5*PCI+2*Zorro (Full length) in Mediator4000?

[Brian]

Have anyone with a Mediator4000 (the one for towered A4000D's) tried to fit in 2 fullength zorro cards above the PCI slots? It looks to be tight but doable with a bit of isolasion between the PCI and Zorro card and if the cards are more or less "clean" on the backside (not have any long screws or solderings on that side).

Am I right or have this been proven fatal to machines in the past?

[Brian]

 :bump:

[adolescent]

I'm not sure what you'd do with the backplates.  But, you do have the advantage of the component sides being opposite of each other so it might work.  

I myself have never tried it.  But, I have half length Zorro II cards in line with PCI.  (I know, boring, easy, etc.)

[Brian]

Since the cards have the component sides opposit to eachother they, even though pritty much in line, don't occupie the same backplane. In my custom back of the tower I've got 8 backplanes for PCI/zorro cards aswell as several cutouts for dsubs of different kinds so it should be enough space.

To a related question... how many cards can the mediator bussboard handle? Can I add 5 PCI cards, 2 fullength Zorro2/3 cards and 4 halflength Zorro2/3 cards or is there restrains on the adress space? Why I ask... well... the system have PCI: Voodoo3, TVtuner, SB128, 100MbitEthernet and Zorro: KickflashOS4, FastATA4000 atm. I'm getting a Spider2 in the mail any day now and a VarIO card in about 2 weeks and so I'm starting to wonder how much adresspace there might be left in the lil' thing.

[Doobrey]

Dunno exactly how much the Mediator takes up, If it's a ZIII card then it won't affect the amount of space left for ZII cards.
 Things like the VarIO only take up 64K anyway, and any PCI card should be inside the space given to the Mediator.

Showconfig should show what cards are installed/addresses/size etc. if you're worried.

[adolescent]

Brian wrote:
Since the cards have the component sides opposit to eachother they, even though pritty much in line, don't occupie the same backplane. In my custom back of the tower I've got 8 backplanes for PCI/zorro cards aswell as several cutouts for dsubs of different kinds so it should be enough space.

Well, that's what I meant.  If you put a PCI and Zorro component side to component side, the backplates should be adjustable.  But, then the next PCI slot will interfere right?  (I'm looking at the 4000Di because it's what is in front of me, not my Mirage Pro/4000D because it's in the garage.

In reference to the number of PCI + Zorro cards, I don't know.  Right now I have less cards than you...

[Brian]

@Doobrey
I'll do that if it starts to do silly stuff. A seccond thing that worries me is power to all the cards. Hopefully it won't be an issue.

@adolescent
The Mediator4000D and Di are very different... look at this and you'll see. Or imagine that the top PCI slot in your mediator4000Di was a graphicslot and it had a zorroslot inline and you'll see there's no interference with the cards except for the tight fit between the top PCI card and the second top Zorro card. It's if that tightness is a problem my thread is about. Taking a look at my my PCI cards it seem that the Voodoo card is the one with cleanest backside so I think I'll have that on top, have an insulasion layer of plastic and thin cardbord and then the zorro card on that and see what'll happen. Thinking of installing my Vlab Digitizer and/or my Personal Animation Recorder just for kicks, then I'll have one halflength zorro slot left. :-D

[doctorq]

I guess you won't be running any Warp3D stuff then...

[Brian]

Why is that?

[doctorq]

Because the Voodoo card needs to be sitting in the PCI slot closest to the PCI/Zorro bridge, in order to get the PPC demos of the Ward3D package to run. Took me quite some time of testing to find this out, but that is how it is on my system anyway.

If you aren't installing a PPC board you might not experience problems though.

Order of PCI cards do matter, no matter what ELBOX claims.

[Brian]

Sounds weird as I'm pritty sure I've seen Voodoo3 in other slots with Warp3D running, might just be your system? I realy dont want it in the lowest slot since there's the worst airflow on the heatsink and no space for a fan.

I do have a PPC/060 in that machine so if something is messing up I know where to look.

[Thomas]

My Voodoo works fine in the topmost PCI slot (next to the video slot, farest from the mediator logic). I just added a PCI network card in the slot next to the mediator and the Voodoo still works.

I also run an X-Surf, HyperCOM 3+, FastATA, eFlash and Highway in the same board. No problems here.

IMHO, if it mechanically fits, it should work. You could put some plastic or paper between the cards to avoid short circuits.

Bye,
Thomas

[doctorq]

The Voodoo still works, I have never claimed anything else. You just can't get the PPC demos of Warp3D package to work, or at least I can't.

Feel free to correct me on this one, I wouldn't mind moving my Voodoo card to a different slot.

@Brian

Are you sure you saw the PPC demos running and not only the 68k ones?

[Thomas]

Well, when I say that the Voodoo still works, I mean that everything still works on the Voodoo. Regarding the W3D demos, I never got all of them to run, neither on the CVisionPPC nor on the Voodoo. But GearsPPC runs like hell, I use it as a screensaver. And HereticII and WipeOut work either.

Bye,
Thomas

[doctorq]

@Thomas

Ok, so you say that the PPC demo of Gears work?

Please post your ENVARC for Mediator, PowerPC and Warp3D and the versions of the Picasso96 libraries. And if possible, also your jumper settings for the Mediator bridge board.

As for WipeOut, can you run it in full screen, or are you limited to a window? I always get corrupted graphics on the first screens :-(