VLB Video card recs for IBM PS/VP

Posted by pmodizzle@reddit | vintagecomputing | View on Reddit | 5 comments

Hey all, I never had a VLB video card that I know of back in the day, didn't really start upgrading my machines until the PCI/AGP era. Currently, my main retro gaming rig is an IBM PS/VP 433DX/D. I've recently dropped a couple upgrades in it - replaced the 486Dx33 with a Pentium Overdrive 83mhz (MASSIVE upgrade! I love it), and added a CD-rom. Next performance limitation I think is the onboard graphics. Only 1mb video ram - there is a proprietary VRAM expansion header but seems to be impossible to obtain and nobody has made a modern replacement that I can find. The system does have a VLB slot though, so looking for recommendations on what a good ISA/VLB card would be for a machine of these specs. Thanks

5 Comments

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EmptyJumpLow@reddit

ET4000 on VLB is kind of the gold standard (Diamond Stealth **32** VLB). Fast, dependable, all the bells and whistles. The next rung down is pretty much a tie between the S3 805 (most common on the Diamond Stealth VLB) and the Cirrus Logic CL-GD5428/5429 of any flavor (Diamond Speedstar Pro, Genoa, Prolink, etc. as a combo interface card or alone, whatever). They're not quite as fast as the ET4000, but they'll do fine for most applications given an expansion to 2MB video memory.

redditshreadit@reddit

In the 1990s I had an ATI Mach64 VLB card. Were they not good?

They're about the same on average as the Cirrus GD5428/29 or S3 8-5, just considerably more hard to come by (and expensive) these days. A *touch* worse performance in DOS modes, but better in high-res with GUI acceleration.

2raysdiver@reddit

If memory serves, a Diamond Stealth is what I put in my PS/VP. It went with the PS/VP when I sold it.

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