VRAM SE/30

[SE30_Neal]

Ok guys as micron cards are either rarer than hens teeth or more expensive than the Cullinan diamond can you upgrade THE SE/30’s on board 64kb Video RAM, i.e could you replace it with say a 256kb or 512kb chip? I presume this 64kb chip is soldered on the motherboard somewhere, what chip is it? Or is it just a pipedream and really thetr isn’t a way to up the spec without such a micron card? I ask as im using mine for graphics which is perhaps hadly the perfect machine but fun nevertheless 

neal

 

[Bolle]

You won't gain anything from upgrading the VRAM.

There is no RAMDAC on the SE/30 logicboard but instead the video logic is directly driving the tube amplifier, so even with more VRAM the logic would only know two states: beam on or off and nothing in between.

 

[SE30_Neal]

Thanks Bolle,

i thought it would be futile otherwise others would have done so before.

I’ll just have work with it.

Neal

 

[techknight]

You would have to create an oversampling, something that cant be done with the CRT without cranking up the frequency. 

 

[SE30_Neal]

thanks techknight, Like Bolle said it’s a no go which explains why no one else has done it. I'm not complaining though i love using the little b&w mac even if it’s a bit rubbish on photoshop 4 with its 1-bit graphics but thats part of the fun of using something vintage plus i have other colour macs if i need, maybe one day I’ll fall across a macron card