Re: Nova graphics cards

From: Magnus Kollberg <Magnus.Kollberg_at_emw.ericsson.se>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 09:57:51 +0100

Hi,

> I've also got a Nova adapter sitting here waiting for me to find a card.

Hehehe.. I hope you find one soon. Have you put in any ads and looked
in different papers etc.? You should be able to locate a few in
the UK. Geir found 2 and I found 3 (2 working but one of the disapeared)
in sweden withine 2 weeks. After that it has been pretty dead though. The
hardest part is to know where to ask as it's alomst 100% sure that there
are cards in old 486s which noone use these days.
 
> I think I have found another (not cheap) US source on the web:

Okey. It would have been better if it was in europe but I guess the US
is better than nothing. Also if you are several wanting a card maybe
you could order together and get a better price, or atleast
cheaper shipping. But maybe it's not that expensive to ship from the
US. Waht do I know.
 
> A printout from work seems to show the site as earthcommerce.com
>
> Graphics Xpression 2mB ISA DRAM $168.80 ($119 at Harmony)
> Graphics Pro Turbo 2mB ISA VRAM $338.66 ($249 at Harmony)
> Graphics Pro Turbo 4mB ISA VRAM $525.39 ($349 at Harmony)

These all should work. I have got a Graphics Xpression card (I guess
all DRAM cards has this name) and Mike has got a Graphics Pro Turbo.
You should still try to get the RAMDAC number though, but I would think
that the Graphics Pro Turbo is a safer bet if you can't get the
number. Look at my webpage.

BTW. I would realy like to get more numbers of the RAMDAC on tested cards
to include them on the list.
 
> One thing which would aid my search is to be clearer on what are the names
> of the cards to look out for:

Well I will try, but I can only tell from what I know. :-)
 
> The list I think I have is:
>
> Graphics Ultra? (VRAM??)

This is a ooooold card with a Mach32 chip (PRO) or even a Mach8 chip (without
the PRO).

> Video Xpression? (DRAM but faster & newer than Graphics Ultra?)

I think this is only available in PCI format.

> Graphics Xpression (DRAM)

This is should work if it has got the correct RAMDAC.

> 3D Xpression? (prob. not Mach64?)

I don't think this is available in ISA. I do think it has got a Mach64
as well as a 3D chip though.

> Graphics Pro Turbo (VRAM)

Yup, this should work with the correct RAMDAC... and so far all cards
of this type has got the same RAMDAC, the 2146886000 or ATI68860 as it's
called.

> Graphics Pro Turbo 1600 (VRAM) (Is this 4 instead of 2MB VRAM?)

I don't know.... it looks like the 1600 card supports some higher resolutions
than the Graphics Pro Turbo so maybe it uses another RAMDAC, but I'm not sure.

> WinTurbo??

I have no idea.... could work.
 
> No warranty on the above list - very likely riddled with inaccuracies!

The same goes for me...

//Magnus Kollberg
Received on to. jan. 22 1998 - 12:31:00 CET