Best Graphics card X1000

[apsturk]

What is the best Graphics card for 2D & 3D. Now that 4.1FE is out and the new Radeon drivers are two. I have noticed the Radeon card AmigaKit has in stock for the X1000 are long outdated (in the PC world) and quite weak in terms of performance. Thanks a bunch

[LyleHaze]

There are different ideas of what's "best".. for some it's raw power, some are more interested in running quiet, maybe even fanless.. Some must stay with a single slot, others can spare the space for a double-wide card.. Many things you could use to help decide.

Ther's a guy in the Netherlands who seems to know a little bit about RadeonHD on OS4, and he was kind enough to put a webpage together to answer your question.

http://www.hdrlab.org.nz/projects/amiga-os-4-projects/radeonhd-driver/radeonhd-card-recommendations-for-amigaos-4-x/

I see that page was last updated just a few weeks ago, so the information should be pretty fresh.

[apsturk]

Thank you Lyle! yes I have checked his page out and I like the "Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3G GDDR5 OC Version (11221-00-25G)". It looks like the baddest card he has on his list. I hope it will fit in the AmigaOne X1000 (its a big card with the cooler). I am sure after people get there hand on AOS4.1FE & the new HD driver, we will see what people think. I may just buy the card and see what happens  thanks for your advice!!

[Lurch]

Ther's a guy in the Netherlands who seems to know a little bit about RadeonHD on OS4, and he was kind enough to put a webpage together to answer your question.

New Zealand ;-)

[Rob]

What is the best Graphics card for 2D & 3D. Now that 4.1FE is out and the new Radeon drivers are two. I have noticed the Radeon card AmigaKit has in stock for the X1000 are long outdated (in the PC world) and quite weak in terms of performance. Thanks a bunch

There's still no 3D drivers for anything beyond R200 series GPU i.e. Radeon 9000/9200 etc.  Best wait for the Warp3D driver package is released and see what cards are supported by that (5000/6000 series mentioned so far) before splashing out on the most powerful card you can find.

[danbeaver]

I've tried two of the more advanced cards out there and they both caused issues (even with the new driver) with proper reboots and odd crashes and I'm back using my original graphic card it shipped with, until there arises software that utilizes the "bad-ass" features of the newer cards.

[amigasociety]

3D to my knowledge is not available on any modern cards.... couple few users have a 9250 in their X1000.  They use some adapter that allows it to work.  I myself am not worried much about 3D at this point and one day it will come.  I am though adding a 2nd video card to my X1000 soon.  It will use the stock Radeon HD 4650 and now a new R9 270 since the new Radeon driver supports it.  I am gambling that one day Warp3D that A-Eon appears to be working on will support one of the two cards I have.  If not, will buy a new card as needed.  But today I think the R9 270 offers the most bang for the buck for Radeon 2.4 X1000 users.  Can't wait for my 4.1FE to arrive so I can get both cards in the X1000.  TJ

[danbeaver]

You don't need an adapter for a Radeon 9200/9250 PCI card unless ypu desire to use the smaller PCIe slot (in which case, be prepared to spend $12 USD!!).  Be aware that the X1000 defaults to that card for things you will wish it didn't (unless the new driver negates that issue); that is why I use just the one card.

P.S., until there is a "Bang,"  I won't spend the "buck."

[mbrantley]

Dan, here's why a pricey adapter is desired: speed. The two "legacy" PCI slots in the X1000 are only capable of 33mhz. When I tried a 9250 card in that in order to use Warp3D with my X1000, I was sorely disappointed in the performance. It looked better on my Sam. This past year I followed the lead of folks posting in a thread over on Amigans and bought a rather expensive PCIe to PCI-X adapter and plug my PCI 9200 card (no longer have the 9250) into that. The adapted PCI-X slot yielded PCI speed of 66mhz, and 3D performance is much, much better. But it's a pretty Frankenstein solution..... PCIe ribbon thingy going from small PCIe slot to the PCI-X adapter turned upside down and then 9200 PCI card plugged into that and hanging in my case with some ingenuity of my own devising. Better solution will be RadeonHD 3D drivers..... one day. Meantime, my 3D is better than it was, at least.

[danbeaver]

I noticed no difference with the StarTech adapter in the performance of my 9250 (half-height) card; but then I only had an A4000T to compare it to, not a SAM machine.  But it was used as the primary graphics card in most of my applications to the point that the basic 3D functions became less important than the better Radeon HD 9250 card (now degraded back to the original HD 5000 series card it shipped with).

[mbrantley]

Let me be clear.... not the cheap StarTech PCIe to PCI adapter. I use one of those for my ethernet card, by the way. Yields another 33mhz PCI slot. I mean a pricey and less common PCIe to PCI-X adapter. The X makes all the difference. Actually can yield a 133mhz slot, but of course the 9200/9250 can't go that fast.

http://www.amigans.net/modules/xforum/viewtopic.php?post_id=91790#forumpost91790

[danbeaver]

You know why I never checked the polarity of my stereo speakers?  Because I can't tell the difference.

[BSzili]

Thankfully one can actually measure framerate

[Rob]

You know why I never checked the polarity of my stereo speakers?  Because I can't tell the difference.

I was told that as long as the polarity is the same on all speakers then it should sound fine.  So if you have the wires going from + on the Amp to - on the speakers then there no problem if all speaker are configured that way.

If you have a mixture of polarities on different speakers then the speakers will be out of phase.  To be honest I've never tried setting it up that way just to see if it noticeable.

[danbeaver]

Ok, let me put in another way, "If it seems fast, it is."