#ATI 8514 Ultra & Anipro?
4 messages in this thread
I have an opportunity to buy a slightly used ATI 8514 Ultra at a good
price. Is there a significant speed advantage using it for Animator Pro
real-time animations over the Video 7 VRAM II (1M video RAM) I am now
using? I can see the video RAM in the VRAM II filling on certain
full-screen animations, which is unacceptable. I have had to alter my style
to accommodate (read "mask") this effect. My system is a 486/33 with 16 M
RAM.
Most of my work goes to videotape, therefore I mostly use AniPro in
640x480x256 mode with the Video 7, but that may change (higher res) in the
future. I know that the ATI should speed up AutoCAD, which I plan to get
eventually.
The only reservation I have in getting the ATI is that their support has
been abyssimal (I have a VGA Wonder with problems on another machine).
Drivers are always very late and buggy, and it is hard to get any
meaningful and timely information from them. Comments and/or experiences?
Thanks in advance.
Harvey
Harvey,
We've written Ani Pro drivers that support the VRAM and the Ultra. While
the Ultra will speed up AutoCAD quite a bit, it won't do very much for
Animator Pro. I would be very surprised if you noticed any meaningful speed
improvement at all. The reason for this is because Ani Pro spends most of
its time drawing individual pixels on the screen, and the Ultra isn't any
faster at this than your VRAM.
Brad Ek [Panacea Inc.]
Brad:
Are there any limitations when using an STB Powergraph (1024x768x256) as
far as driver compatability is concerned? Will your AniPro drivers work on
this card?
C#
Craig,
Our AniPro driver works just fine with the STB Powergraph at 640x480x256,
800x600x256, and 1024x768x256. The Tseng ET-4000 VESA driver should also
work.
Brad Ek [Panacea Inc.]