Try the S3 cards first, and see if any of them have good image quality (the Vision probably will). If any of them has excessive brightness that might be solved by flashing a different BIOS. This is assuming you have the boards already. Also, skip the Trio32, as it is just a cut down version (slower) of the Trio64.
Rush sucks. Voodoo3 would also be fine - slightly less compatible than the S3 cards, but the image quality is usually great.

alexanrs wrote:

Try the S3 cards first, and see if any of them have good image quality (the Vision probably will). If any of them has excessive brightness that might be solved by flashing a different BIOS. This is assuming you have the boards already. Also, skip the Trio32, as it is just a cut down version (slower) of the Trio64.
Rush sucks. Voodoo3 would also be fine - slightly less compatible than the S3 cards, but the image quality is usually great.

Thanks! should i start with the Trio64V+ then?
and yes, I've got all that cards here at home...

Yeah, start with the Trio64 V+, if you don't like the image quality, try the Trio64 and the Vision.

The V3 is wasted on a 586. Try one of the S3 cards - beware tough, some have overly bright outputs, so test them out first.

On another note, If your mainboard can't cache all 128mb of memory (witch is rare for a 486 board) your system will run pretty slow. Why put 128mb on a 486/586 anyway? 32 is enough, 64 is overkill.

kanecvr wrote:

The V3 is wasted on a 586. Try one of the S3 cards - beware tough, some have overly bright outputs, so test them out first.

On another note, If your mainboard can't cache all 128mb of memory (witch is rare for a 486 board) your system will run pretty slow. Why put 128mb on a 486/586 anyway? 32 is enough, 64 is overkill.

thanks for the tips - but what if the v3 is only lying around?

i bought that system with 128MB of memory installed, didn't question it yet. how can i determine if it can cache the whole amount?

Voodoo3 is overkill, but if you have no better choices, it has drivers for Windows 3.11 and decent DOS compatibility, though not as much as the Trio64s. That V3 PCI is a better match for a PCI only Pentium 3 PC or a PCI only SS7 system.

alexanrs wrote:

Voodoo3 is overkill, but if you have no better choices, it has drivers for Windows 3.11 and decent DOS compatibility, though not as much as the Trio64s. That V3 PCI is a better match for a PCI only Pentium 3 PC or a PCI only SS7 system.

ok thanks..
I've all those systems already fitted with various voodoo cards so that v3 pci is really just a spare card lying around... 😀

at the moment I'm trying the s3 trio64V+ and it seems to work fine...

If you are interested in playing GLQuake with 25 fps at 1024x768, go with the Voodoo3. Run your Am5x86 at 160 MHz. Which motherboard are you using and what is the chipset? SiS 496/497 chipsets will work with the Voodoo3, however UMC 8881/8886 chipset boards will not. UMC 8881/8886 boards work with a Voodoo2 though. Many other 1996-1998 era 3D games are also very playeable on an Am5x86-160 w/Voodoo2/3.

If you are using 128 MB of RAM, you will need 1024 KB of L2 cache in write-back mode for all the RAM to be cached. If you set the L2 cache to write-through mode, you can get away with only having 512 KB of L2 cache. If you are wanting to push the 3D limit of your 486, it is important to have all your RAM cached or else there is a performance penalty.

nemail wrote:

i bought that system with 128MB of memory installed, didn't question it yet. how can i determine if it can cache the whole amount?

Give us the full config, we'll do the rest 😀

feipoa wrote:

If you are interested in playing GLQuake with 25 fps at 1024x768, go with the Voodoo3. Run your Am5x86 at 160 MHz. Which motherboard are you using and what is the chipset? SiS 496/497 chipsets will work with the Voodoo3, however UMC 8881/8886 chipset boards will not. UMC 8881/8886 boards work with a Voodoo2 though. Many other 1996-1998 era 3D games are also very playeable on an Am5x86-160 w/Voodoo2/3.

If you are using 128 MB of RAM, you will need 1024 KB of L2 cache in write-back mode for all the RAM to be cached. If you set the L2 cache to write-through mode, you can get away with only having 512 KB of L2 cache. If you are wanting to push the 3D limit of your 486, it is important to have all your RAM cached or else there is a performance penalty.

It is an UM8810P AIO V2.1 board with BIOS V3.2j 12-11-96 and it has only 256k of cache installed.
Also there's an Adaptec 2940 PCI SCSI Controller with a Seagate ST39236LW and PX-40TS CD drive attached to it.
Besides that, an ISA Vibra16X PnP card is installed.

I've got a spare Voodoo2 lying around too, so I gues I'll have to remove the PCI NIC and install the Voodoo 2 instead, alongside to the S3 Trio64V+...

RacoonRider wrote:

Give us the full config, we'll do the rest 😀

🤣 thanks 😀

edit: I've got another dead motherboard here with 4 pieces of 128K x 8 cache on it so I might install that cache on the UM8810P AIO to support.. how much (cached) RAM?

I use a PCI Trio64v+ with mine because i'm an idiot and want no-fuss with video issues .

I wouldn't bother with 4 pieces of 128K x 8 if you are planning on running the Am5x86-133 at 160 MHz. 4 pieces of cache accounts for a single bank. Single banked cached often does not do well with fast CMOS timings at 40+ MHz. 4 pieces of 128K x 8 is 512 KB, single-banked. You are better off with 8 pieces of 64K x 8 for 512 KB (double-banked).

I also lost the PCI NIC in favour of the Voodoo2.

leileilol wrote:

I use a PCI Trio64v+ with mine because i'm an idiot and want no-fuss with video issues .

why is this making you an idiot?

feipoa wrote:

I wouldn't bother with 4 pieces of 128K x 8 if you are planning on running the Am5x86-133 at 160 MHz. 4 pieces of cache accounts for a single bank. Single banked cached often does not do well with fast CMOS timings at 40+ MHz. 4 pieces of 128K x 8 is 512 KB, single-banked. You are better off with 8 pieces of 64K x 8 for 512 KB (double-banked).

I also lost the PCI NIC in favour of the Voodoo2.

Actually, I don't think I'm going to overclock it so maybe I'll give the single banked 512k a shot - but not now because I'd have to put the motherboard out for that (no space in that case for my hands). I have removed 64MB now and am running on dual banked 256k cache with 64MB of memory and the system runs just fine with win95c.

edit: also the voodoo 2 is installed and seems to work, didn't test any glide game yet, though.

Fast cache timings and 512 KB, single-bank with a 33 MHz FSB should be fine.

Who needs a V2 in a 5x86 ? the cpu is too slow 😳

Is there really a game that runs fluid in these configuration ? except teapot GL ?

matze79 wrote:

Who needs a V2 in a 5x86 ? the cpu is too slow 😳

Is there really a game that runs fluid in these configuration ? except teapot GL ?

don't know but otherwise the v2 would just lie around... 😀

nemail wrote:

leileilol wrote:

I use a PCI Trio64v+ with mine because i'm an idiot and want no-fuss with video issues .

why is this making you an idiot?

Because not being an idiot would mean a timely search for a nicely appropriate VLB video card.

matze79 wrote:

Who needs a V2 in a 5x86 ? the cpu is too slow 😳

It's a benefit for certain games for sure, no joke. Even shows performance advantages over a V1 in a 486 on some cases and it's one of the few fast 3d cards that is practical to use in a 486 at all, given the nicely optimized drivers and the version range of supported DirectX versions (5-7), and many Glide games having existed with utmost appropriateness for a slower CPU.

leileilol wrote:

nemail wrote:

leileilol wrote:

I use a PCI Trio64v+ with mine because i'm an idiot and want no-fuss with video issues .

why is this making you an idiot?

Because not being an idiot would mean a timely search for a nicely appropriate VLB video card.

If you have PCI, I find a PCI card perfectly appropriate...

wasnt vlb only around for like 1 year pretty much?? 1994-1995 then poof it was gone.
vlb basically is prototype version of pci...