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Graphics card

Started by Raiko, 2011.11.30, 18:36:19

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ivan

Downgrade the BIOS to get video to run - they must be joking!

I have memories of there being a small program that enabled write combining but I don't know if it would work with new hardware.

ivan

Raiko

This system seems to have the latest BIOS version and I'll leave it like that.

David McKenna

Hi Raiko,

  I recently got a new motherboard (MSI H55M-E33) and Radeon video card and was never able to get SNAP to work - something to do with MTRR's not being set properly by the BIOS.

  Like you, I tried Panorama with wide screen enabler and it worked, but performance was very slow. I eventually discovered that if I only had 2GB of RAM installed (I started with 4), Panorama performance improved dramatically and is usable.

  If you have 4GB or more RAM it might be worth trying only 2GB and see if it helps with Panorama.

Regards,

Dave McKenna

Raiko

Hi Dave,

I have 6GB RAM on this system, removed 4GB and it does improve the performance, however, still I don't think it is good enough. Since I find the info on the Panorama site a bit confusing I really don't know if this is something that's being worked on and that a "fix" will be released. (Obviously I don't need 6GB for eCS, but I sometimes need to use W7 64bit, and removing and adding RAM is not a long term solution.)

Rgds Raiko

Raiko

I'm now trying a Sapphire Radeon HD5450 and the performance seems to be a little bit better than with the HD6770, but still it is far from good. Think I saw a report on the hardware list at ecomstation.ru about HD5450 and that is was working good, and it would be nice to know how they achieved that.
As with the HD6770, this card does not work with SNAP. Panorama and widescreen activator work for both, but needs improvement to be classified as good.

sXwamp

#35
Quote from: Raiko on 2011.12.20, 17:11:33
I'm now trying a Sapphire Radeon HD5450 and the performance seems to be a little bit better than with the HD6770, but still it is far from good. Think I saw a report on the hardware list at ecomstation.ru about HD5450 and that is was working good, and it would be nice to know how they achieved that.
As with the HD6770, this card does not work with SNAP. Panorama and widescreen activator work for both, but needs improvement to be classified as good.


Not sure what your requirements are for Windows, but you may want to try a Radeon X800-850 PCIe 256MB card. One major/minor issue with the card is with the card Dos window cmd does not work and it's not supported by WarpOverlay.

Get them on eBay for $40-50 bucks - I sure wish someone could add support to WarpOverlay !!!

Or try a ATI Radeon 9250 256Mb PCI if you have an older computer.

Greggory

Pete

Hi sXwamp

Why would you want to use WarpOverlay anyway? - SNAP overlay (snapwrap.dll supplied with vlc, mplayer, kplayer) works better.

I've been finding the ATI X series cards with active cooling (ie a fan) to be less reliable than those ATI X series cards with passive cooling. I've recently binned 1 * X800, 1 * X700, 1 * X600 as they had all failed due to the fans clogging up (well, not so much the fan as that can be vacuumed reasonably easily but the heatsink vents that the fan blows through cloggs up) causing overheating problems. The X300 with passive cooling (finned heatsink) bought *before* any of the above cards is still going strong though.

I've replaced the above failed cards with X300 cards using passive cooling but with a small case fan positioned to blow across the X300 cooling fins to help dissipate heat.

I guess the best answer is to go for water cooling at some point... or use the computers in a totally dust free environment.

I cannot say I noticed problems with the X series and DOS cmd window; probably because I never install DOS/Win16 support these days as DOSBox covers my simple DOS game playing requirements much better - and has sound.


Regards

Pete

Raiko

Thanks, Greggory, actually I use win mostly for editing pdf's and gaming so I do need a not too old graphic card.
Anyway, I put back the Radeon HD6770 and reduced colors to 64K and performance is somewhat better now, but I really hope Mensys, or someone else, finds a solution to this problem. By the way, I've also tried a Geforce 8800 Ultra (I think that's what it was called) but with Panorma I could only use low resolutions and even then it was quite slow.

sXwamp

#38
Quote from: Pete on 2011.12.22, 03:47:56
Hi sXwamp

Why would you want to use WarpOverlay anyway? - SNAP overlay (snapwrap.dll supplied with vlc, mplayer, kplayer) works better.


It maybe my system or setup, but vlc, mplayer, kplayer all skip ( I have SET NSPR_OS2_NO_HIRES_TIMER=1 too
, and Uniaud ) when I open up a directory or open a new tab in Firefox.

For me I can throws anything at WarpVision and WarpOverlay, plus the sound is superior to any I tested yet.  And WarpOverlay doesn't have the Radeon SNAP bug in WarpVison.

And I would have to disagree with you on the comparison between SNAP & WO - about the same for me. Until, recently I had a Hauppage WinCast PCI tuner that Warpvision supported and the output was better then Windows !!!!


Greggory
 





rudi

Quote from: sXwamp on 2011.12.22, 04:09:43
It maybe my system or setup, but vlc, mplayer, kplayer all skip

It's not your setup. All these apps do a very poor job with respect to this. I don't know, if it is related to their general design or the OS/2 output modules. Somehow I have the feeling it's related to the latter...

Quote from: sXwamp on 2011.12.22, 04:09:43
And I would have to disagree with you on the comparison between SNAP & WO

The only difference between the two is the set of supported hardware. WO supports a somewhat greater variety (ATI, Matrox, nVidia, 3dfx) but only for now really antique card models. SNAP overlay can be used with a little bit less ancient card models by ATI, Intel and partially S3. Some ATI cards can be used with both WO and SNAP overlay.

BTW, SNAP overlay fails here on Intel graphics when the resolution is larger than about 1680 x 1050. Anyone else seeing this ?


cyberspittle

@PETE,

Perhaps you may want to consider dust filters on your case. These can go in front of intake fans. Hopefully, that will prevent the dust from jamming up the fins on heat sink in active cooling.

David McKenna

Raiko,

  See http://svn.ecomstation.nl/snap - it looks like the SNAP and Panorama drivers will be merged and the MTRR issues will be dealt with... eventually.

Raiko

Had a look at that link and also an older thread here at this site about SNAP and it looks like something is happening. As usual little info is given to the public, and since this is quite an important issue I'd wish for some news now and then.

Pete

Hi

@ cyberspittle

Case filters are in place, inside of cases get cleaned every 3 months; no problems cleaning cpu heatsinks only with cleaning graphics card heatsinks.

The main problem is my house is an old building that seems to accumulate dust faster than it is possible to clean...

So, watercooling is an option I'm planning on investigating in the near future.


Regards

Pete

jdeb

Quote from: sXwamp on 2011.12.22, 01:54:31
Quote from: Raiko on 2011.12.20, 17:11:33
I'm now trying a Sapphire Radeon HD5450 and the performance seems to be a little bit better than with the HD6770, but still it is far from good. Think I saw a report on the hardware list at ecomstation.ru about HD5450 and that is was working good, and it would be nice to know how they achieved that.
As with the HD6770, this card does not work with SNAP. Panorama and widescreen activator work for both, but needs improvement to be classified as good.


Or try a ATI Radeon 9250 256Mb PCI if you have an older computer.

Greggory

I have a like new ATI Radeon 9250 256mb or 512 (can't remember) AGP if someone needs it.
Foxconn P41A-P, Intel E7500, 2 GB DDR2 800, ATI X300, ADATA Sata II 64 GB SSD, 160GB WD Sata II HD, Intel Pro 100/1000, Antec Basiq 350W PS, Antec 300 Case, ECS 2.1