For DOS specifically, I'm not sure wrt software (because I don't know what to expect with a GeForce 6 or any Matrox card in DOS). But in general I'd probably say G400 dual-head because it's passive (I hate small fans) and I'm guessing/expecting the GeForce 6 to have problems or incompatibilities with old stuff (I think the oldest official drivers only go back to 98SE).

TNT2, if its going in that FIC board I'd go hunt down a PCI card, variant of the TNT models\Geforce 2-4mx or 5x.
Or a Voodoo Banshee\3 PCI.
I settled for a geforce 5500 PCI, in mine.

The TNT2 is in there right now, and is working well.
It's just, that I don't know if the other cards are faster or slower than TNT2.
I could leave it in, yet it's the only one that are not passive cooled.

Before the flood of answers comes in I am going to say that the TNT2 that you have in there now is pretty good for the job if it is the 128Bit version not the dreaded 64bit vanta. Voodoo 3 is a real gem for dos except for like a handful of titles. If you ever come across a Riva 128 pci especially the ZX version get it and never look back as it has nearly flawless dos support.

If your only using it for dos, does it matter how fast it is? Cause they are all fast 🤣, and the Nvidia cards have good vesa compatibility.
Is the fan loud? If its loud try putting a couple drops of 3-1in oil in the fan bearing, under the back-sticker, if thats the case.

AlphaWing wrote:

If your only using it for dos, does it matter how fast it is? Cause they are all fast 🤣, and the Nvidia cards have good vesa compatibility.
Is the fan loud? If its loud try putting a couple drops of 3-1in oil in the fan bearing, under the back-sticker, if thats the case.

It is loud... Really loud, with a screaming high pitch sound.
I might install the Geforce-6200 instead.

Some 6200's use a PCI-E to Agp Bridge chip like the 6600 does.
It can cause problems, if your unlucky.

Matrox cards have a really clear signal. So for DOS I would try one. You shouldn't have any issues apart from some older games. What games are you planning on playing?

AlphaWing wrote:

Some 6200's use a PCI-E to Agp Bridge chip like the 6600 does.
It can cause problems, if your unlucky.

I thought all 6200s were bridged? 😖

Honestly I doubt the TNT2 "needs" the fan - neither of my TNT2s have fans, just large-ish heatsinks (by modern standards I guess they aren't that big). You may try just getting a passive cooler for the TNT2 if it's working for everything you've got thus far. 😀

obobskivich wrote:

Honestly I doubt the TNT2 "needs" the fan - neither of my TNT2s have fans, just large-ish heatsinks (by modern standards I guess they aren't that big). You may try just getting a passive cooler for the TNT2 if it's working for everything you've got thus far. 😀

I can sign for this. Back in 2001 the fan on my Creative TNT2 Ultra stopped working. I had no problem playing on the card for another year until I upgraded it with a GF4 Ti4200 😀

obobskivich wrote:

AlphaWing wrote:

Some 6200's use a PCI-E to Agp Bridge chip like the 6600 does.
It can cause problems, if your unlucky.

I thought all 6200s were bridged? 😖

Honestly I doubt the TNT2 "needs" the fan - neither of my TNT2s have fans, just large-ish heatsinks (by modern standards I guess they aren't that big). You may try just getting a passive cooler for the TNT2 if it's working for everything you've got thus far. 😀

Think the PCI ones are native PCI, never seen a bridge chip on those, or am I wrong I could be thinking of something else.
I also agree TNT1/2 is fine passive. You could Expoxy a oem giant socket 5/7 pin style heatsink to it, super effective.

AlphaWing wrote:

Think the PCI ones are native PCI, never seen a bridge chip on those, or am I wrong I could be thinking of something else.

Honestly I'm not sure now that you mention it - my understanding is that the 6200/6600 cards are native PCIe and bridge down to PCI/AGP, but that some of them may have that bridge built into the GPU package (basically a reverse of how the 6800GT for PCIe works - it's an AGP chip that has a PCIe bridge built-in, vs an external chip like 6600GT uses).

Even the for-sure bridged cards like 6600GT tended to be pretty compatible though - I don't think the real problems started until the non-nVidia bridged boards started appearing.

I also agree TNT1/2 is fine passive. You could Expoxy a oem giant socket 5/7 pin style heatsink to it, super effective.

Slot 2 heatsink would certainly work too. If you don't mind giving up the next expansion slot on the board. 🤣

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

What games are you planning on playing?

90's games and software.

AlphaWing wrote:

Some 6200's use a PCI-E to Agp Bridge chip like the 6600 does.
It can cause problems, if your unlucky.

Apart from the picture not being centered horisontal on the monitor all the time, it is working great.
Think I will go back to the TNT2 card again.

brostenen wrote:

90's games and software.

That's as vague as saying you can download something specific from "The Internet".

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

That's as vague as saying you can download something specific from "The Internet".

I know, I know. I just can't say what type of games I will be playing for shure.
It is more of an hobby, just to get some retro stuff working again.
By 90's games, I will actually just be playing some doom, duke3d and other games.
It's more like, games around 1992 to 1998 or something.
Pure Dos of course.

The actual purpouse of my retro machine, is to have a dos compatible machine again.
Just like the one, were I initially switched from Dos/Win98 to WindowsXP.
This machine, just have to have, a slightly better performance.
And if it can be done, I will be getting that hardware I longed for at that time.
When I switched to WindowsXp, my machine was changed with something way more powerfull.
So. There are some hardware, I have never been able to tinker with and use on daily basis.
Now is the time for me, to downgrade and try what I have been missed out on.
Talking about Voodoo stuff and full size GUS, that I have never actually had a chance to own.

Many years have passed since then, and I really love tinkering with Dos again.
Of course I have been using dosbox in a couple of years, yet nothing beats real hardware.
It is the same thing with C64's. Yes it can be emulated, on the other hand.
Nothing beats the actual hardware.

obobskivich wrote:

For DOS specifically, I'm not sure wrt software (because I don't know what to expect with a GeForce 6 or any Matrox card in DOS). But in general I'd probably say G400 dual-head because it's passive (I hate small fans) and I'm guessing/expecting the GeForce 6 to have problems or incompatibilities with old stuff (I think the oldest official drivers only go back to 98SE).

Will the dual head aspect be functional in DOS?

sliderider wrote:

obobskivich wrote:

For DOS specifically, I'm not sure wrt software (because I don't know what to expect with a GeForce 6 or any Matrox card in DOS). But in general I'd probably say G400 dual-head because it's passive (I hate small fans) and I'm guessing/expecting the GeForce 6 to have problems or incompatibilities with old stuff (I think the oldest official drivers only go back to 98SE).

Will the dual head aspect be functional in DOS?

Doubt it - from other threads/posts/documentation/etc I've read over the years dual-head on 3DLabs cards usually just mirrors in DOS, so I'd expect Matrox to do the same, but I figured they're (the G400s) probably pretty similar otherwise, and both were available, so why not?

I vote for going passive on the TNT2, too. Not only passively cooled models existed (like already said), but in DOS the accelerator functions of the chip won't be used so it probably won't heat up much anyway.
For compatibility I'd recommend a look at Gona's list. TNT2 seems to be much preferable to G400. There is no 6200 on the list, but a 6800GS which is also very good and probably similar to the 6200.