Special offer: Mediator + Radeon 9200 + 256MB

[DJS]

Elbox Computer is pleased to announce the bundle offer for the newest version of the Mediator PCI busboards for A3000 and A4000 computers with a special 5V-only version of the Mobility Radeon 9200 gfx card with 256MB of fast SGRAM memory.

In this offer you receive not only the best Amiga PCI busboard, but also the fastest Amiga gfx card equipped with the analogue SVGA and digital DVI outputs and 256MB of fast SGRAM memory. You can freely decide how much of the SGRAM memory will be used by the P96 gfx system and how much of this memory will be added to the Amiga memory system as Zorro III Fast RAM. For example, you can assign 32MB for P96 and 224MB for Zorro III Fast RAM, as seen in the screenshot.

The prices (VAT included):
Mediator PCI 3/4000T MK-II + Radeon 9200 + 256MB  ---  255.95 EUR
Mediator PCI 4000Di MK-II + Radeon 9200 + 256MB   ---  269.00 EUR
Mediator PCI 3000D MK-II + Radeon 9200 + 256MB    ---  319.95 EUR
Mediator PCI 4000D MK-II + Radeon 9200 + 256MB    ---  319.95 EUR

For the list of currently supported PCI cards in the Mediator PCI busboards see Mediator Driver Guide.

[DJS]

Nice, how about with a case?

Mediator PCI 3/4000T MK-II fits in original A3000T and A4000T cases and in towerised Amiga 4000D with Elbox or Micronik Zorro/ISA busboards. Installation is  easy, see Mediator PCI 3/4000T Quick Installation Guide at http://elbox.com/ma/m_4000t_folder/m4000t_qig.html

Mediator PCI 4000Di MK-II fits in the standard A4000 desktop case. Check photos: http://elbox.com/products/prod_img/di.jpg http://elbox.com/products/prod_img/di_100_v4_tv.jpg

As far as Mirage 4000 Pro is concerned contact sales@elbox.com for an offer. We produce these tower systems in small batches for the individual orders.

[DJS]

Could you please run bustest for the added "Fast" RAM and post the full results please?

Here is a screenshot with the bustest results of the 224MB of Radeon memory configured as Zorro III RAM. Test was made with Radeon 9200 in Mediator 3/4000T in Cyberstorm 060/PPC powered system.



As you can see the read speed is 5.9MB/s, write 11.1MB/s. On Apollo 040/060 cards read speed is from 6.4 to 7.3MB/s.

On the 030 cards numbers should be higher.

[DJS]

As I'm not looking for blistering performance, ZorRAM will do nicely.

The speed of this 224MB of the Radeon memory when configured as Zorro III memory is practically the same as the speed of memory on the ZorRAM card.

So, if 256MB of memory on the ZorrRAM card is worth 185.99 EUR, taking Mediator 3/4000T in this special offer you pay less than 95 EUR for the Mediator busboard with MM CD and the special version of the Radeon 9200 gfx card
Isn't it a very nice offer?

255.99 EUR - 162.74 EUR (for 224MB of the Zorro III memory) = 93.25 EUR

[DJS]

I'm not sure about that. VRAM is generally very slow to read from, as evidenced by your bustest results. I would expect the ZorRAM to be a bit more symmetrical in read/write performance.

If you are not sure - ask somebody to post the ZorRAM bustest results on a Cyberstrom 060/PPC powered system, and compare.

Some info about ZorRAM limits you can also read in its designer post:

On 030 systems you will end up with PIO rates of 12MB/s write and 9MB/s read, while 060 based systems (which usually have 128MB of really fast on-CPU-card memory) values of 10MB/s write and 7MB/s read can be expected. Your mileage may vary.

Source: http://www.amiga.org/forums/showpost.php?p=563681&postcount=15

[DJS]

@DJS: what does it mean mediator mk2 in this scope?

Some changes in the Mediator 4000 Core Logic firmware have been made.

[DJS]

Doesn't that just confirm what I speculated? 10/7 is rather more level than 11/6, wouldn't you say?

We have not seen any ZorRAM bustest results with 10/7 numbers. As for now we have only read that on 060 based systems values of 10MB/s write and 7MB/s read can be expected. Maybe the mentioned 7MB/s is possible only with Apollo cards, which is also the case with the Radeon memory.

The speed is practically the same in both Zorro III RAM solutions (the Radeon memory when configured as Zorro III memory and the ZorRAM card). It is limited by the Amiga processor card, not by the VRAM read performance.

[DJS]

And what about Mediator 1200?

It will be possible to use the Radeon memory as a system fast RAM in A1200 but only with Mediator 1200TX.

[DJS]

It will be possible to use the Radeon memory as a system fast RAM in A1200 but only with Mediator 1200TX.

The new pci.library, which allows to use the Voodoo and Radeon gfx card SDRAM/SGRAM as A1200 memory is just availabe.

More info about it you can find in Amiga-Mediator Yahoo Group: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Amiga-Mediator/message/18978

[DJS]

The pci.library 9.6b supported Mediator TX only.

New version (9.7) released on 24 December supports adding of gfx card SDRAM to system memory in all Mediator models.