""Would someone please confirm (or refute) my understanding
that the video card and its driver supporting (or not
supporting) VESA video modes is the thing that makes
Fractint not run on some machines -- rather than the
version of Windows?  I've run Fractint on both Windows 98
and WinXP successfully.

 - Hal Lane""


I believe you are correct. I run FractInt on an Alienware Area-51 system, bought in 2006.
It has a GeForce 8600 and Athlon64 dual core chip. Fractint SCREAMS! Even when run in a default command shell under WinXP Media edition. Although with some complex fractals it slows down and chokes up, but not often.

Booting with a Win98-DOS-7 CD it runs just a little better. Also, under windows, there is a free app called "game booster"  (google for it) which shuts down all "unnecessary" services; it is meant to optimize the system for game play. It gives a significant performance improvement.

One other thing - I have confirmed that Athlon64 chips are far superior to Intel for Fractint in WinXP.
But this is for systems 6-12 years old, that may not apply to current systems.