VOGONS


First post, by Tommaso72

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

I just purchased a Forex motherboard with a 386DX 33 MHZ and now I need a good graphics card for DOS games of that time period. It only has ISA, so which do you think would be the best card for keeping with a time correct buildÉ

Also, anyone know if the old Forex boards are good, I just got it spur of the moment, so I hope itès okay for what I need. Any info you could point me too would be appreciated. I looked on line but there is not much info about them. Thanks.

Tommaso

Reply 1 of 14, by clueless1

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Here's a 5 page discussion on the same topic:
Trying to choose an ISA video card...
If memory serves, Cirrus Logic 5428 and ET4000AX are top contenders.

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 2 of 14, by Brickpad

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Your best bet is probably going to be the Tseng Labs ET4000.

Reply 3 of 14, by PhilsComputerLab

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Speed star 24x gets my vote. Avoid Oak and Trident.

YouTube, Facebook, Website

Reply 4 of 14, by badmojo

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Trident cards get a bad rap because their VLB offerings were so awful, but the ISA implementations I've tried have great image quality / CGA modes / compatibility. They are slow but a 386 33 ain't no rocket anyway!

ET4000AX cards are fast and generally produce a nice image, but I've been using a Cirrus Logic based card in my 386 and loving on it.

Life? Don't talk to me about life.

Reply 5 of 14, by PhilsComputerLab

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Yea the CL cards are great value, just a tiny bit slower than WD and ET4000. The ET4000 I had, it doesn't work anymore, was just as fast as the WD card. But the WD card had better VESA support. Not an issue on a 386, but still nice to have 😀

With the Trident cards it depends a bit on the model. Older ones are very slow. The newest one I have is a TVGA9000 model and it can be up to half the speed of a WD on a faster machine (486). I had some 386 graphs, but they went down with imageshack recently, so I don't have the 386 figures anymore I'm afraid.

The CGA info is great, I have no experience with this!

YouTube, Facebook, Website

Reply 6 of 14, by kanecvr

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
PhilsComputerLab wrote:

Speed star 24x gets my vote. Avoid Oak and Trident.

Late tridents (like the 9000i) are fine. They're more then fine actually. If you find a 1mb trident 9000i, go with it.

This would be my top for ISA VGA cards:

1. Western Digital WDC Paradise W90C3x (ex W90C33)
2. Tseng ET4000AX
3. Cirrus Logic 54xx (ex CL-GD5424)
4. Trident T9000i (the 8900D with EDO dram isn't bad either).

Reply 7 of 14, by PhilsComputerLab

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Yea it's a TGA9000I-3, ISA card. I have a VLB card with the TGUI9400CXI, now that card is much more competitive.

YouTube, Facebook, Website

Reply 8 of 14, by badmojo

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

You guys are right about the WDC Paradise cards, I have an ISA WDC in my 286 (also has great CGA support!) and a VLB WDC in my 486. Rock solid and a beautiful image on both.

Life? Don't talk to me about life.

Reply 9 of 14, by firage

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

ET4000AX is badass. Tseng really made their name on the ISA bus.

My big-red-switch 486

Reply 10 of 14, by Tommaso72

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Wow, thanks for all the response and info! I will check E-Bay and see what I can find at a decent price. If anyone locates a good deal on E-Bay for a card I am looking for, please don't hesitate to post a link here. I just wish people wouldn't ask such outrageous prices for shipping. Thanks again!

PS: Are the Forex boards considered decent?

Tommaso

Reply 11 of 14, by Anonymous Coward

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Tommaso72 wrote:

PS: Are the Forex boards considered decent?

Don't know. Why don't you run a few benchmarks on your system and let us know the results.
If possible try to push it to the limit. I am curious to see if it will accept 256kb cache, 32MB RAM and a Cyrix DLC.

"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 12 of 14, by kixs

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Tommaso72 wrote:

PS: Are the Forex boards considered decent?

Tommaso

I have this 386 board with Forex chipset:

Qs3KJwvm.jpg

With BIOS tweaking (and 256KB cache) it's 3rd fastest in my collection (1st is VLB based 386) and I have around 25 386 boards 😉

Manual is here.

Requests here!

Reply 13 of 14, by matze79

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Diamond Speedstar 24x with WD Chipset, fastest Video Card ISA in 320x200.

https://www.retrokits.de - blog, retro projects, hdd clicker, diy soundcards etc
https://www.retroianer.de - german retro computer board