will post how that goes. I've also had plans to play around with a Geforce MX too (and generally explore what upgrading this PC would like, just for fun) - I see some options on local marketplaces as cheap as $5, so why not.

I used to daily drive a TNT2 M64 for years before upgrading to an FX 5200. I always used 32-bit mode in Windows and performance was great. I was using it on a 440BX system though, which might have behaved differently from a VIA.

Tried installing an older driver today - version 6.31c - this time using the one still available from the official ASUS website. Aside from a minor bump in 3DMark scores (nice to see), all the other issues persist.
Sigh.

My GeForce2 MX is arriving later this week, so we’ll see if that helps. If not, the next steps will likely be a CPU upgrade and a clean Windows reinstall.

Also starting to suspect that the “Unofficial Service Pack 3” that I have from Phil’s site might be playing a role here. It’s a great package, but it is enthusiast-grade, and I’m wondering if it messes with Windows GDI in 32-bit color mode - especially when paired with certain hardware. The screen tearing issues in particular.

I tried the unofficial SP3 but didn't really like the end result. It ended up messing up a few things, like languages in some programs, and overall the experience just felt buggier than before. I had the Portuguese version of Win98, so that could also be the issue, but I'm sticking to vanilla Win98 or Win98 S.E. and just installing any patches that I need now.