VOGONS


First post, by EvieSigma

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I know the Virge is not exactly the best graphics processor, especially for 3D things, but they're really common and I think one of the better Virges would do well for what I need (cheap half-decent graphics card for OEM systems with onboard graphics). The only problem is, I don't know anything about the Virge series. What are some of the good ones to go after? I figure any card with either 4MB onboard or provisions to expand to 4MB is probably towards the higher end but other than that I know nothing about them.

Reply 1 of 43, by therevisiona

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

I would get the Gainward CardExpert 4MB based on the S3 Virge/DX chipset. If you can not find this one specifically I would get a Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 Pro HQ. It is important it is the pro version, as the normal version only has two megs of ram.

Reply 5 of 43, by BSA Starfire

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I'd recommend S3 cards from Number 9, they are beautifully made and have lovely image quality. The reality series are what you want.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_Nine_Visual_Technology

286 20MHz,1MB RAM,Trident 8900B 1MB, Conner CFA-170A.SB 1350B
386SX 33MHz,ULSI 387,4MB Ram,OAK OTI077 1MB. Seagate ST1144A, MS WSS audio
Amstrad PC 9486i, DX/2 66, 16 MB RAM, Cirrus SVGA,Win 95,SB 16
Cyrix MII 333,128MB,SiS 6326 H0 rev,ESS 1869,Win ME

Reply 6 of 43, by derSammler

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

2 or 4 MB don't really matter. You want 4 MB for Direct3D, but the ViRGE is useless for Direct3D anyway. If you can get a 2 MB version easier or cheaper, take it.

Personally, I'd recommend getting the original ViRGE 325, because that's the only one which can play all S3d games. For the DX and later, you often need patches/hacks to get them running - if at all. The DX is faster, but again, it's worth nothing since even the most primitive Direct3D games are not fun to play with any ViRGE. It's a strong 2D card, however, with great DOS compatibility.

Reply 7 of 43, by Joseph_Joestar

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
derSammler wrote on 2020-05-23, 17:10:

2 or 4 MB don't really matter.

I think some S3D games need the 4 MB version.

At least that's what the readme file of the S3D patch for Tomb Raider says.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 8 of 43, by Anonymous Coward

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

STB cards with S3 chips are also quite nice. Almost as nice as the #9 cards in my opinion.

"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 10 of 43, by boxpressed

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
candle_86 wrote on 2020-05-24, 14:12:

I like my Virge VX I got yesterday, it's even got the ram expansion board

I just played around with my STB Velocity 3D yesterday. It has the memory expansion board too. It's wild that such a card had 8MB in 1996.

Reply 11 of 43, by Anonymous Coward

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

8MB on a graphics card in 1996 wasn't totally unheard of, but not necessarily useful unless your card had a beefy RAMDAC and you had an expensive large CRT display to go with it.
4MB cards could do 1280x1024 in 16.7 million colours (packed pixel mode), which was beyond what most monitors back then could handle.

I think I remember in 1996 I was going to get an 8MB card with VirgeVX, but I waited too long and by 1997 the 8MB SGRAM cards were super cheap and I got an ATi instead. Back then I foolishly bought into the concept of "future proofing", and the extra 4MB never ended up being used.

"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 43, by aaronkatrini

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Although many speak poorly about the S3 Virge cards, they're not bad at all...
I have this 2mb Virge/Gx, Compaq branded. It just works, any game, any system, if it is a 2D game it runs very well on it. I don't remember where I got it from, probably I got it as a bundle with other cards but has never let me down. I just wanted to share my love about this card 😀

Reply 14 of 43, by boxpressed

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Anonymous Coward wrote on 2020-05-24, 15:49:

8MB on a graphics card in 1996 wasn't totally unheard of, but not necessarily useful unless your card had a beefy RAMDAC and you had an expensive large CRT display to go with it.
4MB cards could do 1280x1024 in 16.7 million colours (packed pixel mode), which was beyond what most monitors back then could handle.

I think I remember in 1996 I was going to get an 8MB card with VirgeVX, but I waited too long and by 1997 the 8MB SGRAM cards were super cheap and I got an ATi instead. Back then I foolishly bought into the concept of "future proofing", and the extra 4MB never ended up being used.

After reading your post, I had to discover what the "best" commerical monitor was in 1996. I found a PC magazine round-up from June 1997, which was good enough. It looks like the top-end monitors (Sony Multiscan, Mitsubishi Diamondtron, and--wait for it--Viewsonic) we 20-21 inch models that could do 1600x1200 @ 75Hz. They were all around $2,000.

Reply 16 of 43, by T-Squared

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

I don't know what it is, but 4MB breaks the usage of the feature connector on any S3 VIRGE card. (Blank single color-image) Only 2MB will allow you to use it with peripherals that use the feature connector.

Reply 17 of 43, by Jo22

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

I'm fine with the ViRGE 325. It's trouble free, works with unpatched S3D games, has Trio64V compatible 2D core and often comes with VBE 2.x compatible BIOS.
In addition, the defaults for memory timings are much too conservative in some cases (there's room for over clocking).
https://vintage3d.org/virge.php

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 19 of 43, by The Serpent Rider

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

GX2 had PCI variants.

and often comes with VBE 2.x compatible BIOS.

No. VBE 2.0 BIOS features aren't quite common for Virge. Many manufacturers didn't bother to change anything since Trio64V+.

Last edited by The Serpent Rider on 2020-05-31, 22:21. Edited 1 time in total.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.