It looks like an early VGA card, as the ET3000AX is an early VGA chip.

Not sure what the AIC AR310 chip is. Google search doesn't return anything on that one.

The AIC AR310 may be an IBM 8514/A clone.

Some early 90's cards had them. The Chips F82C480 is one (https://bitsavers.org/components/chipsAndTech … v1.6_199007.pdf)

8514/A clones require a support VGA chip.

Can't find anything on the AIC company, except "AIC tech" in Japan. They have a history of more than 70 years in electronics and have the same logo font, but are a Hitachi capacitor company, no signs of semiconductors. https://www.aictech-inc.com/en/company/files/ … tion_en2025.pdf

Best I can find is this http://www.yjfy.com/museum/video/TsengLabs.htm which makes it sound like its a LC Wave maybe? I can find no info on LC Wave so not sure.

Any FCC # on the back of the card?

Try Windows 3.1 with a 8514A driver. And see if it has picture.

Tseng labs VGA card. gotta be great for DOS games. Throw that in a 486 dx 2 66 and enjoy

Law212 wrote on 2026-04-16, 13:30:

Tseng labs VGA card. gotta be great for DOS games. Throw that in a 486 dx 2 66 and enjoy

No.
It's ET4000 that was exceptionally fast for its time, but there's nothing special about the ET3000.

If that card really provides 8514/A compatibility, then it's a nice card for a 286 - can run Windows 3.x and OS/2 1.x in super-VGA modes, with GUI acceleration, with the drivers already shipped with the system.
486DX2 already deserves a VLB graphics.

Grem Five wrote on 2026-04-16, 12:58:

Best I can find is this http://www.yjfy.com/museum/video/TsengLabs.htm which makes it sound like its a LC Wave maybe? I can find no info on LC Wave so not sure.

Any FCC # on the back of the card?

There is no information on the back of the card.

Cyberdyne wrote on 2026-04-16, 13:12:

Try Windows 3.1 with a 8514A driver. And see if it has picture.

It cannot be displayed on modern monitors, and displays "out of range" after booting up

How much RAM does that card have?

16 x GM71C464A = 512 KB DRAM, normal for the ET3000

6 x TMS44C256 = 768 KB DRAM
2 x HY62256ALP = 64 KB SRAM
WTF?
For an 8514/A chip, I would expect 1024 KB of DRAM or dual-ported VRAM...

ekkiller wrote on 2026-04-16, 14:02:

It cannot be displayed on modern monitors, and displays "out of range" after booting up

You mean an LCD monitor, right?
Genuine 8514/A displays 1024 x 768 with interlace, which indeed fails with LCD monitors.

You can try eg. MODETEST.EXE from Pizazz Plus, select "IBM PS/2 with 8514A", and try various "IBM 8514A" modes.
640 x 480 modes use normal VGA frequencies, and should work with all VGA monitors.

Grzyb wrote on 2026-04-16, 14:13:

... 2 x HY62256ALP = 64 KB SRAM ... WTF?

Yesh, I thought that was odd too, given the good amount of DRAM.

A couple ideas come to mind:

SRAM is sometimes used to "replace" ROM without major redesign ...
Perhaps these were loadable character fonts.
I've also seen designs where the ROM copies itself to RAM on startup then runs from there:
- SRAM can be faster than EPROM
- Allows "on the fly" patching.

There are also two CY7C185 20ns SRAM chips. This is a weird card.

Maybe it maps one to the monochrome display region, and can do register level herc?

Why else would it need TWO 32k srams?

I'd guess the mystery chip would be RAMDAC, or possibly clock gen

http://www.yjfy.com/museum/video/101-0029-001.htm In Chinese collection somewhat suggests it might have been aimed at Japanese/Asian market.

ekkiller wrote on 2026-04-16, 14:02:

Cyberdyne wrote on 2026-04-16, 13:12:

Try Windows 3.1 with a 8514A driver. And see if it has picture.

It cannot be displayed on modern monitors, and displays "out of range" after booting up

do you have any means of measuring signal frequency (multimeter with frequency counter/oscilloscope/logic analyser)? would tell you exactly which mode it defaults to

Japanese were pioneers of high res due to their alphabet.

lti wrote on 2026-04-16, 19:14:

There are also two CY7C185 20ns SRAM chips.

Oops, I missed them...

So, there's 512 KB DRAM for the VGA chip, and 768 KB DRAM + 80 KB SRAM for the AR310... accelerator? Coprocessor?

It would be nice to dump the ROM - is that a generic ET3000 BIOS, or something else?

rasz_pl wrote on 2026-04-17, 00:51:

http://www.yjfy.com/museum/video/101-0029-001.htm In Chinese collection somewhat suggests it might have been aimed at Japanese/A […]
Show full quote

http://www.yjfy.com/museum/video/101-0029-001.htm In Chinese collection somewhat suggests it might have been aimed at Japanese/Asian market.

ekkiller wrote on 2026-04-16, 14:02:

Cyberdyne wrote on 2026-04-16, 13:12:

Try Windows 3.1 with a 8514A driver. And see if it has picture.

It cannot be displayed on modern monitors, and displays "out of range" after booting up

do you have any means of measuring signal frequency (multimeter with frequency counter/oscilloscope/logic analyser)? would tell you exactly which mode it defaults to

Japanese were pioneers of high res due to their alphabet.

I have several oscilloscopes. Where should I start to test the card mode?

Grzyb wrote on 2026-04-16, 14:21:

You mean an LCD monitor, right? Genuine 8514/A displays 1024 x 768 with interlace, which indeed fails with LCD monitors. […]
Show full quote

ekkiller wrote on 2026-04-16, 14:02:

It cannot be displayed on modern monitors, and displays "out of range" after booting up

You mean an LCD monitor, right?
Genuine 8514/A displays 1024 x 768 with interlace, which indeed fails with LCD monitors.

You can try eg. MODETEST.EXE from Pizazz Plus, select "IBM PS/2 with 8514A", and try various "IBM 8514A" modes.
640 x 480 modes use normal VGA frequencies, and should work with all VGA monitors.

Yes, LCD monitor

Pin 13 Horizontal Sync (HSYNC) and Pin 14 Vertical Sync (VSYNC). Frequency will tell us what mode it is trying to output.