Which Enhancer-package and RadeonHD-driver for SAM460

Hi Amigans,

I have a SAM460 with a Radeon HD graphics card and wonder what to buy when it comes to Enhancer-packages and the RadeonHD-drivers.

There are three Enhancer-packs available, as well as two separate RadeonHD-drivers, on Amistore.

I'm tempted to purchase the standard Enhancer due to price, but this one has RadeonHD 1 included, while the Enhancer Plus has RadeonHD 2.

Is the difference big between RadeonHD 1 and 2 in performance? Is it worth the extra money to get RadeonHD 2?

Thanks in advance for your help. :)

PS: I'm running AmigaOS 4.1 FE Update 1.

For first forget about any RadeonHD v1 or RadeonHD v2. It's in real abandoned versions. You need only RadeonHD v3: it is a faster, bugless, and feature-rich version in comparison with all others.

As for whole mess with all different Enhancers I can't help, for most of us it was always unclear why to create such a bunch of different versions and subversions, and why not make just a single version, but all I can say, you need RadeonHD v3, and latest ogles2/warp3dnova. From there they come in that mess I can't say :) Probably it should be some latest Enhancer Plus to have it all.

Yes, this Enhancer thing is... well... go for the Enhancer V2 once is released, it will include RadeonHD V3 and all that stuff you will need... or even not...

I was in the same situation a few years ago with my A1XEG4/Ati Radeon 9000 (and now have X-5000/Ati Radeon 270x) and collected the following info accross the forums :

TrevorD Just to clarify a few points.
1. The Enhancer Software package is an A-EON Technology product as are all the RadeonHD and Warp3D-SI, and Warp3D Nova and related future AmigaOS graphics developments.
2. If you don't have an RadeonHD 7xxx card or newer you don't need Warp3D-SI or Nova (although you will miss out on the future benefits).
3. All RadeonHD update have been supplied free of charge up to v2.10. If you don't have Nova you do not really need RadeonHD updates past v2.10 as most updates are related to Nova compatibility and you can't take advantage of them if you don't have Nova.
4. Hans de Ruiter is under almost full time contract to A-EON to continuously work on and develop the AmigaOS graphics system. All Nova and related graphics updates are a continuously funded by A-EON.
5. The Enhancer software packs contains much more that the Nova Graphics package. 3 free ESP update have been released in the past year, each of which contain a lot of new features and updates.
6.Software development is not free, developers need to be paid.

Amigakit :
RadeonHD v1.0 driver was released four years ago in 2013. It was subsequently updated seven times to version 1.7 and offered as a FREE upgrade to those that paid for the v1 driver and to those that had the driver free with the AmigaOne X1000 system.

RadeonHD v2.4 was released a year later in 2014 (three years ago). It yielded six updates to v2.10, once again FREE for those that paid for the updated driver. Existing users of the v1 driver had a very small upgrade price to pay to update to v2.x from v1.x and received a years worth of free updates to v2.10 released in 2015.

All these free upgrades were of course released to users above and beyond what was advertised or promised in marketing, news releases or in the product specification. I think this is more than fair given the amount of updates were provided over the years for free to registered users. Free software development of course cannot indefinitely continue because developers need to be paid for their hard work.

The new versions of RadeonHD driver in the Enhancer Software v1.3 Standard (v1.21) and Plus (v2.22) are specifically designed to function with the Warp3D Nova system on the Enhancer Software and constistute a part of the cost of the Enhancer Software package. Closer integration of the software will continue. The development cost is of course significant over the years. There have been three major updates to Enhancer Software and all have been provided FREE of charge to registered users.

@BobSacamano

Your best bet is to wait for Enhancer 2.0, especially if you have a gfx card that is supported by the Warp3D Nova system. The new developments in the graphic department are very significant.

@Lio

Quote:

V1 and V2 of RadeonHD are the OLD versions of the RadeonHD driver. All new things developed and fixed in 3.x only. So, any newcomer should get exactly RadeonHD V3.x and nothing else.

With RadeonHD 1.x and 2.x, you didn't have an ability to use more than 256gb of GPU memory (kind of necessary for example for all last games I port, or instead all will go over swapping, filling all VRAM memory and then crash and burn). Taking aside all the changes and fixes done since V1.x / V2.x times.

Hi and thanks so much for your help. :)

As far as I could see, one needs to buy the Enhancer software pack before one can buy the "Graphics Enhancer" pack that includes Radeon HD 3. This amounted to apx. £100. Therefore decided to buy the cheapest HD-driver and instead purchase the full new Enhancer 2.0 package when it becomes available.

It is not easy keeping track of the various Enhancer packages and it is probably more confusing for people who are completely new to AmigaOS 4. Agree with Kas1e that it would be easier with one package containing everything.

@BobSacamano

If you buy the current Enhancer-package + the Graphics update you'll get a free upgrade to Enhancer 2.0.

Which HD driver did you buy?

@arfcarl

Thanks for the info.

I went for the one on the website of AmigaKit:

http://amigakit.amiga.store/product_info.php?products_id=1107

@BobSacamano

Quote:
Well, it took AmigaKit/A-EON some time to fine-tune the actual selling model. I agree that the various Enhancer 1.x versions were somewhat confusing, and some people got disappointed by not getting the upgrade path they had expected. But Rome wasn't built in a day I believe that Enhancer 2.0 will be more streamlined, hopefully offering fewer options but still getting you the best for your buck.

@BobSacamano

I purchased the ENHANCER SOFTWARE SPECIAL EDITION (OS4) for my MicroA1. This is the minimum version of the Enhancer package. It does not contain CANDI or Warp3D Nova or RadeonHD.

The MicroA1 motherboard has an onboard ATI Radeon 7000 AGP graphics controller chip. There is no way to add a RadeonHD card, so I purchased the minimum version of the Enhancer package.

I suggest you go with the Plus version or wait for Enhancer 2.0.

---
redfox

@redfox

I will wait for Enhancer 2.0 to be released. :)

@BobSacamano

Lets hope there will be just one with all the stuff...and not

Enhancer 2.0 Lite
Enhancer 2.0 Extra
Enhancer 2.0 Special
Enhancer 2.0 Limited Edition
Enhancer 2.0 First Look
Enhancer 2.0 Final Edition
Enhancer 2.0 Boing Bag
Enhancer 2.0 X1000 Edition
Enhancer 2.0 X5000 Edition
Enhancer 2.0 Sam440 Edition
Enhancer 2.0 Black Friday
Enhancer 2.0 Easter Edition
Enhancer 2.0 Christmas Edition
Enhancer 2.0 30 Years + some more days Anniversary Edition

...you get the picture...

@Raziel

LOL ... what a great idea.

---
redfox

@redfox

Oh boy, they picked up my idea just well

Enhancer Software 2.0 Early Adopter Certificate

Really hope nobody falls for that...only time will tell which parts are not included (and i'm already hearing the fanboys approaching)

I have a Sam640ex with Radeon HD 6450 (AMD Sapphire) card and I just bought Enhancer Plus so i could get access to driver version 2.22, which fixed all the problems I was having with version 1 of that driver that my second hand Sam came with. It seems my card is not powerful enough to run Warp 3D Nova, and I don't want to change it for a noisy, hot, large card as my current one is silent, low power and fits in my compact case. But I would upgrade to the latest version anyway, if only I could figure out how! Something to do with Amisphere, but not clear what one needs to do!

@NinjaCyborg

Isn't the Sapphire Radeon 7750 passive an option ?

Maybe, you tell me! Is it low profile?

@NinjaCyborg

My best advice would be to do a bit of research before buying a new card.
There are pros and cons depending on the chipset.
That's in addition to finding compatible cards.

These links should start you off.

http://hdrlab.org.nz/projects/amiga-o ... r-hardware-compatibility/

https://www.amigans.net/modules/xforum ... e=&order=ASC&type=&mode=0

Cheers

@NinjaCyborg

Radeon 7750 is not LP, i had one myself before upgrading to a 7900 series.

I was looking for a LP single slot myself lately and found this

But it's RX and i don't know if the SAM hardware supports those cards (let alone the driver)