G-REX vs Mediator vs BVision

[StormLord]

Some question from someone that want to upgrade the classic hardware...
1) Is it worth to disable my bvision in favour of an pci solution with voodoo3 ?
2) Can I run all the software that works with my bvision with any pci solution ?
3) what pci solution is better/faster ?
4) what pci solution has the most driver support ?
5) why mediator is so expensive and Grex so cheapy ?
Can you list the supported drivers for these 2 pci boards ?
I'm eagerly waiting for your replys!!!
   :-?  :-P
PS what about demos? does it run with voodoo all of them ?

[Effy]

1. if you have cash, yes.
2. yes.
3. don´t think there is any difference in speed between the three.
4. Mediator (see Elbox website)
5. only Mediator is still being produced and for G-Rex you did need a PPC turboboard to connect it to.

Both Prometheus and Mediator could connect to a standard A4000 and Mediator can also connect to any A1200 in tower ...

[Brian]

1) It depend on what you want out of it... if it's just faster gfx then probably not (although it's very fast compared to other Amiga gfx boards), if it's faster gfx and ethernet then probably yes and if it's faster gfx, ehternet and sound and more then yes.
2) Most likely, the BVision use CGFX drivers and Voodoo on GRex do the same and Voodoo on Mediator uses P96. There is software available that makes CGFX specific software run on P96 also so this shouldn't be a big factor.
3) That's 2 questions. First speed... I belive the GRex and Prometheus is a little bit faster than the Mediator. Though GRex only work with surtan unusual rev BlizzardPPC boards and it's known to fry itself and BPPC boards, the Prometheus is lacking drivers and requiers PCI extenders to fit normal cases, the Mediator has it's unsutanty around OS4 support... overall if OS4 isn't a must on your classic machine then Mediator is the best overall solution (don't know the status of GRex and OS4).
4) Mediator , no question about it.
5) Likely because the GRex has been discontinued and it's years old stock being sold out and no guarantees are left on the cards and they are known for their questionable quality... or could be because we're just willing to pay for quality hardware such as the Mediator?

I don't know where to get hold of GRex drivers but I presume you'll get that info if you buy such a card. Anyway, check these links for supported hardware on Mediator and GRex

[StormLord]

Thank you very much all of you.
How can I find what revision board do I have ? I know I have a P5 product. And you said the speed of the pci's isn't faster than on bvision, isn't a vooooo3 3000 faster than bvision on 3d graphics if so 3d games/demos won't be faster than a bvision ?

[djbase]

Of course, a Vooodoo in a PCI system is faster than a BVision. There are some benchmarks available on http://www.amigaspeed.de.vu/ and Infos about G-REX can be found here http://grex.amigaworld.de
To check what rev your BPPC is there is a tool called boardtype which can be found on G-REX page.

[rayt]

the Mediator has it's unsutanty around OS4 support... overall if OS4 isn't a must on your classic machine then Mediator is the best overall solution (don't know the status of GRex and OS4).

From what I've heard OS4 already runs on Mediator and Grex definately won't be supportet..

[Brian]

That's more than I've heard, but it's great news for me if it's true as my Mediator system is pritty full and I wouldn't want to swap to Prometheus and fewer supported cards if I moved over to OS4.

Didn't think GRex was supported by OS4 but wouldn't say anything until I'd heard something... it's just yet another reason not to go down that road then.

[djbase]

Didn't think GRex was supported by OS4 but wouldn't say anything until I'd heard something... it's just yet another reason not to go down that road then.

No, OS4 won't support G-REX but MorphOS runs on it.

[StormLord]

Anyone knows what problems has the revision 0 blizzardppc board with the grex?
because I run the boardtype prog and it says my board is rev.0 and it may have problems with the bvision PPC...
I have the bvision in another rev.0 board for 6 years with no problem at all!!!
And as far my new blizzppc card is working flawlessly with the same bvision an its rev.0 also..
is it something critical or does it worth the risk to try ?

[odin]

Dunno really. The whole BPPC failing/not working properly thing is quite dependant on voodoo rituals and the way the stars are aligned.

I have an early BPPC (so I guess rev 0) which I had to send to P5, they removed the 66MHz crystal and used the single 50MHz for everything. Apparently the higher frequency caused trouble. On the accompanying note it said something like 'upgraded to rev x', where the x was something like 1 or 2.

Here's a link to a newsgroup posting of mine regarding the rework P5 did on my BlizPPC.

[x56h34]

Revision 2 BPPC cards have updated logic firmware which provides them with better power management, and things overall work smoother as far as Bvision usage and Grex usage goes.

For example, I own a PPC card that was updated from revision 0 to 2 by DCE, and after trying out the Bvision card with it, I've noticed that Bvision did not require extra power added to the floppy connector port anymore, in order to work. Before the upgrade, it wouldn't work unless there was power added to the floppy connector on the A1200 motherboard.

Grex can be used with BPPC revision 0 cards, however you won't be able to use a graphics card (this was discussed years ago on Grex Yahoo mailing list). Sound and Ethernet should work, but not graphics. Exaclty why not, I do not know.

I suspect from experience that it's all due to power management, as a lot of things depend on steady power feed from those tiny A1200 CPU slot connectors, and then in case of Grex and Bvision, this problem goes even further to become more difficult and annoying, due to even smaller contacts on the on-board expansion slot of any BPC card, which now need to provide yet more power to either Bvision or Grex (an entire bus-board). :-)

[odin]

Then what I don't get is why they lowered the busspeed from 66 to 50MHz on mine :-?.

[StormLord]

As Far as I know Grex is powered externaly from the PSU ..IF thats the case so its not an power problem..
But if it is I'm sure I can manage it. Something tells my thats not only the power issue.
Anyway I remebered that I have a friend with an Grex updated with 2 busmasters slots..
I will try if I find some time to test it tommorow and I will post the results.
By the way.. Anyone knows if Grex has some problem with powerFlyer ?
I belive that mediator doesn't because both products come from elbox..
I mean physically and electronicaly.. I have mine Pf raised of about 1cm by adding 2 socket more in each rom socket of the amiga..