Was PCI for Amiga a good choice?

[mechy]

I read that getting the specifications for PCI cost at least $1000 it may have cost more when there was only PCI.
At the same time there was AGP by intel, not sure if it cost anything back then to get the specs.

Is PCI fast enough to justify the extra cost?

It was the only practical choice really,since so many cards exist in pci. The $1000 is a trivial expense compared to dev costs.
I would love more native zorro3 cards,but that is not going to happen.
With a mediator and radeon  it makes a nice workbench at 1920x1440 or even wide screen modes. its very fast even in 32bit screens.

[mechy]

Anyone tried a 3000Di?  How is the stock power supply for powering PCI video, audio, and a nic?  I would imagine since no issues with zorro cards performing the same function, that there wouldn't be an issue?

I have a friend who ran the 3000Di and he used all the cards(radeon,sb128,rtl ethernet) with the stock psu, as long as its in good shape it should do fine.

[mechy]

Using a PCI setup is the same as using a CSPPC card, they were not in Amiga's plans and are not "original hardware," but much of the appeal of the Amiga (and many other systems) is the ability to adapt to the user's needs; I call this, "Wouldn't it be cool to..."  This is the same statement that gets us in trouble as well -- usually with a significant other.

With a PCI configuration, one is only limited by the software drivers for the card, not the hardware development.

Again, only in my opinion.

  The CSPPC is no different than using a cyberstorm MKIII,other than the fact it has a ppc coprocessor. it acts like any accelerator. the ppc side is great for playing mp3,some mild video and other stuff that leaves the 060 unloaded for doing normal stuff. Big box amigas were intended to be expanded and even though a mediator adds pci slots, the zorro3 slots still work the same. its more than a cool factor, it makes the machine downright useable.

[mechy]

I dont think PCI was a good choice on the A1200, I had the LT4 version and sure you could run a 1600x1200 WB, but running fast scrolling graphics on the Workbench was slower than regular AGA in 4 colors. For example, scrolling in Ibrowse felt laggy and this was with a 060 board. If you wonder what I am talking about, play a module in Hippoplayer and enable any hipposcope. Watch hipposcope run in slo-mo.

As I was told this is because of how memory is shuffled to the GFX-board on the A1200. I was told that on on a Z3 system this issue is gone.

Another nice detail about a loaded PCI system is that the Amiga will use around 100w if it is pumped to the max (PPC/060/Mediator loaded system).

None of those issues on my A4000. power is not a issue on the 4000 either,hence the 150w psu. It never made much sense to me to expand 1200's with all the bottle necks,and you still won't have zorro3. by the time you fix the psu,add a bunch of dongles, you have a semi reliable machine half the speed of a 4000. I can see why people are disappointed. You saved no money and its still mediocre at best.

Mediator is still a good choice for the 1200 i suspect if you want better gfx on the 1200 for browsing or such. there were virtually no other options, unless you use a zorro2 expansion and video card like picassoII,iv,etc. which would still be slow. Mediator also gives reasonably fast usb on the 1200 instead of those slow,silly clock port expansions.

[mechy]

A few questions concerning PCI:

Is video refresh and speed noticeable fast than a CV 64 for normal tasks, like using final writer or playing a game like nightlong?  

Can you use DVI out?

How stable is a rig using all PCI cards on the Mediator?

I can speak for the A4000 version of mediator. Its fast and stable. the cv64 starts to slow at 800x600, the radeon 92xx never seems slower,even at 1900x1080x32 ever(using 060/ppc). The radeon is so fast its always doing the waiting. You can also map some gfx ram to amiga fast ram with it.

dvi out works

Not sure about the game,but anything rtg should do well.

[mechy]

I'd love more native Zorro 3 cards with an improved Buster that let the Z3 bus run at full speed.

I agree, i love native hardware also, and always wished buster would be fixed. It would of been cool to see it run near pci33 speeds.
The piv was the finest native amiga video card i had ever owned,it served me well from 1995 on.