The card I purchased - that S3-Virge thing - was purchased because it ran me all of $7.50. I didn't really plan on running it as the primary graphics card of my system. I mostly just wanted to get a system up and running.
I couldn't help but chuckle a bit at your comments because....you listed a lot of graphics cards I used to have! Haha! I think we are on the same page here.
I can't remember the system requirements that everything had. I plan on keeping this stuff running on a Pentium 100. I can't remember what the Voodoo 2 needed in order to run. It could be that it (or "they" for SLI) only needed a Pentium 90, however I believe that most of the games that I ran with my Voodoo setup (2x 8 MB Monster 3d II PCI + Matrox Millenium G220 AGP) required a computer that was a Pentium 166 or higher. In fact, I ran that graphics card setup on a Pentium 2 266 and eventually Pentium 3 500. So I think I am leaving the territory of the Pentium 100, and it obviously couldn't take AGP card.
Focusing a bit more on this system - BAM - you mentioned the one thing I am looking for - a Matrox Mystique. I remember making the call between a Millenium (I think it was a bit more expensive) and a Mystique. I bought the Mystique because I wanted to go to 3D. This was...1997? Does that sound right? While the Mystique may not have been the best card at the time, it got the job done. I was impressed enough to stick with Matrox for years until the GeForce chip came around. No need to talk about that chip, though, as we are leaving the territory I am interested in using for gaming.
All of this said, my primary interest is in DOS-based games. I don't mind pushing to a better graphics card so long as I do not lose compatibility with the games. I don't recall graphics cards causing game incompatibilities until the Windows 95/98 Direct-X era. Most DOS games just didn't care. You'd get some better framerates when you moved from ISA to VLB, but otherwise the games would run fine.
So here I have a Windows 98 SE edition machine that I boot to DOS and seriously type "win" in order to use. I spend most of the time in DOS at the moment as my primary interest is in DOS-based games. I have certainly sat the fence on the options. Do I go Voodoo? Should i restrict myself to Voodoo 1 or go Voodoo 2 SLI? Is there a point to putting Voodoo 2 SLI on a Pentium 100, or should I wait to do that if I build a Pentium 2 or 3 machine? Should I dig up my Matrox Mystique? Would it be better to skip out on the 3D path and just stick to a good, compatible 2D card.
You have seriously written out some of the thoughts I have thrown around in my head concerning the video card on this machine. The one thing that causes a bit of concern is that I do seem to recall having a conversation with a friend circa 1996/1997 when we were both considering moving to a Matrox card - A conversation that talked about compatibility. It *seems* like the chip in there was indeed not recognized by a few programs and therefore caused some degree of incompatibility. If it did, I probably wrote it off because I was moving forward instead of backward. Oh, but how it is different this time! I am moving backward with a purpose. Therefore, do I use the Mystique or acquire a card with higher compatibility?
Heh. Hey, Calibrator
The card I purchased - that S3-Virge thing - was purchased because it ran me all of $7.50. I didn't really plan on running it as the primary graphics card of my system. I mostly just wanted to get a system up and running.
I couldn't help but chuckle a bit at your comments because....you listed a lot of graphics cards I used to have! Haha! I think we are on the same page here.
I can't remember the system requirements that everything had. I plan on keeping this stuff running on a Pentium 100. I can't remember what the Voodoo 2 needed in order to run. It could be that it (or "they" for SLI) only needed a Pentium 90, however I believe that most of the games that I ran with my Voodoo setup (2x 8 MB Monster 3d II PCI + Matrox Millenium G220 AGP) required a computer that was a Pentium 166 or higher. In fact, I ran that graphics card setup on a Pentium 2 266 and eventually Pentium 3 500. So I think I am leaving the territory of the Pentium 100, and it obviously couldn't take AGP card.
Focusing a bit more on this system - BAM - you mentioned the one thing I am looking for - a Matrox Mystique. I remember making the call between a Millenium (I think it was a bit more expensive) and a Mystique. I bought the Mystique because I wanted to go to 3D. This was...1997? Does that sound right? While the Mystique may not have been the best card at the time, it got the job done. I was impressed enough to stick with Matrox for years until the GeForce chip came around. No need to talk about that chip, though, as we are leaving the territory I am interested in using for gaming.
All of this said, my primary interest is in DOS-based games. I don't mind pushing to a better graphics card so long as I do not lose compatibility with the games. I don't recall graphics cards causing game incompatibilities until the Windows 95/98 Direct-X era. Most DOS games just didn't care. You'd get some better framerates when you moved from ISA to VLB, but otherwise the games would run fine.
So here I have a Windows 98 SE edition machine that I boot to DOS and seriously type "win" in order to use. I spend most of the time in DOS at the moment as my primary interest is in DOS-based games. I have certainly sat the fence on the options. Do I go Voodoo? Should i restrict myself to Voodoo 1 or go Voodoo 2 SLI? Is there a point to putting Voodoo 2 SLI on a Pentium 100, or should I wait to do that if I build a Pentium 2 or 3 machine? Should I dig up my Matrox Mystique? Would it be better to skip out on the 3D path and just stick to a good, compatible 2D card.
You have seriously written out some of the thoughts I have thrown around in my head concerning the video card on this machine. The one thing that causes a bit of concern is that I do seem to recall having a conversation with a friend circa 1996/1997 when we were both considering moving to a Matrox card - A conversation that talked about compatibility. It *seems* like the chip in there was indeed not recognized by a few programs and therefore caused some degree of incompatibility. If it did, I probably wrote it off because I was moving forward instead of backward. Oh, but how it is different this time! I am moving backward with a purpose. Therefore, do I use the Mystique or acquire a card with higher compatibility?