VOGONS


First post, by toshiba_t1000

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I'm trying to determine what would be a good pci video card for late dos. Specifically, stuff like tomb raider, command and conquer, quake, daggerfall, etc., the more demanding stuff. The system has a pentium mmx at 200mhz, and I'm planning on using an awe64 (ideally an awe32, but those are soooo expensive, so probably just a 64).

Primarily, I'm looking for cards that are:
* suitable for all or most such late games with good performance
* not insanely expensive to acquire
With respect to period correctness, I'm not worried *too* much --- as long as it's period correct enough to not have any issues working with the games, I'm not concerned --- though I am trying to avoid the very late stuff really only ever intended for windows, for precisely that compatibitlity reason

Cards I've seen include:
* s3 trio64
* ark2000pv
* s3 verge (and maybe some other verge cards?)
* tnt2 m64
* voodoo 3
* voodoo banshee
but the reason I'm asking this question is, I'm really not sure how these compare to each other, and looking online, it's really hard to find any reasonably definitive answers. Thus, I'd really appreciate any input as to these cards or any others.

If I've missed anything, apologies, wrt. video cards I'm not the most knowledgeable. thank you!

Reply 1 of 9, by theelf

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S3 Virge

Solid dos support
univbe support
solid win3x suport
some s3 accelerared games like tomb raider

what else? ah tip, found 2 or better 4mb ones

Reply 2 of 9, by toshiba_t1000

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theelf wrote on Today, 09:37:

S3 Virge

Any particular reason for that as opposed to any other ones?

Reply 3 of 9, by Matth79

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Not expensive, that rules out VooDoo, TNT2, not sure how that fares as a DOS card as it's a 3D Windows card, don't know the ARK, S3 Virge - the notorious 3D decelerator, but solid in software mode, Trio 64, another solid base. Cirrus CL54xx in PCI would also be a contender, or maybe an ATI Rage that supports CIF

Reply 4 of 9, by leileilol

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Not a Voodoo 3 / Banshee for 15bpp support concerns (unless you really, really don't care about the Probe/Acclaim joints as some do).

S3's compatibility and VBE is the most decent out of these (ironed out further with S3VBE20), and the cards themselves are very common, but there's also the variable of most cards having a brightness problem. S3+Voodoo2 cards were a popular pair in 98, and if "late dos" also means Bethesda, you'd be good on that.

Also when there's advice of "just use univbe/scitech display doctor" the support of hardware in that stops before mid-1998 so there's that to think about.

apsosig.png
long live PCem

Reply 5 of 9, by jmarsh

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S3 Trio64V2 if you want a card with native VBE2.0 support (in the bios) rather than worrying about having to use utilities (which you won't get with the virge).

Reply 6 of 9, by theelf

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jmarsh wrote on Today, 20:28:

S3 Trio64V2 if you want a card with native VBE2.0 support (in the bios) rather than worrying about having to use utilities (which you won't get with the virge).

Dont understand what you say about virge..?¿ most virge have 2.0 in bios, if not, there is a native vesa 2.0 driver that work fine in virge card, and of course univbe that give you 3.0. And if OP motherboard have a triton chipset, you can upload whatever bios you want using software

Reply 7 of 9, by jmarsh

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theelf wrote on Today, 20:56:

Dont understand what you say about virge..?¿ most virge have 2.0 in bios

Show me any VBE2 bios for the Virge (86C325).

Reply 8 of 9, by theelf

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jmarsh wrote on Today, 21:16:
theelf wrote on Today, 20:56:

Dont understand what you say about virge..?¿ most virge have 2.0 in bios

Show me any VBE2 bios for the Virge (86C325).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------- S3 VBE/Core 2.0 Versio […]
Show full quote

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------- S3 VBE/Core 2.0 Version 3.18 -----------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the documentation for S3 VBE/Core 2.0. S3 VBE/Core 2.0 is
Copyright (c) 1994,97 Dietmar Meschede. All rights reserved.

Contents
--------

1. Overview
2. Installation
3. Low resolution video modes
4. Known problems
5. The S3 VBE 2.0 package
6. Copyright, legal disclaimer and terms of use
7. The author

1. Overview
-----------

VESA VBE/Core 2.0 is an extension of the VESA VBE 1.2 standard
(VBE = Video BIOS Extension).

S3 VBE/Core 2.0 is a MS-DOS TSR program, which installs a VESA VBE/Core 2.0
for S3 graphics cards with a VESA VBE 1.2.

S3 VBE/Core 2.0 supports the following S3 graphics chips:

Vision864, Vision868, Vision964, Vision968, Trio32, Trio64, Trio64V+,
Trio64UV+, Trio64V2/DX, Trio64V2/GX, ViRGE, ViRGE/VX, ViRGE/DX, ViRGE/GX.

or you talk about bios to flash? i have some virge cards that have 2.0 in bios

Reply 9 of 9, by jmarsh

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I literally said "show me a BIOS", not a utility/TSR.