Date: Thu, 16 Nov 1995 01:30:31 +0000 () From: Michael Smith <msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au> To: robsch@robkaos.ruhr.de (Robert Schien) Cc: hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Which graphics board should I buy? Message-ID: <199511160130.BAA06556@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au> In-Reply-To: <m0tFr2L-000CI5C@robkaos.ruhr.de> from "Robert Schien" at Nov 15, 95 04:14:36 pm
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Robert Schien stands accused of saying: > Currently I have the VLB version of miro chrystal, > which works quite fine. > What is a fast, reliable and not too expensive (let's say > up to $250) board that works fine under XFree86? Anything with an S3 chip and preferably at least 2M of memory. For $115 Australian (about US$80) I can get a "Data Expert" S3-868 PCI card, which works _very_ well, and is no slouch at all. Other chips to look for are the 764 (ok), 732 (not so good), 864 (good but outdated), and anything beginning with 9 (928, 964, 968). The '9' chips use VRAM rather than DRAM, and thus cards using them are more expensive. You can spend more money and go for a Diamond or Number Nine card, but their low-end models aren't any better or worse. They _do_ have high-end hardware that is _much_ nicer. If you plan to run any version of Windows, however, then buy a Diamond or #9 card - their drivers are definitely worth the extra cash. Whatever you do, do _not_ buy a card based on the Trident or Tseng chipsets, and avoid the Cirrus "alpine" chips (Orchid cards) unless you're really desperate. > Robert -- ]] Mike Smith, Software Engineer msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au [[ ]] Genesis Software genesis@atrad.adelaide.edu.au [[ ]] High-speed data acquisition and (GSM mobile) 041-122-496 [[ ]] realtime instrument control (ph/fax) +61-8-267-3039 [[ ]] My car has "demand start" -Terry Lambert UNIX: live FreeBSD or die! [[
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