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Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga Retail News / Sales => Topic started by: DJS on June 08, 2010, 03:39:48 AM
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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 (http://eu-shop.elbox.com/gfx-shop/32&224.jpg).
The prices (VAT included):
Mediator PCI 3/4000T MK-II + Radeon 9200 + 256MB (http://eu-shop.elbox.com/cgibin/shop?info=207M34TR) --- 255.95 EUR
Mediator PCI 4000Di MK-II + Radeon 9200 + 256MB (http://eu-shop.elbox.com/cgibin/shop?info=203M4DIR) --- 269.00 EUR
Mediator PCI 3000D MK-II + Radeon 9200 + 256MB (http://eu-shop.elbox.com/cgibin/shop?info=209M3DR) --- 319.95 EUR
Mediator PCI 4000D MK-II + Radeon 9200 + 256MB (http://eu-shop.elbox.com/cgibin/shop?info=204M4DR) --- 319.95 EUR
For the list of currently supported PCI cards in the Mediator PCI busboards see Mediator Driver Guide (http://elbox.com/mediator_driver_guide.html).
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Nice, how about with a case?
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And what about Mediator 1200?
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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.
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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 (http://eu-shop.elbox.com/gfx-shop/32&224.jpg).
Could you please run bustest (http://aminet.net/package/util/moni/bustest) for the added "Fast" RAM and post the full results please?
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Could you please run bustest (http://aminet.net/package/util/moni/bustest) for the added "Fast" RAM and post the full results please?
VRAM is not known for being fast to read from. Which is fair enough, given that you don't generally do it.
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VRAM is not known for being fast to read from. Which is fair enough, given that you don't generally do it.
Indeed. But I doubt it's common knowledge, and thus such bustest benchmark is IMHO warranted.
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@Piru
With your insistence on this and the ZorRAM, I hereby nominate you for the position of Shaun 2.0: the bustest troll :lol:
Seriously though, it's a fair point. I'd be interested to see how they perform.
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me being os3/68k troll, i think piru has a valid point in insisting on memory performance benchmarks for these solutions. people should be aware of what it technically is capable of. both for zorram and mediator. that radeon hack proposed by ratte a good while ago is now a subject of a special offer just after zorram appears is a little redicoulous. i will not go for radeon as long there is no warp3d/mesa solution for it.
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Nice to see some of my research is going into a "ready to use" product.
HowTo: Radeon as Fastmem ...
http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=48423
@Piru:
Its not that fast, but its some kind of slowmem for free.
For my own, I am using it as ramdisk for PC-Task or ShapeShifter Hardfiles.
~6-8MB/s is better than 2-3MB/s with my internal A4k-IDE.
You can compare the results with the DKB3128 or FastlaneZ3.
But I promise .. the Zorram is faster (I think comparable to CV64 non3D memory).
And Zorram could get some OS4 support in the future.
Results of CV64 as FastMem and Radeon/Mediator as FastMem
http://www.a1k.org/forum/showpost.php?p=244313&postcount=86
Results of DKB3128 and FastlaneZIII
http://www.a1k.org/forum/showpost.php?p=244333&postcount=88
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But I promise .. the Zorram is faster (I think comparable to CV64 non3D memory).
And Zorram could get some OS4 support in the future.
Good luck with that. I cannot warrant purchasing a ZorRAM card without OS4 classic support. Which is a shame, really, because I would have purchased 2-3 of them.
The ZorRAM card doesn't need to exist, really, except for OS4. OS 3.9 is very very fine in 128MB or way less, which is achievable without a ZorRAM card with the most popular accelerator cards.
That is why it's a bit perplexing to me why the ZorRAM product was released without OS4 classic support. To me it doesn't make sense at all.
MorphOS PowerUP has been abandoned by MorphOS team so there's no sense discussing ZorRAM support for MorphOS PuP, either, which is also too bad.
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Good luck with that. I cannot warrant purchasing a ZorRAM card without OS4 classic support. Which is a shame, really, because I would have purchased 2-3 of them.
The ZorRAM card doesn't need to exist, really, except for OS4. OS 3.9 is very very fine in 128MB or way less, which is achievable without a ZorRAM card with the most popular accelerator cards.
That is why it's a bit perplexing to me why the ZorRAM product was released without OS4 classic support. To me it doesn't make sense at all.
MorphOS PowerUP has been abandoned by MorphOS team so there's no sense discussing ZorRAM support for MorphOS PuP, either, which is also too bad.
It makes perfect sense to people like me with an A3000/030 that has been boosted with the old Commodore 040 (nicked from my A4000 when I put in a good CPU card) card that doesn't take any RAM. So, apart from what I can put on the mobo, I'm limited to Zorro RAM unless I buy another CPU card.
As I'm not looking for blistering performance, ZorRAM will do nicely.
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Emailed sales@elbox.com about the shipping on a new multimedia CD and one of those Radion cards for my Mediator 4000D. Hope it gets through their famous email filter...
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Could you please run bustest (http://aminet.net/package/util/moni/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.
(http://www.elbox.com/gfx/cyb060bustest.jpg)
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.
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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
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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.
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.
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@DJS: what does it mean mediator mk2 in this scope? fyi i already own a mediator.
what concerns radeon: nice, but adopt the existing warp3d drivers to radeon and perhaps then more people might buy the bundle. the drivers are no problem to to diassemble, modify and distribute as patch should also be possible and even within being legal.
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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
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@DJS: what does it mean mediator mk2 in this scope?
Some changes in the Mediator 4000 Core Logic firmware have been made.
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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:
Source: http://www.amiga.org/forums/showpost.php?p=563681&postcount=15
Doesn't that just confirm what I speculated? 10/7 is rather more level than 11/6, wouldn't you say?
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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.
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All we want is Shark PPC, more graphic cards suported and USB 2.0 suported with Sirion drivers...
Can Elbox do that?
Offers are welcome but we want step forward!
OS 4.1 for classics in coop. with Hyperion..
Can Elbox do that?
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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
Not bad at all. I already have the Mediator4000D busboard installed in an Elbox tower.
I emailed sales at Elbox and got some very helpful replies. I'm putting an order in today for the Radion card and some upgrade ROMs for my FastATA4000.
Cheers. :)
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I have a 3000T but I have never figured out why to buy one of these.
From everything I have read it is a programmers hardware device.
Can I still use my Amiga programs using 3.1 Workbench?
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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.
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it would be nice, if some developers could add 3d support for the radeon on the amiga os 3.9 for all classic users out there.. maybe some mos developer could do that with a bounty... what do you think? :-)
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DJS
Very interesting results! Congratulations, looks like a cool solution for classic amiga. Its pricey in US dollars though :(
Killer:
Yeah, i'm sure morphos developers will drop their passionate coding of Morphos to take time from their busy lives to code Amiga os 3.9 radeon 3d drivers.. Yeah, thats a cool idea. Email morphos support I''m sure they will love to see your email :) Really :)
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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
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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.