Is it REALLY a Radius Precision Card . . .

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

. . . as stated in the auction?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/110908503621

. . . or something just a little bit more Thunderous? :?:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Radius_Thunder_IV_GX_1600_1994_1_front.JPG

Only time will tell. [] ]'>

Somebody else got the Red Radius LeMans GT Video Card for exactly the same price, and that's a nice little conquest in my book too.

 

[trag]

Yep. some flavor of Thunder IV GX. Can't tell if it's the 1152, 1360 or 1600. Did you win that one, JT?

That little ring around the transistor near the monitor connector is a giveaway, plus the daughter card and general shape. Also, the silver sticker on the chip below the ring. I've never seen that on anything but the Thunder IV GX.

The shipping cost is surprising.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

[] ]'>

 

[spiceyokooko]

It's certainly not a Radius card that I've ever seen before and I have a few of them.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I do my homework when something doesn't add up. :b&w:

None of the PrecisionColor Series had provision for a DaughterCard as far as I knew, so checked LEM to confirm that. I snagged the pic from the auction and grabbed the part number off off the daughtercard at high magnification and googled the dickens out of it. I started getting Thunder hits and with the info that the difference between Thunder IV and Thunder IV GX was the DSP Daughtercard, I googled up images of the Thunder series until I hit pay dirt on WikiPedia. The DSP DaughterCard in the link to the pic of the 1600 above is a perfect part number match for the DaughterCard in the Auction as well as every component visible on the main PCB of both pics..

Dunno which one it will be, but I figured there was a Thunderous difference between the item as listed and the item as pictured. Two nice Radius cards offered by the same seller with no info about them made me think that the seller had no real idea about what he was selling. I just hoped none of the other bidders would have done the research, apparently they didn't twig to the anomaly, or it would have cost me a lot more than it did, if I got it at all.

What the heck is the difference between the three versions? It sounds to me like they're exactly the same cards with fair, middlin' and full loadouts of implemented VRAM on the pads.

Field upgrade anyone? }

Redonkulous Shipping Charges on eBay:

I think a lot of sellers pad the shipping to make sure they make some profit on items listed with low starting bids. It likely costs more to list an item with a higher minimum bid a/o a reserve. Some folks don't look past the low price to see the exorbitant shipping charges on small items which shouldn't cost all that much to ship. I imagine that eBay charges apply to the selling price and then there are the income taxes that apply to the difference between the cost of goods bought and the selling price of goods sold. Padding the shipping price probably lowers the listing fee, ensures a minimum level of profit and sets off less alarms with the IRS by categorizing that built in profit as operating expenses rather than gross income.

That's just conjecture on my part. I don't really know how eBay's fees are structured, but I have a healthy level of skepticism about human nature and sneaking suspicions much of the time. }

 

[trag]

Dunno which one it will be, ...or it would have cost me a lot more than it did, if I got it at all.

I'm going to guess that this means that you did win it?

What the heck is the difference between the three versions? It sounds to me like they're exactly the same cards with fair, middlin' and full loadouts of implemented VRAM on the pads.
Field upgrade anyone? }

That is precisely the difference between the cards. It's possible that there is some difference in the pad placement, but functionally, the only difference is the VRAM totals.

And if you had a time machine and about $5000 to spend on comparative Thunder shopping, you'd find that the Radius Thunder 24/GT is identical to the Radius Thunder IV GX 1152, except, it lacks the DSP daughter card. I had that straight from a Radius engineer, shortly before they shut their doors.

They were liquidating the 24/GT for about $400 (or was it $600?) and when "Radius Vintage" got their hands on the old stock, they started charging something like $800 for them, I think. Radius Vintage was always over-proud of their old stock.

I've always wanted to ask Macmetex what his connection to Radius Vintage was if any. He seems to have ended up with all their old stuff, but his prices have always seemed very good to me.

Anyway, the old VRAM chips are probably hard to find now. But if you get a 1600 let me know and let's get some good scans. I've got a couple of the 1360s and 1152s on hand.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Yep! I sniped that sucker cold with 10 sec. remaining on the clock! I'm sure nobody else realized it was a Thunder GX Series wolf in sheep's clothing! [] ]'>

http://lowendmac.com/video/thundergt.html

Since the GT/GX 1152 will do 1600x1200x8bit, I figure the 1360 ought to do it at 16bit. If it's a 1600, the 24bit is gravy! Any of the three color depths will be fine.

Anyway, the old VRAM chips are probably hard to find now . . .

Dunno, which chips are on yours? I've got a couple of SuperMac & RasterOps Cards that could be donors. [}] ]'>

It's on its way from a UPS hub in Ontario, so much for shipping it USPS Preferred.

 

[trag]

I'm not sure at what color depth the 1360 will do 1600 X 1200. I've never had a monitor which will go up that high. The numbers represent the first number in the highest resolution at which each card supports 24 bit color. So the 1152 does 24 bit color at 1152 X mumble. The 1360 does 24 bit color at 1360 X mumble, and the 1600 does 24 bit color at 1600 X 1200. The 1152 and the 1360 will each do 1600 X 1200 at at least 8 bit color, I don't know if the 1360 has enough VRAM to do it at 16 bits.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Nope, 8bit @ 1600 x 1200 according to the LEM specs.

s'OK tho, my main display is a 1600 x 1200 MultiScan LCD Pivot. [] ]'>

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

YAY! It's out for delivery today! [] ]'> I'm not too excited! )

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

[] ]'>

 

[Unknown_K]

I seen that card, and bid $20.11 for it. The thing is I wanted the Truvision Targa 2000 Nubus + rare cables more (which I won and expect delivered Monday).

Funny what a little googling will do when you see a picture and know automatically it is a prized card.

 

[trag]

Excellent. When you have time, I would love to see high resolution scans of the front and back. I don't care about seeing the DSP card. That should be identical to the ones on my Iv GXs, but the differences between the 1600 and 1360 and 1152 would be interesting.

Of course, I'd have to go attic crawling to make the comparison, as my examples are packed away.

On the bright side, all the shifting to the attic has mostly excavated my workbench... Maybe I'll get some soldering done this weekend. On the other hand, my partner's niece is coming into town, so maybe not.

 

[Unknown_K]

That model card has 4 DSP's compared to 2 DSP's in the older Thunder IV GX cards.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Comparing the number of DSPs would be interesting, but the VRAM Configuration comparisons of the cards will be fascinating!

I thought I'd already linked to the page with these large pics . . .

. . . but I guess I didn't.

I've been REALLY LUCKY this Friday the 13th! :approve:

The Thunder IV GX 1600 of my dreams arrived and while I was peeking at eBay at work I spotted, and just now just nabbed, yet another gem for my Radius VidCard Collection!

Radius Precision Color S3 Vision 968

I've got a few Radius PCI VidCards, but they're all full length. I've never seen, or heard of, this S3 ChipSet Model or a short Radius PCI VidCard for that matter.

One toy for now and another one soon to be on the way! )