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Fastest VGA cards

T

triskalguilo

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Joined
May 19, 2012
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28
Location
Springfield, MO, USA
I'm in the market to put an 8-bit ISA VGA card into my 5150, and a 16-bit ISA VGA card into my 5170. What are the top performers? I hear good things about cards with Tseng chipsets.

I plan to run DOS games with them, so I'd prefer ones that don't need drivers, since 1) it could be difficult to find drivers at this point in time, and 2) I need the memory :)
 
triskalguilo said:
I'm in the market to put an 8-bit ISA VGA card into my 5150, and a 16-bit ISA VGA card into my 5170. What are the top performers? I hear good things about cards with Tseng chipsets.

I plan to run DOS games with them, so I'd prefer ones that don't need drivers, since 1) it could be difficult to find drivers at this point in time, and 2) I need the memory :)
Click to expand...

VGA should not require drivers in DOS.

Tseng cards are a good choice for speed. However, the gaming speed on the any of the IBM PC line is more a function of the CPU.
 
Some VGA cards required you to run a utility program to provide extra CGA compatiblity. Most programs won't need that, but a handful may (Microsoft Flight Simulator II comes to mind).

I don't think those utilities were usually TSRs. If I recall correctly, Video 7 cards have a DIP switch on the backplate to enable that mode with no TSR (useful for booters).
 
Just curious--in a 5150//5160, that is, a 4.77MHz 8088 running on the ISA bus--does VGA performance really matter? Or is it like putting a high-performance spark plug in your push lawnmower?
 
Yes, I even participated in that discussion. But does one VGA card exhibit better performance in an 8088 system that has only a fraction of the power that a 286 does? My gut feeling is "no".
 
Chuck(G) said:
Just curious--in a 5150//5160, that is, a 4.77MHz 8088 running on the ISA bus--does VGA performance really matter? Or is it like putting a high-performance spark plug in your push lawnmower?

.....But does one VGA card exhibit better performance in an 8088 system that has only a fraction of the power that a 286 does? My gut feeling is "no".
Click to expand...
Go with you gut. I'd go with it (yours).

The OP's question has no really significant answers as VGA performance in an 8088 0r 80286 is a nearly irrelevant issue.
 
Well, for 8088 gaming, the issue would more likely be how so slow is the CGA/EGA emulation. I remember that the place I worked for replaced an early VGA card in a fairly modern system and placed that VGA card into a surplus XT. The XT video was so slow with that VGA card that the system was swapped back to its previous non-VGA card. So I suspect the performance difference between VGA cards can be noticed even on an 8088 but it would be pure bad luck to find such a poor card now.

I would prefer to provide an actual review article instead of hazy anecdote but I don't have one.
 
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