Welcome
to the video card tweaking page.
This
page will concern itself with 4 video cards for now- more will be added
as I buy them and learn how they can be tweaked.
ET6000/6100
based cards, the first 128 bit 2D chipset
Hercules
Dynamite 128 video 4 meg
The
first "real" video card I ever owned, I had my eye on them for a
bit and wanted to upgrade from my 1 meg S3 that my P-133 shipped with.
Benchmarks in magazines were good and it looked like the fastest dos gaming
card money could buy. This was in the day before 3dfx cards of course.
Tseng labs sold out to ATI in 1997 so this was their last hurrah in the
video card market but loads of ET6000/ET6100 cards are still being sold
to this day.
There
are 2 sets of drivers that I have played with for the ET6000, the last
set of generic drivers from Tseng Labs and drivers from my card's manufacturer,
Hercules.
DirectX
5 and 6 have a direct draw driver that can also be installed if you have
an application that needs a DX5/6 certified driver- I have seen no ill
effects using it.
Max
resolution with 16bit color: 1280x1024
Max
refresh rate: 120Hz at 800x600
The
Hercules Dynamite 128 control panel.
The
refresh rate meter is very handy and works with all video cards.
Hercules
Dynamite 128 video driver
Tsengs
ET6000/6100 driver
I
have seen some programs act up with the Tseng Labs driver if the 32bit
version is used.
If
that is the case, use the included 16bit driver.
There
is a driver issue with intels I263 CODEC which causes lockups and/or distorted
playback when used with the Windows' new media player.
SciTech's
display doctor can work magic if you are having problems.
I
haven't noticed much difference using it with my ET6000 card but have seen
good results on other manufacturers chipsets. It might be worth a shot.
SciTech's
web page
You
can even overclock your ET6000/6100 card if you like but the gains are
too small to bother with.
And
last but not least, The Unofficial ET6000 Website run by Thomas Hoeg-Jensen
in Denmark were you can find more information on this chipset and links
to manufacturers who still sell ET based cards.
The
Unofficial ET6000 Website
I'm
still using mine to this day after it's been in four different computers.
It is in my other pc (I have twins); even though it has an AGP slot I find
it does the job just fine.
Hope
I don't need that last PCI slot for anything.
3DFX
Voodoo Graphics based 3d add-on cards
The
Diamond Monster 3D
The
Godzilla that ruled the pc world for almost 2 years burst onto the scene
with such force it stomped all others flat. Never before had gamers had
such a powerful ally to render graphics at such raw speeds and color depths.
The voodoo graphics based cards were and still are amazing pieces of work;
I am just now after 2 years replacing mine with a voodoo II card. That's
like 10 dog years in the computer business.
Supported
resolutions: 512x384, 640x480, 800x600 (no z buffering)
Max
refresh rate: 120Hz
API's
supported: Direct3d, Glide and Opengl
Diamonds
Monster3d control panel.
First
order of business is drivers. The ones that came with your card?
Toss' em.
3dfx
reference drivers
Best
drivers you can use for your voodoo I.
note
- if you use Canopus' 6 meg voodoo graphics board you must use their drivers
for this unique card. It is the only voodoo I with 6 megs of ram and optional
TV output.
Canopus
Pure 3d and Pure 3dLX drivers
Do
you have an S3 based 2d video card?
Make
sure you have this patch so it works correctly with you 3dfx card.
S3
video fix
Next,
a free program to tweak your voodoo card for faster speed.
TweakIt!
And
a few voodoo related web sites.
3dfx's
home page
Voodoo
Extreme
Voodoo
magazine
3Dfx
Mania
Voodoo
Lounge
Voodoo
Web Ring
3DFX
Voodoo II based 3d add-on cards
Metabytes
Wicked3D Voodoo II 12 meg
3dfx's
follow up to their successful voodoo graphics chipset, the Voodoo II, shattered
all benchmarks with its blindingly fast rendering speeds and raw horsepower.
It is in some cases THREE times faster than the chipset it was superceeding!
And
if that isn't enough, you can buy a second card and attach it to the first
and double your speed! The 3dfx Voodoo II is the only card that can do
this!
Quantum3d
even makes TWO
Voodoo II cards on a SINGLE
board if your tight on the number of PCI slots in your computer and have
the money to burn.
Quantum3d Obsidian
II-X24
First
order of business is drivers. This is a little different than the voodoo
I cards;
some
of the oems really tweak their drivers for extra features and speed.
My
Voodoo II card is manufactured by Metabyte which is a driver company. I
am very pleased with their drivers so far.
Supported
resolutions: 512x384, 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 (no z buffering)
In
Scan Line Interface mode (SLI, two cards linked together)
1024x768
with z buffering
With
the Wicked3d drivers you can go to 1024x1024! (SLI)
Max
refresh rate: 120Hz
API's
supported: Direct3d, Glide and Opengl
As
you can see there is lots to play with in the control panel.
No
matter what Voodoo II card you have, you still can't go wrong with these.
3dfx
reference drivers
Canopus
If
you use Canopus Voodoo II with TV output you must use their drivers
for
this unique card.
Canopus
Pure 3dII drivers
Quantum3d
The
only company with a dual Voodoo II on a single board, unique drivers of
course.
Obsidian
2-X24 drivers
Do
you have an S3 based 2d video card?
Make
sure you have this patch so it works correctly with you 3dfx card.
S3
video fix
Next,
a free program to tweak your voodoo card for faster speed.
TweakIt!
And
a few voodoo related web sites.
3dfx's
home page
Voodoo
Extreme
Voodoo
magazine
3Dfx
Mania
Voodoo
Lounge
Voodoo
Web Ring
In
GlQuake over 100 Frames per second!
Intel/Real3d
i740 based 2d/3d cards
& 
Diamond
Stealth II G-460 AGP 8 meg
A
joint design between Intel and Real3d, the i740 is only a bit faster than
the 3dfx Voodoo Graphics chipset. However, where the 3dfx part is a stand
alone accelerator with no 2d capabilities, the i740 is a full AGPx2 compliant
2d/3d board that is very attractively priced.
The
rendering quality of the i740 chip is superb, and its opengl driver is
very robust.
Quake
II running under opengl with the i740 is a visual delight to behold.
As
a bonus, full screen playback of AVI's or MPEG's are smooth with no tearing
or artifacts. The i740 powered video card makes a fine addition to any
PC.
Max
2d/3d resolution with 16bit color: 1280x1024
Max
refresh rate: 85Hz at 1280x1024
API's
supported: Direct3d and Opengl
The
control panel for the i740 is very informative.
As
is the case with 3dfx, the best drivers to use with the i740 are intel's
reference drivers.
intel
i740 reference drivers
It
is important to note however some i740 boards use a flashable bios chip-
YOU MUST USE YOUR MANUFACTURER'S BIOS UPDATE- DAMAGE TO THE CARD WILL OCCUR
IF YOU TRY TO USE A DIFFERENT MANUFACTURER'S BIOS.
How
about a program to help speed up your i740 a bit?
Powerstrip
The
average i740 can be BUS overclocked with certain motherboards; i.e. running
the AGP bus at 100mhz vs 66mhz. I have tried this myself and the results
are around 5-10% faster performance under 3d applications. Long term durability
is unknown, so I returned my card to its default 66mhz after testing.
Quite
frankly I have a Voodoo II and it has all the raw speed I need for 3d work.
The Voodoo II and i740 make an excellent combo where either one can be
upgraded later if need be.
i740
releated web sites.
intel's
i740 page
Real3d's
homepage
740
i740
Cafe
i740
Generic
Intel
i740 Forum
The
Forum is an excellent place to find information.
