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First post, by simonh27

Posted on 2021-03-05, 14:22

simonh27 Offline

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Over the past couple of months I've been collecting old computers from Craigslist etc

I plan on putting together a DOS 6.22 machine and have a pentium II 350mhz with an agp 440bx motherboard

I have a selection of video cards and was wondering what the consensus would be on the most "compatible" card I have be.

S3 Virge gx 2mb (pci)
Matrox millennium II with 16mb wram
Nvidia Riva tnt 32mb
Nvidia Riva tntm64 32mb
Radeon 9000
Radeo 7500 (pci)
Nvidia fx5200
Nvidia fx5500

Looking around I see some are Vesa 3.0 others Vesa 2.0 and you can use univbe to get to Vesa 3.0 although I'm not sure how important the Vesa version is for dos

Thanks ahead of time

Reply 1 of 6, by Joseph_Joestar

Posted on 2021-03-05, 14:43

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From the cards you listed, the S3 Virge is the most compatible one with regards to DOS games. Followed closely by the Nvidia cards, then Ati and Matrox. See here for more details: https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS/

As for VBE 3.0, it allows you to run VBEHz and similar tools which can set the refresh rate of certain DOS games to higher values. This is useful if you are using a CRT monitor and want to play WarCraft2 at 120 Hz for example. The S3 Virge also has a custom tool which can increase the refresh rate, but that one caps out at 85 Hz.

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: Core 2 Duo E8600 / Foxconn P35AX-S / X800 / Audigy2 ZS
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 980Ti / X-Fi Titanium

Reply 2 of 6, by DundyTheCroc

Posted on 2021-03-05, 14:52

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I use S3 Virge/GX for DOS gaming and yes, it is great, no problems at all.

Last edited by DundyTheCroc on 2021-03-05, 21:23. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 3 of 6, by simonh27

Posted on 2021-03-05, 18:28

simonh27 Offline

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Thanks...I guess the pci card it is...feels weird because usually you want the "best" option

Reply 4 of 6, by Warlord

Posted on 2021-03-06, 00:33

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whats the problem with the TNT2

Reply 5 of 6, by simonh27

Posted on 2021-03-06, 01:59

simonh27 Offline

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Warlord wrote on 2021-03-06, 00:33:

whats the problem with the TNT2

Nothing it works fine, but my knowledge is limited s I was asking for advice to avoid issues down the line

Reply 6 of 6, by The Serpent Rider

Posted on 2021-03-06, 02:33

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Looking around I see some are Vesa 3.0 others Vesa 2.0 and you can use univbe to get to Vesa 3.0 although I'm not sure how important the Vesa version is for dos

VBE 3.0 card can be tweaked by VBE 3.0 utilities and does not require strict chip identification to tweak refresh rate or resolution. VBE 2.0 cards are limited only to their chip specific utilities or UniVBE.
That leads to a problem with lazy ass manufacturers like ATI. ATI didn't integrated VBE 3.0 on cards after ATI Rage Pro and they cannot be tweaked, because UniVBE does not support them.

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

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