60 Popular Video Chipsets
Description
This article is from the comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video Frequently Asked Questions, by Michael Scott with numerous contributions by others. (v1.0).
60 Popular Video Chipsets
Some of the information in this section was taken from Boogyman's video FAQ. For more detailed chipset info, or info on a particular video card model, refer to the Chipsets document which is distributed as a supplement to this FAQ. The relevant sections are included with the Video Chipset Information List. Note that while much of the information in this section is fact, by its very nature, some of the following is based on opinion. Please don't submit flames - any messages that are of the 'my video card is the best' will be sent to /dev/null. If you disagree with any of the comments below and can provide reasonable justification, feel free to email the FAQ maintainer. Note that 'my card is _really_ fast' isn't good enough evidence.
Alliance Promotion
32, 64 and 128 bit chipset with DRAM, EDO and video acceleration capabilities. Their 6422 chipset is faster than the CL5434 and some S3 chips for Windows (according to Alliance) but DOS/VGA speed is poor.
ARK 1000PV, 2000PV
A relative newcomer to the video arena, the ARK2000 based cards are the fastest DOS/VGA performers available. They are inexpensive, 32 (1000) & 64 bit (2000) processors that provide some acceleration capabilities, but are only available in DRAM versions. Of course, for any VGA application, VRAM would provide no benefit over DRAM anyway. (i.e. Hercules Stingray 64/Video, Actix Picasso 64)
ATI (see Mach 32 & Mach 64)
Avance Logic Inc. -ALI (ALG2301/ALG2228)
32 bit DRAM based chipset with limited acceleration features. A 64-bit chip is also available.
Cirrus Logic (542x)
C.L. based cards have become the de facto entry level video adapters for VLB and PCI. While somewhat faster than the older Trident 8900, C.L. chipsets are economy models, low on price and acceleration. These chipsets are 32 bit and support DRAM up to 2 MB for some models. Because they are so common, they are well supported across different operating systems.
Cirrus Logic (543x/544x)
This is the 64 bit replacement for the 542x series of chips. Has some acceleration features and in general are good cards for their modest price. The GD5430 has only 32 bit DRAM interface even with 2 MB installed, but other models have full 64 bit interface.
Mach32
While no longer in production, this is a popular 32 bit chip. Its speed has been surpassed by many newer chipsets, but it still provides good performance, and is supported widely. Supports up to 2 MB of VRAM or DRAM and 64 bit memory transfers (interleaved). (i.e. ATI Graphics Ultra Pro)
Mach64 (88800)
This 64 bit chip was designed by/for ATI. It provides accelerated GUI performance and respectable VGA speed. Support across many OS's and most buses is available. Mach64 based cards have been given first place honours in many PC magazine video card rankings due to good performance and excellent drivers and utilities. Newer versions of the Mach64 provide video acceleration, while the Rage 3D accelerator adds 3D acceleration. (i.e. ATI Graphics Pro Turbo, WinTurbo, Xpression, Video Xpression)
Matrox MGA
Typically, Matrox cards are blisteringly fast for GUI's (typically Windows 3.1) and are considered a high-end chipset because of their cost. However, the VGA chipset used on Matrox cards is abysmal, and is usually much slower than even the cheapest VGA cards. Matrox has released a new card called the Millenium which is very fast for GUI's and has fast VGA performance. The newer Mystique also provides fast GUI and DOS/VGA speed. It uses the new high-bandwidth, low-cost WRAM technology.
Oak Technologies Inc.
Provide low end SVGA chipsets, some available with up to 2 MB. Performance isn't spectacular, and are fairly inexpensive.
S3 ViRGE, Vision864, Vision868, Vision968, Trio64, 805, 911, etc
One of the most popular chipsets, S3-based cards seem to appear at or near the top of most Windows 3.1 accelerator top ten rankings. The S3 family enjoys good support across most operating systems and the 864/964 and Trio64 provide very fast performance for GUI's and respectable VGA speed. Typically the 8xx series are DRAM based, while the 9xx are for VRAM.
The 911 and 924 were the first generation chips which came with VRAM. Provide good GUI acceleration but poor VGA performance.
The 32 bit chipsets consist of 801, 805, 928 and Trio32 (732). The 801 is a low end chip which is faster than comparable C.L. chips. The 805 supports VLB and the 805i supports interleaved DRAM. The 928 is a high-end 32 bit card and the Trio32 is an attempt to dominate the low-end 32 bit market - used DRAM.
The 64 bit chipsets are ViRGE, 864, 964, Trio64 (764),V+ 868 and 968. These chipsets dominate many top 10 listings for economical but fast GUI accelerators. The Trio64 is basically an 864 with integrated RAMDAC but isn't software compatible. All have a 64 bit memory interface. The x68 chips have additional video acceleration capabilities, as does the Trio64V+.
The ViRGE has a Trio64V+ core with additional 3D acceleration features. (i.e. Hercules Terminator 64/DRAM (Trio64), STB Powergraph 64, Diamond Stealth 64 (Trio64), rPC FireStorm64, Paradise Bahamas 64 (Vision864), Diamond Stealth Video (Vision868), Hercules Terminator Professional (Vision868).
Trident
For a long time, Trident chipsets (89xx) were the most common entry level chips used on ISA boards. They aren't very fast for VGA or GUI but enjoy broad-based SVGA mode support. The newer Trident chips (94xx) are faster and provide some acceleration features, but are still one of the slowest chipsets available. The more recent 9680 is a respectable GUI accelerator.
TSENG
ET6000
Tseng's latest chipset gives blazing DOS/VGA performance and fast Windows performance. Many vendors offer ET6000 based cards. It supports DRAM and EDO DRAM sporting a 128-bit accelerator and on-chip DAC.
ET4000 - W32, W32i, W32p
Traditionally the fastest VGA chipset, the ET4000 has recently been put into second place behind the ARK2000 chipset(s). The original ET4000 chipset is not accelerated, but the newer W32's are. It enjoys good support across most OS's, but lacks the bandwidth (being a 32 bit chip) to provide high-resolution, high-refresh truecolour performance. The 'p' denotes PCI, 'i' and 'p' are capable of memory interleaving. (i.e. Hercules Dynamite Pro(W32i) or Power (W32p), Cardex Challenger, Diamond Stealth 32 (discontinued))
UMC 8710
This is a less common 32-bit interleaved DRAM-based chipset.
Weitek P90xx and P91xx
Very fast VRAM-based accelerators have no VGA support which must be provided by a separate chip. 32-bit. Weitek is not providing drivers for Windows95, so support is vendor-specific and spotty at best.
Western Digital (Paradise)
The WD90C3x chipsets are 32-bit DRAM based and are available in up to 2 MB version. Have some acceleration capabilities. Philips Electronics purchased Western Digital's video chipset division in 1995.
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