FREE Radeon 9250 gfx card with Mediator

[DJS]

Elbox Computer announces a special offer for Mediator PCI busboards purchased between 28th April and 4th May in the Elbox Online Store. With the Mediator purchased in this offer, the end-user will receive a FREE Radeon 9250 PCI gfx card.

This is a limited quantity offer, with only 50 Radeon 9250 gfx cards available. This offer will expire at 8:00 pm CET on 4th May or when the limited quantity available are sold, whichever comes first.

Each Mediator is equipped with the Mediator Multimedia CD containing P96 drivers for the enclosed Radeon 9250 gfx card.

About Mediator:
The Mediator PCI busboard line is designed to enable expansion of Amiga computers with a wide range of PCI cards. The list of supported card is available at Mediator Driver Guide.

Mediator busboards are available for the following Amiga models:
- Amiga 4000T (Mediator PCI 3/4000T),
- Amiga 4000D (Mediator PCI 4000Di, Mediator PCI 4000D, Mediator PCI 3/4000T),
- Amiga 3000T (Mediator PCI 3/4000T),
- Amiga 3000D (Mediator PCI 3000D, Mediator PCI 3/4000T),
- Amiga 1200T (Mediator PCI 1200 TX, Mediator PCI 1200 LT4).

Order your Mediator now and get FREE Radeon 9250 gfx card!

[arnljot]

Is the Radeon 9250 compatible with the M4000D?

I thought that the radeon card only could be used with the a1200 mediator?

[HammerD]

You need a special 5V card in order for it to work.  And even though your card may be (or you think may be 5V) it may not work.

Manufacturers don't normally publish those specs, so best to buy it from Elbox.  

I picked up a used 5V Radeon 9250 and it didn't work.

[arnljot]

But both on their drivers page, and when they published the radeon driver, they said it was only for MediatorTX.

But now their homepage says two things. They sell the Mediator4000D with a radeon, and they say on the drivers page that the radeon will only work with the 1200TX mediator.

I'm not sure what to believe. If I knew the Radeon worked with my Mediator, I'd bought one long time ago.

[arnljot]

Aha!

"The card includes 5V -> 3.3V converters on-board (required for Mediator 4000D, 4000Di, 3/4000T and 1200LT4). It uses a passive heatsink and does not require an external power connector."

That's what it says on the product page for the Radeon 9250 cards.

Good, so there is a Radeon card that I can use with my Mediator.

So most cards are 3.3V, and my A4000 Mediator needs 5V?

[HammerD]

Yes.  5V cards have a single "notch" on the PCI connector.  But even if you have such a card it doesn't mean it will work, as I found out.

I bought a used 9250 with single notch, which is supposed to mean a 5V card, but apparently there can also be a 3.3V requirement for some of the components, or something like that.

Bottom line if you want your card to work guaranteed you have to buy it from Elbox.

I tried to cheap out and got a used $20 card but now it just sits in a box with a bunch of other cards I don't use......sigh.

[amigadave]

I have thought about getting a Mediator over the years, but never took the leap to using PCI cards in an Amiga.  Even though I have tried to swear off from buying any more Amiga hardware over a year ago (which did not work as evidenced by my new Deneb & Indivisions for both my A1200 and A4000 among a few other purchases), I am very tempted to take advantage of this offer if they have not already sold out of the free Radeon 9250 graphics cards.

It would be good for running MorphOS1.4 for Phase5 PPC cards, would it not?

Edit:  Owners of Amiga systems with Mediator boards please contact me via PMail or email with advice and your personal experiences with Mediator boards.  I am interested in building an Ultimate Classic Amiga, but would probably still want to run a Video Toaster/Flyer 4000 cards in it too if that is possible with the Mediator 4000D model that has all those Zorro and PCI slots as well as one Video Slot.  Thanks

[Piru]

It would be good for running MorphOS1.4 for Phase5 PPC cards, would it not?

It would not. Elbox is impossible company to work with, they are unwilling to part with documentation about their HW. Also, even if they did, that'd still rule out A1200 mediator support due to technical reasons.

[amigadave]

@Piru,

Really?  I thought it would not have anything to do with Elbox or the Mediator if a Radeon 9250 was available for use in my A4000D/T (not A1200 in a tower) MorphOS 1.4.x for the Classic Amigas with the Phase5 PPC cards would see it and use it.

Are you saying because Elbox is impossible to work with MorphOS1.4.x for Classic Amigas cannot see the Radeon 9250 to use it?  That sucks!

Edit:  That just about eliminates more than half the reason for me to even want the Mediator w/Radeon 9250 graphics card.  I guess it only makes sense that the graphics card has to go through the Mediator, so MorphOS1.4.x would need to have a driver that worked with the Mediator.  

Damn shame, Elbox no working with MorphOS means no purchase by me.

[wawrzon]

@amigadave: i would go for g-rex if you can get hold of one. it is supported by mos1.4 as far as i know and would have higher gfx throughput to gfx card since pci bus is not routed through zorro to the cpu. on my mediator setup i get only around 7mb/s on voodoo3. i do not have any real personal experience with g-rex though and mediator works fairly well, apart of what i complained of. also i would not expect any further developements from elbox, they only fix their old driver releases, even warp3d for radeon seems out of question.

[x56h34]

Grex1200 is a bit tricky to set up as it requires a BPPC rev. 2 in order to properly work (or work at all in most cases), and the Grex4000D version is rare, but works with all CSMKIII or CSPPC cards without any compatibility issues.
Both versions of the product are very stable and work great once set up properly. Grex is the fastest PCI solution out there due to communication through the local expansion slot of the CSPPC or BPPC which is faster than Zorro II/III bus (used by all other pci busboards).

[arnljot]

PowerColor makes a 5V card. It's part number is R92P-LC3/R9250 (Radeon 9250 PCI).

Shouldn't that card be perfectly fine?