Gaphic Card for Sam440ep

Hello all.

Do I plan to buy a graphic card for the Sam440ep, the ATI RADEON 9200 MAC EDITION PCI 128 MB, is it compatible with the Sam440ep motherboard ?.


Thanks to all.
Lisardo.

@Fernecho

I'm not sure about this card. Since it says it is mac edition it might be a bit different from a standard 9200/9250. I'd go the safe way and get a "normal" 9250 pci card with 128 or 256mb ram.

@Norway

Thank you my friend for your answer.
I will buy an ATI RADEON 9200 normal PCI. better with 256 MB.
best regards.

Lisardo.

I'm still waiting for my SAM to be delivered (3 months and counting!) and I bought a PCI Radeon 9250 128MB in anticipation (or rather for the SAM FLEX model which I eventually hoped to change to further down the road, but by which point I figured that 9250 might be like gold dust rather than ten a penny as they are now.)

I've heard (on other forums on other websites) that the 256MB models will only show with 128MB if plugged in due to the BIOS in the SAM having a limitation (?), but that this limitation could be soon removed by an update - sorry don't have any links to back this up though.

@all

Use standard pci graphic card ( PC version ). At the moment it will show only 128 mega of ram but in the future this should be fixed

@All

Thanks to all for your answers, your help, and very good information.

greetings

Lisardo.

@Fernecho

Well, I was going to get a 9250, but I am still unsure now, as my sam seems to run fine without a graphics card.

Except, I believe it may give me less hassles if I did get a gfx card, as then Quake 3, heretic 2, and anything that requires a little bit of graphics, would be using the graphics card for workload instead of the cpu taking all the stresses.

Cheers.

@ALL:

There is no advantage in using a graphic card on a Sam440EP because the PCI slot is at only 33Mhz !

The integrated chipset is at 66Mhz, so you will have more video memory with a graphic card but slower than the integrated one.

Take care of this !

Also, here at IMM Informatique, we still have some Sam440EP in Stock with AmigaOS 4.1 in stock too, contact me directly if you want it ;)

Thanks, Laurent aka Faranheit

@Faranheit

Yes, but the flex has a pci slot at 66 Mhz, so it could be a usefull info for that users

@nubechecorre

For the Sam440Flex, you're obliged to take te graohic board with the motherboard, but the first post talked about Sam440EP not Flex one ;)

Laurent aka Faranheit

@All

Thanks to all again, these last answers they have been very illustrative.

best regards.

Lisardo

@Faranheit

Quote:

Thank you for your offer, but I have requested a Sam440ep with the AmigaOS 4.1 to ASB-Computer ( Spanish reseller located in MALAGA ), and I have already advanced the money, one month ago I made the order.

And thanks for your answer, Lisardo

From the acube user manual, sam440ep have a 66mhz PCI slot.

You can use it with a PCI card without loose performance.

If I not wrong it can work the on-board and the off-board card in parallel. the 2 card together if you use the apropriated driver.

I never test it, not have a sam440ep, but maybe work fine
http://www.acube-systems.biz/download/DualGraphicCardSetup.lha

BR

@ice2642

Yes, that file is needed if you plan to use two graphic card at the same time

@Fernecho

Now I am wondering if it work too with the sam440ep-flex with a 66Mhz PCI plus the 33Mhz PCI dual card on.

Se second card will loose performance, but is a little more than just one card.

[]'s

@Fernecho

The Mac edition has a different BIOS. UBoot uses graphics cards via the x86 VGABIOS that is stored on the card (using an x86 emulator). I'm not sure if the Mac edition will work, but it's safer to go with a regular version.

Hans

@Hans

I suspect you'd find that the graphics card would work just fine in AmigaOS and not at all in UBoot. In other words the first thing you'd see would be the AmigaOS 4.1 splash screen. The only reason for this not happening would be if the initialisation of the card is not done in software by the P96 driver (which it should be) but it relies on the BIOS.

Having said that you might also find that the X86 emulator tries to run the BIOS on startup and crashes the machine solid.

In other words at best you won't get UBoot screens - not ideal - and at worst you'll get a machine that crashes as soon as it's turned on, not terribly useful.

Unless they've done something clever anyway.

@Spirantho

Yeah, it might work. However, all of these possible issues could be avoided by simply not buying a Mac edition card. It's not like the standard version is hard to find.

Hans

@Hans

Absolutely. But then sometimes people come across cards like this for free or cheap and it's good to discuss it so that others can find out by googling and finding this discussion. :)

@All

Hello to all!

Finally I have bought a SAPHIRE RADEON 9250 PCI 128MB 64-BIT DDR, 40 Eurs, but cheap that the MAC edition (120 Eurs).
The card works well, I have two monitors one for the card and another for the motherboard, I have installed the DualGraphicCardSetup, and only I can use a monitor at the same time, that is to say if I configure the resolution with the driver RADEON, the image goes to the monitor that this connected one to the motherboard of the Sam, and if I configure the screen with the driver PCI the image goes to the monitor that this connected one to the graphic card.
Another thing that it happens it is that with the graphic card installed in the slot PCI and when pulling up the AmigaOS 4.1 only works one USB connector, the top rear, ? it is a bug ?.
I have installed the last updates of Hyperion.

A greeting to all