CompuServe Thread

#Video Seven Fireboard

3 messages in this thread
#52206From: CSTaRAug 5, 1993 12:41 PM
You have one? What do you use it for? How much faster is it than a plain PC? (Please specify what type of pc — i.e. processor, speed, memory) What software do you use? What kind of quality do you get from it? Enquiring minds want to know! MikeA
#52237From: Christophe Van OyenAug 5, 1993 5:43 PM
I have a SPEA card but not The SPEA FIRE, SPEA produces several kinds of boards. However I know someone who has got one.(there is a file in one of the sections of the Asoft forum I believe with technical info on the SPEA FIRE) types of SPEA boards: 1. SPEA graphite Hilite (for ISA, EISA, MCA) 1280×1024 resolution True color Mode at 800×600 (2MB of Video Memory) This is the card I've got. Good and quite fast 2. SPEA graphite Hilite Pro (for ISA, EISA, MCA) 1280 x 1024 still a bit faster then the previous card 3. SPEA Fire, seems to be very fast, the nice things about all the cards is that the drivers are about the same, so facilities in AutoCAD, 3Dstudio are about the same, but the Fire has much more power, but costs double my card <g>. And I get good results in an ISA bus with my card. If I were you I would however consider in which PC you put it, if you have a local bus, I do not know if the Fire is the good board, because I do not know if a VesaLB version already exists. However another German company is breaking through here in Europe with nice Video Cards: Miro Computer Products AG, Carl-Miele-Strasse 4, D-3300 Braunschweig Germany (Phone 09 49-5 31 21 13-0). Do not know if they already have a reseller in the US They produce about 12 different cards right no, and 4 monitor types, I saw there top card and it is quite nice. The card is miroMAGIC S4 (about $ 3150 in Europ) available ISA, EISA and VLB (this must be really very fast) Processor on the card S3 86C928 (50Mhz), 4MB memory on card, 24bit (16.7 milj.colors at 1024 x 768) 16bit (65356 colors at 1408/1280 x 1024) single screen possible, optional is a special mouse (Miro mouse) This mouse allows realtime rotation of 3Dmodels rendered in AutoCAD I have a PC with a VLB standard on the motherboard with 1024×768 capacity and speed towards my SPEA card is about double fast (but with a little lower resolution) Vesa Local Bus is really a key to speeding up video and renderings, some expensive cards will not reach the capacity of VLB if they are in an ISA or EISA slot (that is my personnal opinion) Christophe Van Oyen, Arch.
#52295From: Tibor OdehnalAug 6, 1993 4:35 AM
Christophe, PMJI, I've testet the Spea – Fire and I was very disappointed about it's speed. I've heard (and read) that the fire can do realtime in gouraud. All I've seen was a 2 Frames per second wireframe. BTW, it was a presentation from the distributor so it couldn't lay on me. I've also phoned with Spea but they couldN't say if this Board will come in EISA or VL. One say it comes in both versions in Dezember the other says ther's no plan to produce it in an other version than ISA. Pity, I would get it with a heavy discount. So I'm still on my way to get the right Grafic Card for 3DS. TIBOR