Good video cards for IIsi

[rikerjoe]

To clarify, we'd normally call that the "Apple 4•8 Display Card". It is an unaccelerated framebuffer card, that can do 24bit if you add two VRAM (256k?) SIMMs.

Looking more closely - the SIMM sockets might not be populated, which would make it an "Apple 8•24 Display Card"... the 24bit version. Its hard to tell from the back of the card.

Good call, I added the front of the card. It’s what I get for posting from my iPhone where I can hardly see anything.

 

[croissantking]

Interesting that it seems to have two headers for vram expansion, but no sockets fitted. Can you do 24 bit colour with it?

 

[Phipli]

Interesting that it seems to have two headers for vram expansion, but no sockets fitted. Can you do 24 bit colour with it?

Yes, the same PCB is used for the 8 bit (with SIMM slots fitted) and 24 bit (all the VRAM soldered as chips and no slots).

That is the 24 bit without needing SIMMs version.

 

[croissantking]

So it's unaccelerated, yet faster than the IIsi onboard graphics according to the tests done by @rikerjoe . Interesting.

Is a 4•8 with max VRAM functionally identical to an 8•24?

 

[Phipli]

So it's unaccelerated, yet faster than the onboard graphics. Interesting.

I... would want to see proof of that, especially while using the big disk cache trick.

 

[croissantking]

I... would want to see proof of that, especially while using the big disk cache trick.

Didn't @rikerjoe post a benchmark?

 

[Phipli]

Didn't @rikerjoe post a benchmark?

It isn't clear that they were using the Disk Cache trick or similar solution. You do that to speed up a IIsi's memory and video.

 

[jeremywork]

Is a 4•8 with max VRAM functionally identical to an 8•24?

Yep, precisely.

From what I've seen all the 4•8 cards are marked Macintosh Display Card 630-0400- and all the cards marked Macintosh Display Card 670- are 8•24 cards. There are also some (presumably 8•24 cards) marked 630-0400- but which have no SIMM slots and have all eight chips present, identical to the configuration on the 670- cards.

Seconding @Phipli regarding the video benchmarks. I've tested in the IIci and the 'vampire' video system is certainly less bottlenecked than the Nubus interface, but failing to consume the remainder of the first megabyte of RAM slows the overall system speed dramatically (10-20% IIRC?)

With an accelerator installed in the IIci this bandwidth difference becomes extremely apparent, though unaccelerated it may be harder to notice. Regardless of the bottleneck, an accelerated Nubus card will allow the CPU more cycles for other processing while some scalable tasks are handled by the dedicated video processor, which might outpace whatever slowdown the interface imposes.

 

[rikerjoe]

It isn't clear that they were using the Disk Cache trick or similar solution. You do that to speed up a IIsi's memory and video.

Since I don’t know what the big cache trick is, I should look at the default settings for the disk cache and post that value. All I did was run MacBench 3.0 and post results without jiggering the disk cache size.

 

[jeremywork]

Depending on the selected mode, internal video designates from (32k to 320k per LEM; 37.5k-300k on the calculator) of the first megabyte of RAM as VRAM. Other values also stored within this megabyte (really the whole A bank, though on the IIsi the bank is 4x256k soldered to the board) are accessed more slowly because the video circuitry is using the bank. (I'm too late to edit the above post, but the penalty is reported to be only 8% for the IIci, so nowhere near 20%.)

Setting the remainder to be used more occasionally as a disk cache (or just so that it's not accessed at all, using a software solution like RAM-Muncher https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/iisi-ram-muncher-init) means the system isn't likely to be slowed by the video access time penalty as everything of value is being stored in bank B.

 

[Phipli]

Since I don’t know what the big cache trick is,

Its just a way of speeding up a IIsi by reducing RAM contention, by forcing progrsms to use the RAM SIMMs.

Like jeremywork says, if you set the disk cache (in the Memory control panel) to use up what is left after video RAM of the soldered 1MB RAM (I'd just set it to 1MB to be sure), the computer runs a bit faster.

 

[ArmorAlley]

Acceleration improves QuickDraw performance.
Do games like Hellcats rely heavily on QuickDraw?
If so, then an accelerated card is what you want.
If not, then any NuBus card that can display 640x480 at 256 colours should do you grand.

Investment in a SCSI2SD (or one of the flash-based alternatives) will also give you a speed boost as the I/O will be faster.
Also, if you don't have at least 16MB RAM, get at least 16MB RAM.

 

[rikerjoe]

Its just a way of speeding up a IIsi by reducing RAM contention, by forcing progrsms to use the RAM SIMMs.

Like jeremywork says, if you set the disk cache (in the Memory control panel) to use up what is left after video RAM of the soldered 1MB RAM (I'd just set it to 1MB to be sure), the computer runs a bit faster.

Oh yes, thanks. I recall reading about that somewhere. I should repeat my benchmark and add a run with no video card and the disk cache set to use up the remainder and see what results.