Howdy, been in the stone age for a long long time. Was curious if anyone has the answers to some upgrade questions I have.
My main system is a Intel Motherboard D815EEA AGP4 with Windows 98 SE maximum CPU is a P3 1.4 Tualatin, maximum amount of ram MB can take 512 sdram and a 3dfx Voodoo 5500. Using a 16 inch CRT monitor and would like the Video upgrade Card to be able to use the old style CRT monitor too.

This system has served me well for 10 years most components still going strong. I have finally outgrown most of the games that have kept me entertained over the years. I just recently sold the last of my 3dfx glide games, so now the Voodoo 5500 is no longer a must keep component.

Been spending allot of time building N scale old Steam Train layouts anyhow The games that survived the chopping block are European Air War patch 1.1pc4, Strike Fighters patch sp2a, Original Steel Beast, and Vietcong. Now there is also a game alike that I play on my laptop allot now after making a few unique open ocean very random just carrier war scenario for it called Carriers at War2. Looking at that system requirements looks like it will play on my desktop minus the Voodoo 5500 with a Geforce 2 32mb in its place and possibly it will still play on Windows 98 SE with DirectX 9C.

My question is what is the fastest Video card that my motherboard can handle and get the benefits from using the motherboard system above with max CPU P3 1.4 Tualtin and maximum ram the MB will take is 512 sdram using Windows 98 SE and Windows XP and being able to play the games mentioned above. I am sure I will reach a point where the Video Card will not be able to use its full power because of bottleneck of older system components and using resolutions like 800x600 and 1024x768 and maybe 1280x960.

One issue that could be a problem for a HI tech video card is for it to play Steel Beast that uses a resolution of 640x480 and is not 3d accelerated and uses only 256 colors, I am assuming the Geforce 2 can do this but as a go higher up on the generations of Geforce maybe I will lose that ability? What generation of Geforce cards lost this ability?

I am guessing the GeForce 7600 GT is the fastest card for a AGP 4x motherboard and that has the old style video connector for
old style CRT monitor plus a dvi port on the card. Maybe this is a complete waste or uses allot of watts, heat and accomplishes nothing for me and would be better to stick with a older generation Geforce 3x 4x 5x or 6x series card? Any opinions appreciated.

I have 5 to 10 of these Motherboard Systems with Voodoo 5500, and plan on keeping some for the future just in case, but want to ditch most of the Voodoo 5500 cards for the fastest card to show with this older motherboard system can do with Strike Fighters, vietcong and EAW in all its possible glory using the old MB system though.

Yes I know some will say you need to upgrade Motherboard, I do plan on one day getting the latest system out there. But I indend to keep this motherboard system around and some spares for the future plus I have some other things I do in Windows98SE.

Thanks for any help and advice and my apologies for taking you so far back in time, hehe!

Lonny


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What's the wattage of your power supply? Also, you said your AGP port was only a 4x? when I had an AMD 1.33GHz system I was rockin' a GeForce 4 Ti4600. I think one of the last AGP cards NVidia made was the 7800GS, but it was AGP 8x. Not sure if it would work on an AGP 4x system. Also, is your AGP port 1.5 volts?

Thanks for reply ArgonV. Looking at my new Power Supplys bought years back saved for future would be 300 watts to 430 watts. Yes the Motherboard says 1.5 Volts. AGP 2.0 Compliant 4x highest. So far I have had 3 people suggest the Geforce 4x series, a Geforce 4800se and a Ti4200 for European Air War and Strike Fighters. And you recommended a Ti4600. Hopefully this Geforce 4x series will work with Windows 98SE and these games. On the EAW forum there is a post that states a AGP Geforce 6200 plays EAW and another post that states it will not play EAW. No one has mentioned the Geforce5x series cards.

1 post has recommended a ATI 9800 Pro for Strike Fighters, need to find out if that will play EAW and works in Windows 98SE.

For the games I want to play do you see where 1 Brand would be better then the other because of graphics problem. Geforce vs ATI?

Thanks for your help

ALSO I attend to run windows 98se, maybe the Geforce 6x and 7x does not work in Windows 98SE, any idea?

Lonny

For older games, as well as for Win 98 SE compatability I would probably go GeForce Ti4xxx series. The Ti4800 SE is simply a Ti4400 with AGP 8x support. The Ti4800 is a Ti4600 with AGP 8x support. I just found that the GeForce Ti4600 was AGP 4x so I would go that option. You should also be fine with a 430W power suply.

Great I will give that a try, thank you ArgonV for your help!

I have an old card I could send you if you'd like.
128MB Radeon 9800 Pro - ...book and disc.
Also an Antec true 430 PSU.
Both work fine.

Don't know if they're better than what you have, but they're free.