First post, by ReadySelectStart
Hey everyone,
So over the last few years I've collected a number of graphics cards but I just cannot decide which to use for my Win98SE machine which is for 97-01 (essentially up until the release of XP). I want some DOS compatibility but I have a few other machines for that but it is mostly for the period mentioned with 3D titles.
The PC specs are:
Intel Pentium 3 800Mhz
128MB RAM
Aureal Vortex 2
Can't recall the motherboard, an AOpen something or other with a universal AGP slot.
Now I was using a Geforce MX440 but every so often Windows will boot to a blank display or if I try pressing "Settings" on the display properties that'll trigger a blank screen. I messed about with drivers and eventually gave up. I've now put in a Voodoo3 3000 card which I love for the Glide support but I feel this card is maybe a bit too limited for the upper end of the time period I'm recreating? I mean no 32-bit colour and 16MB of RAM may become a bottleneck.
My other options are in no particular order:
- ATi Rage 128 Pro
- Matrox Millenium G550
- NVIDIA 5200 (various variants)
- NVIDIA 5700 LE
- NVIDIA 6800 GT
- NVIDIA TNT2 (M64)
- S3 Trio3D
- S3 Trio64 V2/DX
- ATi Rage 128 AIW
- S3 Trio3D/2X
- NVIDIA Geforce 2 (experiences same issues as the MX440 mind you)
- NVIDIA 6600 LE
- NVIDIA 7600 GS
- NVIDIA Vanta (Is this a TNT?)
- NVIDIA MX460
On one had something like a 6600 or 6800 seems like a no brainer, lots of power. But I think compatibility may be an issue? I'm not sure how well the S3 cards stack up as never used an S3 card in my life. Same with Matrox. The ATI Rage 128 Pro seems decent but I've read ATi drivers aren't great in Win9x and they have issues with DOS games?
I want something fast but with good compatibility. Looking on Google there are really mixed messages so hoping you can all help out.