From: tmh@keks.first.gmd.de (Thomas Hoberg)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: ATI Graphics Ultra vs. 8514 Ultra
Date: 17 Apr 92 00:40:44 GMT
Followup-To: comp.unix.sysv386
Organization: GMD-FIRST, Berlin
In-reply-to: rfarris@rfengr.com's message of 10 Apr 92 02:45:15 GMT

In article <1992Apr10.024515.16808@rfengr.com> rfarris@rfengr.com (Rick Farris) writes:
   In article <1992Apr8.183411.23336@loop.uucp> keithl@loop.uucp (Keith Lofstrom;;;520-1993) writes:
   > ATI offers two very fast boards, the Graphics Ultra and the 8514 Ultra.

   > I haven't had much luck getting information from ATI on
   > the relative merits of the two approaches for a SVR4
   > system (ESIX); a posting about the relative merits of the
   > two cards would be appreciated.

   There's an article in the February 1992 issue of UNIXWORLD
   magazine called "Maximizing Your PC for Graphics" that
   addresses the two most effective accelerated graphics
   solutions for PC-Unix: ATI's 8514-based cards and TIGA
   cards.

   I think it does a pretty good job of describing the
   strengths and weaknesses of each, why not check it out?
   --
   Rick Farris  RF Engineering POB M Del Mar, CA 92014  voice (619) 259-6793
   rfarris@rfengr.com     ...!ucsd!serene!rfarris      serenity bbs 259-7757

Rick, you forgot to mention that that article happens to have been written
by a person called Rick Farris (a close relative, perhaps?). I understand
that you hate to repeat yourself, but in fact that article does not
even answer the above question.

Just in case anybody else wants to know:
The 8514 Ultra is functionally more or less a normal Ultra without
builtin VGA. Since the VGA chip on the Ultra and Vantage isn't all
that hot (512k, no hires 256 color modes) some people might want to
buy a high power SVGA card (or continue to use their old one) which is
where the 8514 Ultra comes in. The VGA and the 8514 Ultra are then
connected via the Feature Connector so you don't have to switch
connectors when switching between 8514 and VGA video modes. The 8514
card has a dual personality when it comes to the bus: it can be
assembled for an ISA or Micro Channel bus (MC machines have VGA
support on the motherboard and the 8514 Ultra uses the extra pins in
the video slot rather than a cable in MC machines).

I don't think the 8514 Ultra is much cheaper than the normal Ultra in
retail, so in most cases the Ultra might be more appropriate since the
VGA part might only be used during boot for diagnostic text output
(before switching into X or whatever your GUI happens to be). Actually
the Vantage (DRAMS rather than VRAMS, otherwise like the Ultra) might
serve just as well in most circumstances: While the benchmark results
are in some case about 5 times faster, the difference is sometimes
hardly noticable in real applications and might not be worth the extra
money.

I used a Vantage and an 8514 Ultra for some time. I used the 8514
Ultra in conjunction with a Diamond SpeedStar HiColor ET4000 SVGA and
had some problems: The 32k color modes would not pass through the ATI
card (to be expected) and SVGA modes with very high dot clocks (>65
MHz) would result in wrong colors or garbage on the screen. Connecting
the monitor back to the SVGA solved the problem, but I didn't like
having to crawl under the table all the time.

I very much liked the ATI setup program for the Ultra and the Vantage:
they allowed me to tickle the very last bit of performance out of the
16", 17" and 19" monitors that I used (Nanao 9070s, 550i and 9400i).

While this is not applicable under Unix, if you happen to use
MS-Windows: ATI's Crystal fonts might change your life! Anytime you
see those ugly jagged blotches called letters on your screen you will
wish you had Crystal Fonts on YOUR display.
---
Thomas M. Hoberg   | Internet: tmh@first.gmd.de
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