FX5200 / FX5500 (128bit) PCI (+ faster vga memory), at least they are good for Win9x and single core Pentium 3.

The Voodoo5 5500 would be my candidate for 'best money-no-object PCI card' for a dual S370 system.

For something that's a good balance of fast, affordable, compatible and relatively easy-to-find, I'd also suggest a GeForce FX 5500 PCI. The GeForce 6200 PCI is a few percent faster than the FX5500 but less compatible with some earlier 3D games.

Bear in mind that the lack of an AGP slot will really limit how much 3D performance you can get out of this system. A single-CPU Tualatin system with an AGP GeForce 4 Ti would be significantly faster.

THx. That's exactly what I thought, i just hoped there was something faster than the fx5500/6200 😀

MFan wrote on 2025-12-11, 11:20:

THx. That's exactly what I thought, i just hoped there was something faster than the fx5500/6200 😀

There are, just you have to skip compability to win9x.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al_T6bSoclM

Another alternative would be a Radeon 9100. It definitely isn't faster across the board vs a 128bit 5500 or a 6200, but there are likely some areas where it has an advantage. It has to be a 9100 though. The 9000, 9200 and 9250 are all based on the cut down RV250, where as the 9100 is based on the R200 and is identical to an 8500LE, with twice the vertex shaders and TMUs of the RV250 cards. I believe this is the last high end GPU that was put onto a PCI card, even if it was an older model by the time it was used on the 9100.

One thing though... since you've got a dual CPU board and Windows 98 can't use more than one CPU, you could get pretty creative with this system if you use it exclusively for Windows XP. For example, you could find a Geforce 8400GS or 9400GT PCI to experiment with. Obviously those are massively bottlenecked by the PCI interface, but it could make for some interesting testing with a dual processor system. 😀

Of course, you've got lots of PCI slots... you could have a dedicated Win9x card and something weirder and newer for XP. 😀

marxveix wrote on 2025-12-10, 18:17:

FX5200 / FX5500 (128bit) PCI (+ faster vga memory), at least they are good for Win9x and single core Pentium 3.

Why have these FX5500 (128bit) PCI cards suddenly gone up in demand? I just sold mine on eBay and was surprised by how much it went for. Very nearly Voodoo prices. And the person who bought it from me is definitely a scalper, so must be planning to sell it for even more!

enaiel wrote on 2025-12-11, 23:07:

marxveix wrote on 2025-12-10, 18:17:

FX5200 / FX5500 (128bit) PCI (+ faster vga memory), at least they are good for Win9x and single core Pentium 3.

Why have these FX5500 (128bit) PCI cards suddenly gone up in demand? I just sold mine on eBay and was surprised by how much it went for. Very nearly Voodoo prices. And the person who bought it from me is definitely a scalper, so must be planning to sell it for even more!

More rarity than agp ones, one of the latest cards with 45.23 retro driver support, future Voodoo replacement with wrapper, but really, i dont know.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-12-11, 12:38:

Another alternative would be a Radeon 9100. It definitely isn't faster across the board vs a 128bit 5500 or a 6200, but there are likely some areas where it has an advantage. It has to be a 9100 though. The 9000, 9200 and 9250 are all based on the cut down RV250, where as the 9100 is based on the R200 and is identical to an 8500LE, with twice the vertex shaders and TMUs of the RV250 cards. I believe this is the last high end GPU that was put onto a PCI card, even if it was an older model by the time it was used on the 9100.

One thing though... since you've got a dual CPU board and Windows 98 can't use more than one CPU, you could get pretty creative with this system if you use it exclusively for Windows XP. For example, you could find a Geforce 8400GS or 9400GT PCI to experiment with. Obviously those are massively bottlenecked by the PCI interface, but it could make for some interesting testing with a dual processor system. 😀

Of course, you've got lots of PCI slots... you could have a dedicated Win9x card and something weirder and newer for XP. 😀

It's a good idea , fx5500 for win98 and 9400 for winxp

MFan wrote on 2025-12-12, 13:18:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-12-11, 12:38:

Another alternative would be a Radeon 9100. It definitely isn't faster across the board vs a 128bit 5500 or a 6200, but there are likely some areas where it has an advantage. It has to be a 9100 though. The 9000, 9200 and 9250 are all based on the cut down RV250, where as the 9100 is based on the R200 and is identical to an 8500LE, with twice the vertex shaders and TMUs of the RV250 cards. I believe this is the last high end GPU that was put onto a PCI card, even if it was an older model by the time it was used on the 9100.

One thing though... since you've got a dual CPU board and Windows 98 can't use more than one CPU, you could get pretty creative with this system if you use it exclusively for Windows XP. For example, you could find a Geforce 8400GS or 9400GT PCI to experiment with. Obviously those are massively bottlenecked by the PCI interface, but it could make for some interesting testing with a dual processor system. 😀

Of course, you've got lots of PCI slots... you could have a dedicated Win9x card and something weirder and newer for XP. 😀

It's a good idea , fx5500 for win98 and 9400 for winxp

Just be warned, once you get to that level of GPU performance the PCI bottleneck makes game performance very inconsistent. Video cards may not have benefited much from AGP back in 1997-1999, but after that it was definitely required for high graphics performance. A 9400GT is easily 10x as fast as the first cards that benefited from AGP, so expect some rather drastic fluctuations in FPS, stuttering, etc.

That isn't to say you can't still tinker with it though. I'm sure there are some situations where it is surprisingly usable. I bet turning Vsync or other FPS caps on helps dramatically so the PCI bus doesn't get overwhelmed.

I have a PCI Radeon HD 5450 and it is also... interesting... to try to use. 😅