From: S_JUFFA@iravcl.ira.uka.de (|S| Norbert Juffa)
Subject: WINTACH performance of Diamond SpeedSTAR HiColor w/ 386, RapidCAD
Organization: University of Karlsruhe (FRG) - Informatik Rechnerabt.
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 15:13:16 GMT
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.23

WINTACH PERFORMANCE OF DIAMOND SPEEDSTAR HICOLOR WITH 386/RapidCAD


The data presented in this article is meant to provide some sort of base
for comparison of the Windows perfromance other graphics cards. The
Diamond SpeedSTAR HiColor uses the ET4000 chip set from Tseng. Its
performance is fairly typical of a high-end SVGA ISA card using the
ET4000 chip set. Among the ISA cards with the ET4000, only the Sigma
Legend II is supposedly faster due to the use of VRAMs (the Diamond
SpeedSTAR uses 70 ns DRAMs). Maybe someone on the net can supply the
WINTACH results for the Sigma Legend II. It would also be interesting
how much of an performance increase local bus cards using the ET4000
can provide, say in a 486DX2-66 system. Of course, benchmark comparison
with accelerator cards is also highly interesting. So far, the best
accelerator cards can deliver about 3-4 four times the overall WINTACH
performance of a Diamond SpeedSTAR in the same system. In a recent
benchmark comaprison by a German computer magazine, the IIT XGraphics
came out as the fastest accelerator, beating the ATI Ultra and the
Diamond Stealth in the WINTACH benchmark.


To benchmark the Diamond SpeedSTAR I used the following HW/SW configuration(s):

HW: 386/RapidCAD, 33/40 MHz, Forex chip set, 128 kB CPU cache, 8 MB RAM
SW: AMI-BIOS, MS-DOS 5.0, QEMM 6.01, Windows 3.1

To test the influence of a mathematical coprocessor on the graphics
performance measured by WINTACH, I installed an Intel 387DX with the
386, but saw no difference at all. My board allows operation at 33
and 40 MHz, so I tried both speeds by swapping the quartz oscillator.
The Diamond SpeedSTAR HiColor was jumpered for the fastest memory
access that allowed reliable operation. The raw video thruput for
every configuration was tested using the PD program VIDSPEED. My test
program COMPTEST showed 7 wait states on the video memory for every
configuration. The SpeedSTAR allows for even faster memory access of
4 wait states, but the screen gets trashed during BitBlts in this mode,
indicating that the video memory can not be reliably written. Besides
testing the performance in a 386 based system, I also swapped the
386 with an Intel RapidCAD to see how much of a performance increase
it provides. The RapidCAD is basically a 486 without the internal cache
and a 386 pin out. It doesn't have the 486 specific instructions, so
it is fully software compatible with the 386. The RapidCAD is an end
user product that retails for about US$ 320 at the moment.

For my tests, I used the generic drivers that Tseng distributes on the
net and that should run on all ET4000 based cards. There are also
certain 'speed' drivers for the ET4000 that promise much higher
performance. I have tried a set of those as well. I found these
Colorview drivers to as reliable as the original drivers from
Tseng. The drivers I used for my benchmarks were all contained in
a file ET4CVIEW.ZIP and were dated 05-27-92.

Using the Colorview drivers instead of the standard Tseng drivers
gives an average overall performance increase of about 11%.
In Windows' standard mode, WINTACH overall performance exceeds the
performance in the 386 enhanced mode by about 14%.
The RapidCAD provides about 13% higher overall WINTACH performance
than a 386 at the same speed.
Using 8514 fonts instead of VGA fonts gives a performance increase
of about 3% for drivers of the same resolution.


The drivers are listed from highest resolution to lowest resultion. Every
driver is listed according to the template "horizontal resolution x vertical
resolution x colors" followed by a letter indicating the fonts used (S=VGA,
L=8514) followed by the driver 'manufacturer'.


Norbert Juffa, email: S_JUFFA@IRAVCL.IRA.UKA.DE


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


386, 33 MHz, Enhanced Mode (VIDSPEED video thruput: 5376 bytes per millisecond)

                             Word Proc.  CAD   Spreadsheet  Paint    Overall

1024x768x256L  (Colorview)     4.24      5.22      5.01      4.91     4.85
1024x768x256S  (Colorview)     3.99      5.01      4.86      4.76     4.66
1024x768x256L  (Tseng)         3.73      4.96      4.24      4.40     4.33
1024x768x256S  (Tseng)         3.63      4.91      4.09      4.30     4.23
1024x768x16L   (Tseng)         2.09      3.14      3.04      2.89     2.79
1024x768x16S   (Tseng)         2.04      3.04      3.02      2.76     2.72

800x600x32768L (Tseng)         5.43      6.81      4.31      6.31     5.72
800x600x32768S (Tseng)         5.06      6.75      4.06      6.00     5.47
800x600x256L   (Colorview)     3.87      3.59      4.43      4.18     4.02
800x600x256S   (Colorview)     3.53      3.56      4.28      4.03     3.85
800x600x256L   (Tseng)         3.34      3.53      4.09      3.65     3.65
800x600x256S   (Tseng)         3.12      3.34      3.93      3.56     3.49
800x600x16L    (Tseng)         1.87      2.25      2.20      2.43     2.19
800x600x16S    (Tseng)         1.73      2.20      2.23      2.34     2.13

640x480x32768S (Tseng)         4.08      6.68      4.32      5.32     5.10
640x480x256S   (Colorview)     2.68      3.36      3.58      3.34     3.24
640x480x256S   (Tseng)         2.36      3.26      3.38      2.98     3.00
640x480x16S    (Tseng)         1.82      2.00      1.92      1.90     1.91




386, 33 MHz, Standard Mode (VIDSPEED video thruput: 5376 bytes per millisecond)

                             Word Proc.  CAD   Spreadsheet  Paint    Overall

1024x768x256L  (Colorview)     4.35      6.45      5.93      5.99     5.61
1024x768x256S  (Colorview)     4.04      6.40      5.42      5.83     5.42
1024x768x256L  (Tseng)         3.84      5.99      4.60      5.22     4.91
1024x768x256S  (Tseng)         3.73      6.09      4.45      5.12     4.85
1024x768x16L   (Tseng)         2.30      3.27      3.22      3.04     2.96
1024x768x16S   (Tseng)         2.27      3.25      3.22      2.99     2.93

800x600x32768L (Tseng)         5.62      8.50      4.62      7.31     6.51
800x600x32768S (Tseng)         5.18      8.18      4.43      7.06     6.21
800x600x256L   (Colorview)     3.93      4.59      5.21      5.15     4.72
800x600x256S   (Colorview)     3.62      4.53      4.96      4.96     4.52
800x600x256L   (Tseng)         3.43      4.21      4.68      4.37     4.17
800x600x256S   (Tseng)         3.18      4.21      4.50      4.21     4.03
800x600x16L    (Tseng)         2.04      2.26      2.29      2.51     2.28
800x600x16S    (Tseng)         1.89      2.25      2.32      2.43     2.22

640x480x32768S (Tseng)         4.20      8.32      4.84      6.24     5.90
640x480x256S   (Colorview)     2.74      4.20      4.36      4.14     3.86
640x480x256S   (Tseng)         2.44      4.06      4.00      3.58     3.52
640x480x16S    (Tseng)         1.85      2.11      1.99      1.97     1.98



RapidCAD, 33 MHz, Enhanced Mode (VIDSPEED video thruput: 5383 bytes per msec)

                             Word Proc.  CAD   Spreadsheet  Paint    Overall

1024x768x256L  (Colorview)     5.06      5.93      5.32      5.63     5.49
1024x768x256S  (Colorview)     4.76      5.83      5.17      5.42     5.30
1024x768x256L  (Tseng)         4.40      5.83      4.45      4.96     4.91
1024x768x256S  (Tseng)         4.30      5.63      4.30      4.91     4.79
1024x768x16L   (Tseng)         2.17      3.60      3.17      3.09     3.01
1024x768x16S   (Tseng)         2.15      3.50      3.14      3.14     2.98

800x600x32768L (Tseng)         6.31      7.87      4.56      7.06     6.45
800x600x32768S (Tseng)         5.87      7.87      4.31      6.81     6.22
800x600x256L   (Colorview)     4.62      4.18      4.84      4.78     4.61
800x600x256S   (Colorview)     4.18      4.09      4.65      4.65     4.39
800x600x256L   (Tseng)         3.90      4.12      4.40      4.15     4.14
800x600x256S   (Tseng)         3.62      3.96      4.25      4.06     3.97
800x600x16L    (Tseng)         1.98      2.56      2.37      2.68     2.40
800x600x16S    (Tseng)         1.84      2.48      2.39      2.64     2.34

640x480x32768S (Tseng)         4.76      7.84      4.64      6.04     5.82
640x480x256S   (Colorview)     3.20      3.94      3.94      3.84     3.73
640x480x256S   (Tseng)         2.80      3.80      3.72      3.42     3.44
640x480x16S    (Tseng)         2.08      2.26      2.06      2.11     2.13



RapidCAD, 33 MHz, Standard Mode (VIDSPEED video thruput: 5383 bytes per msec)

                             Word Proc.  CAD   Spreadsheet  Paint    Overall

1024x768x256L  (Colorview)     5.17      7.52      5.88      6.80     6.34
1024x768x256S  (Colorview)     4.81      7.27      5.68      6.50     6.07
1024x768x256L  (Tseng)         4.50      7.01      4.81      5.78     5.53
1024x768x256S  (Tseng)         4.40      7.06      4.65      5.68     5.45
1024x768x16L   (Tseng)         2.43      3.76      3.35      3.43     3.24
1024x768x16S   (Tseng)         2.38      3.73      3.37      3.35     3.21

800x600x32768L (Tseng)         6.43      9.62      4.81      8.00     7.22
800x600x32768S (Tseng)         6.00      9.62      4.56      7.81     7.00
800x600x256L   (Colorview)     4.71      5.34      5.56      5.87     5.37
800x600x256S   (Colorview)     4.31      5.18      5.31      5.65     5.11
800x600x256L   (Tseng)         4.03      4.90      5.00      4.90     4.71
800x600x256S   (Tseng)         3.71      4.87      4.78      4.75     4.53
800x600x16L    (Tseng)         2.17      2.57      2.46      2.85     2.51
800x600x16S    (Tseng)         2.01      2.59      2.48      2.75     2.46

640x480x32768S (Tseng)         4.88      9.64      5.08      6.96     6.64
640x480x256S   (Colorview)     3.28      4.92      4.72      4.68     4.40
640x480x256S   (Tseng)         2.88      4.74      4.32      4.04     4.00
640x480x16S    (Tseng)         2.10      2.45      2.16      2.24     2.24



386, 40 MHz, Enhanced Mode (VIDSPEED video thruput: 6486 bytes per millisecond)

                             Word Proc.  CAD   Spreadsheet  Paint    Overall

1024x768x256L  (Colorview)     5.06      6.09      5.63      5.83     5.65
1024x768x256S  (Colorview)     4.76      5.78      5.42      5.63     5.40
1024x768x256L  (Tseng)         4.40      5.93      4.55      5.22     5.03
1024x768x256S  (Tseng)         4.30      5.78      4.40      5.12     4.90
1024x768x16L   (Tseng)         2.50      3.84      3.50      3.48     3.33
1024x768x16S   (Tseng)         2.45      3.73      3.53      3.37     3.27

800x600x32768L (Tseng)         6.31      8.31      4.75      7.31     6.67
800x600x32768S (Tseng)         5.87      8.00      4.43      6.93     6.31
800x600x256L   (Colorview)     4.62      4.31      5.28      5.00     4.80
800x600x256S   (Colorview)     4.21      4.25      5.03      4.78     4.57
800x600x256L   (Tseng)         4.03      4.25      4.75      4.40     4.36
800x600x256S   (Tseng)         3.75      4.06      4.56      4.25     4.16
800x600x16L    (Tseng)         2.25      2.70      2.62      2.90     2.62
800x600x16S    (Tseng)         2.07      2.54      2.62      2.81     2.51

640x480x32768S (Tseng)         4.92      8.16      4.88      6.40     6.09
640x480x256S   (Colorview)     3.22      4.04      4.22      4.00     3.87
640x480x256S   (Tseng)         2.86      3.96      3.92      3.60     3.59
640x480x16S    (Tseng)         2.19      2.46      2.26      2.26     2.29




386, 40 MHz, Standard Mode (VIDSPEED video thruput: 6486 bytes per millisecond)

                             Word Proc.  CAD   Spreadsheet  Paint    Overall

1024x768x256L  (Colorview)     5.17      7.78      6.24      7.11     6.58
1024x768x256S  (Colorview)     4.81      7.68      6.04      6.86     6.35
1024x768x256L  (Tseng)         4.50      7.21      4.96      6.14     5.70
1024x768x256S  (Tseng)         4.40      7.27      4.76      6.04     5.62
1024x768x16L   (Tseng)         2.76      3.94      3.76      3.60     3.52
1024x768x16S   (Tseng)         2.71      3.91      3.78      3.55     3.49

800x600x32768L (Tseng)         6.50     10.12      5.12      8.43     7.54
800x600x32768S (Tseng)         6.06      9.68      4.81      8.12     7.17
800x600x256L   (Colorview)     4.75      5.50      6.15      6.18     5.65
800x600x256S   (Colorview)     4.31      5.43      5.90      5.96     5.40
800x600x256L   (Tseng)         4.15      5.09      5.46      5.28     5.00
800x600x256S   (Tseng)         3.84      5.03      5.21      5.09     4.79
800x600x16L    (Tseng)         2.45      2.75      2.71      3.03     2.74
800x600x16S    (Tseng)         2.26      2.70      2.71      2.92     2.65

640x480x32768S (Tseng)         5.04     10.04      5.44      7.44     6.99
640x480x256S   (Colorview)     3.30      5.08      5.14      4.96     4.62
640x480x256S   (Tseng)         2.92      4.88      4.64      4.30     4.19
640x480x16S    (Tseng)         2.20      2.59      2.33      2.36     2.37



RapidCAD, 40 MHz, Enhanced Mode (VIDSPEED video thruput: 6486 bytes per msec)

                             Word Proc.  CAD   Spreadsheet  Paint    Overall

1024x768x256L  (Colorview)     5.99      7.11      5.88      6.65     6.41
1024x768x256S  (Colorview)     5.63      7.06      5.68      6.40     6.19
1024x768x256L  (Tseng)         5.17      6.96      4.76      5.88     5.69
1024x768x256S  (Tseng)         5.06      6.75      4.60      5.73     5.54
1024x768x16L   (Tseng)         2.61      4.32      3.68      3.76     3.59
1024x768x16S   (Tseng)         2.53      4.27      3.66      3.78     3.56

800x600x32768L (Tseng)         7.25      9.50      4.87      8.18     7.45
800x600x32768S (Tseng)         6.81      9.25      4.62      7.81     7.12
800x600x256L   (Colorview)     5.53      5.12      5.68      5.81     5.54
800x600x256S   (Colorview)     5.06      5.00      5.43      5.53     5.26
800x600x256L   (Tseng)         4.75      4.96      5.06      5.00     4.94
800x600x256S   (Tseng)         4.37      4.75      4.90      4.87     4.72
800x600x16L    (Tseng)         2.37      3.09      2.76      3.26     2.87
800x600x16S    (Tseng)         2.20      3.00      2.79      3.14     2.78

640x480x32768S (Tseng)         5.76      9.48      5.16      7.28     6.92
640x480x256S   (Colorview)     3.84      4.72      4.60      4.58     4.44
640x480x256S   (Tseng)         3.36      4.60      4.30      4.12     4.10
640x480x16S    (Tseng)         2.51      2.83      2.43      2.55     2.58



RapidCAD, 40 MHz, Standard Mode (VIDSPEED video thruput: 6486 bytes per msec)

                             Word Proc.  CAD   Spreadsheet  Paint    Overall

1024x768x256L  (Colorview)     6.14      9.01      6.45      7.98     7.40
1024x768x256S  (Colorview)     5.68      8.85      6.24      7.73     7.13
1024x768x256L  (Tseng)         5.27      8.34      5.12      6.80     6.38
1024x768x256S  (Tseng)         5.17      8.39      4.96      6.65     6.29
1024x768x16L   (Tseng)         2.89      4.53      3.86      4.12     3.85
1024x768x16S   (Tseng)         2.84      4.48      3.86      4.01     3.80

800x600x32768L (Tseng)         7.43     11.43      5.18      9.18     8.31
800x600x32768S (Tseng)         6.93     11.31      4.87      8.93     8.01
800x600x256L   (Colorview)     5.65      6.43      6.46      7.03     6.39
800x600x256S   (Colorview)     5.15      6.21      6.21      6.75     6.08
800x600x256L   (Tseng)         4.84      5.90      5.68      5.90     5.58
800x600x256S   (Tseng)         4.46      5.84      5.43      5.68     5.35
800x600x16L    (Tseng)         2.59      3.18      2.89      3.42     3.02
800x600x16S    (Tseng)         2.40      3.12      2.90      3.29     2.93

640x480x32768S (Tseng)         5.88     11.52      5.64      8.40     7.86
640x480x256S   (Colorview)     3.94      5.88      5.52      5.64     5.25
640x480x256S   (Tseng)         3.46      5.72      4.96      4.76     4.73
640x480x16S    (Tseng)         2.51      2.96      2.52      2.69     2.67
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware