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Tseng Labs ET4000

ID: TSENG-ET4000
RELEASED 1989
PRICE
DISCONTINUED 1994
UNITS SOLD Millions (via OEMs)

I/O PORTS

ISA/VLB

System Analysis

The SVGA king. Fastest DOS graphics card of its era. Every serious gamer had one before the Voodoo arrived.

Processor

40 MHz RAMDAC
ET4000AX

Hardware acceleration for common operations.

Audio Subsystem

0
None

N/A

Memory

DRAM
512 KB

Expandable to 1 MB

Storage

N/A
N/A

Graphics Architecture

ET4000
Palette: 256 Colors (1MB models)
  • 1024x768 (256c)
  • 1280x1024 (16c)
Hardware Tricks
  • ▹ Fast VGA BIOS
  • ▹ Linear framebuffer

Did You Know?

  • ? The W32 successor was even faster.
  • ? Diamond Speedstar and Orchid ProDesigner used ET4000.
  • ? Linear framebuffer made protected mode games smoother.