ET4000-W32i \ VOGONS

ET4000-W32i

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First post, by rgart

Posted on 2013-04-27, 06:45

rgart Offline

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After much reading through the forums I couldn't help but notice people often recommend the ET4000 for fast dos gaming performance and game compatibility.

I know the W32p is often talked about however the prices on ebay are ridiculous. I picked up a ET4000-W32i relatively cheap.

I was using a VLB S3 805i but the VLB ET4000-W32i is remarkably brighter, has vibrant colours and is generally much smoother with VGA games than the 805i. To be honest it seems to handle Crusader No remorse and No regret in SVGA mode better than the 805i

The 805i I have is a 2mb card and the ET4000 only has 256k yet it gets a better result with pcpbench and 3dbench2 and is generally faster in game.

I also have a ET4000-AX and all the ram banks on it are full ...I notice mechanically it looks like the ram on it will fit the ET3000-W32i.

Can I swap the chips from the AX to the W32i?

and if not...what should I be looking for on ebay to get a full 1mb or 2mb?

Thanks!

Reply 1 of 8, by Anonymous Coward

Posted on 2013-04-27, 07:23

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Yeah, you should be able to swap the RAM. Your ET4000 card looks like it has 1MB, not 256K. If you stick those chips into the ET4000W32i, then you will get a performance boost. If you think the ET4000W32i is fast now, wait until you have memory interleaving enabled with 2MB installed.

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Reply 2 of 8, by Great Hierophant

Posted on 2013-04-27, 15:49

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Both cards are using 256Kx4bit RAM, but the VLB card (which does have 1MB) is using 70ns rated RAM and the ISA card is using 80ns rated RAM, so its not guaranteed that the slower RAM will work in the faster card. He is probably fine, however.

Can the Tseng ET4000AX-W32i VLB card play Commander Keen 4, 5 or 6 properly with the SVGA compatibility option?

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Reply 3 of 8, by rgart

Posted on 2013-04-28, 14:13

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Ill test it soon and let you know.

Reply 4 of 8, by Anonymous Coward

Posted on 2013-04-28, 23:57

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Most of the ET4000W32p cards I see come with 45ns RAMs. Occasionally I see them with 60ns RAMs. Don't know what kind of chips ET4000W32i can tolerate.

"Will the highways on the internets become more few?" -Gee Dubya
V'Ger XT|Upgraded AT|Ultimate 386|Super VL/EISA 486|SMP VL/EISA Pentium

Reply 5 of 8, by rgart

Posted on 2013-04-29, 11:49

rgart Offline

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Well I installed the RAM and it seems to work fine - No issues.

I now have a 2MB ET4000-W32i

Great Hierophant: I tested Commander Keen 4 and 6 Shareware with SVGA Compatibility ticked and they both work fine but damn its a god awful game:)

Reply 6 of 8, by rgart

Posted on 2013-05-01, 09:42

rgart Offline

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Well the ET4000 W32i is running perfect .....all games have worked thus far however I cant run Stone Keep in SVGA mode. When I choose high resolution full screen videos in the settings it drops back to VGA when I run the game.

Any ideas?

Univbe is not helping.

Crusader No Remorse and other SVGA games work fine.

Reply 7 of 8, by soviet conscript

Posted on 2013-10-20, 17:37

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Hmm, so univbe detects your et4000? I also have a 2mb VLB ET4000 installed in my 486 but when I try to run univbe I get a "superVGA chipset not detected" error.

Reply 8 of 8, by NJRoadfan

Posted on 2013-10-20, 17:47

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rgart wrote:
I was using a VLB S3 805i but the VLB ET4000-W32i is remarkably brighter, has vibrant colours and is generally much smoother with VGA games than the 805i. To be honest it seems to handle Crusader No remorse and No regret in SVGA mode better than the 805i

I have a "Jax" branded S3 805 card that has the same muddy picture. The card just has a crappy DAC on it.

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