486 DX2/66 Graphics Card

[EverStaR]

Any suggestions here for a Gateway 2000 486 DX2/66? I have one ISA slot and one PCI slot available. I have an ISA SoundBlaster 16 in the other ISA Slot. I wouldn't mind maybe adding an ethernet card in the unused slot after I select a graphics card. Open to suggestions there as well. I would like the best overall card to support Dos Games and Windows 3.1.

Thanks in advance!
E

 

[Zare]

ISA is slow. 486 DX2 is fast. ISA VGA is a fit up to 386.
A 10 megabit adapter is enough for such computer. So buy PCI graphics and ISA network.

Everything VGA is good for Windows 3.1, all early PCI graphic chips have 3.1 drivers. I think 1MB PCI graphics is minimal and 1MB runs Win3.1 in highest color on highest resolutions.

You can consult this list here https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS/ for PCI VGA DOS games compatibility

 

[Timo W.]

An ATi Mach64 PCI is a good match. However, since you have PCI, it would also be a good idea to install a DX4-100 Overdrive, or an AMD/Cyrix 5x86 - should the board support 3.3v. That way, you can get more out of the PCI bus.

If you want to do something really funny: install a fast ISA graphics card (e.g. ET4000) and a Voodoo1 in the PCI slot. Did that in a VIP board with an AMD 5x86 @ 160 MHz (which, however, now has a Pentium Overdrive).

 

[Zare]

Can second ATi and S3 is not a bad choice either.

If you're buying over ebay I suggest you look into an Ark Logic ARK1000 or 2000 based card, the price should be as same as any other 1/2MB PCI so dirt cheap. These have great game support, the analog signal quality is superb in range of Matrox, and the card's mem I/O speed is top notch, a hair lower than Voodoo Banshee.

You can get exact VGA product names containing the chip here

VGA Legacy MKIII - ARK Logic ARK1000PV

2D with PCI/VL-Bus support. Palcal's cards: Vlask's card:

www.vgamuseum.info

VGA Legacy MKIII - ARK Logic ARK2000PV

1st 64bit chip from ARK. Palcal's cards: Zaatharen's cards: Vlask's card:

www.vgamuseum.info

Hercules Stingray Pro is a great pick available on ebay at any time.

 

[the3dfxdude]

Does the gateway machine already come with a vga card in another slot or onboard? It's likely it already comes with a pretty good card. What does it have?

 

[EverStaR]

The video is built into the motherboard. I still have to dig into it more, just arrived yesterday. I believe they were shipped originally with a CL Logic Video Card. There is a youtuber out there that it would appear has an identical machine and he had a CL Logic Graphics card in his.

I am waiting for my IDE CF Card Interface so I can install it in the one remaining empty bay and backup the HD first thing. Then I will pull it all apart, make sure its all cleaned up and photograph everything and find a home for it in the retro station area. That may be the hardest of the challenges ahead. I ordered a Diamond Stealth 64 Video VRAM 2 S3 Vision968 PCI Video Card Rev 07B for it since it also had the driver disk. I seem to recall using Diamond back in the day on my 486 of yesteryear. I believe I built that one out myself if I recall correctly.

Speaking of which, I can find no manuals for the motherboard out there. What's an easy diagnostic program from that age to see what all the chip and specs that are in it? It looks like it has 4 memory card slots, 3 of which are occupied.

Thanks for all the help! Nice board here!

E

 

[Zare]

If the integrated adapter has 1MB it will do. You don't have to worry about driver disks and such, everything is available online, items we're discussing were mass produced. But it's not bad to have a spare video card after all.

For 486 class PC it's enough to inspect POST screens, setup utility, video BIOS banner and list of ISA P'n'P and PCI devices. So just watching closely while the PC tries to boot up should give you enough info as what chipset it is and what video card it is.

DOS sysinfo tools query BIOS for basic platform discovery. Unlikely they'll report anything that you can't already find out by either looking at the boot or just looking at the motherboard. You can't really miss the chipset chip and the graphics chip, next to CPU they are the biggest chips you have there.

 

[EverStaR]

Thanks! I don't recall seeing any info about video specs, however, I will watch more carefully! Again the other person I found had a separate CL video card installed and what little I can find out there shows a CL card.

 

[Timo W.]

If it already has Cirrus Logic VGA on-board, use that. Those chips are good, have basic 2d acceleration for Windows, and are also very compatible. Makes no sense to waste a PCI slot for any other card that will be hardly any faster.

 

[Zare]

Thanks! I don't recall seeing any info about video specs, however, I will watch more carefully! Again the other person I found had a separate CL video card installed and what little I can find out there shows a CL card.

Seems like early PCI Cirrus Logic are among the best chips when it comes to both VGA and SVGA compatibility for games.
Maybe your monitor comes a bit late out of standby and it misses the video BIOS banner. Try looking just after you reboot the machine, not on power on.

What Timo said if you have a chip in there, you are not getting anything with buying that chip on a card, just a wasted slot. Generally - if the card version doesn't have extra something like composite out or whatnot, and you don't need extra memory that card version might have.

We all come from a perspective of wanting to buy what we used to have. I was a Matrox user originally. Saved some cards, some I didn't and I regret it. My Millenium II 4MB somehow didn't survive in storage. I've thought about getting it and putting it in function as same as yourself, replace the Trident onboard with it. But what are the pros of this card? Very high video quality signal at very high resolutions with two monitor ports. As a programmer, it mattered a lot back then, but I'm not going to sit in front of a vintage computer for hours typing and reading text. Looking at the table I posted now I see that some puny Trident actually supports classic DOS games better than my powerful MGA, which is a far better case for me today, I do once in a while connect a real old PC to play its original games. Yeah, I still plan to spend time programming at the vintage computer, but it doesn't matter that the text is the best it can be, 90% will do fine.

 

[EverStaR]

Tried several ways, (CTL, Alt Del- Reset, Cold Boot) the only info I gets starts with the Phoenix BIOS screen. Just a clarification, the Gateway user was using a physical Card and Slot for a physical CL Video Card. I am not sure I care about using a slot, the only other thing I want is networking. Hoping to get my USB floppy today so I can get a copy of NC and see what it will show me. Its been Eons since I used that tool. I have been digging out some very old HD's I kept data on to see what all I have. Found some games and stuff. I have original copies Win 95, 98, 2000 and XP, for future playing in VMware. Lots of fun ahead!