Overview Features Coding ApolloOS Performance Forum Downloads Products Order Contact

Welcome to the Apollo Forum

This forum is for people interested in the APOLLO CPU.
Please read the forum usage manual.
Please visit our Apollo-Discord Server for support.



All TopicsNewsPerformanceGamesDemosApolloVampireAROSWorkbenchATARIReleases
Documentation about the Vampire hardware

Rtg

Jamie Chapman

Posts 69
31 Oct 2019 22:57


Hi,

What is the power of the digital display as an RTG solution ?

In comparison to say a CV64/3D.  ?

THanks


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
01 Nov 2019 06:18


You can find RTG tests here EXTERNAL LINK 
Roughly, its faster then CV64 and slower then modern Radeons.

Enough for Classic use surely. Note that being faster in RTG does not mean Vamp has some of 3D HW features real CGX/RTG Zorro etc. cards had thanks to Cirrus,Radeon,Parmedia chips.

Seems 3D core of Voodo like features for Warp3D support is planned for v4, but no real details and release time. When and if its done.

Hope this summs it nice - essentially you have high resolution 24-bit but no 3D.


Jamie Chapman

Posts 69
01 Nov 2019 07:43


I didn't except it to compete with a Bvision ).  Just working out which way to go with a build.

I can use one Zorro 2 card.  And the candidates are a CV64/3D and add ethernet module to a A500 2.1 card I have coming

or

Zorro 2 network card ( forget name begins with A) and use the RTG on the Vampire.


Andy Hearn

Posts 374
01 Nov 2019 09:25


RTG on the vampire. it's built in, its damn fast, and it's so easy to setup. the ONLY downside is no warp3D (yet?), but lets face it, not many people are going to shed any tears over that.
     
  Networking, I've not played with a A2065. but they are all limited to a 10megabit chipset, and you'll be lucky if you see that. I have a pair of x-surf100's in an A3k and A4k. the A4k i can get a raw transfer rate of about 20-30megabits tops.
   
  The Vampire with it's network solution, even if it can't decode the IP stack at full wire speed - at least has access to a 100megbit connection to start with. I've not done a direct raw speed test, but i know i can reliably play back an MPG1 video file from a server network share mounted via SMBMount
  again. easy, cheap, ready to rock. zorro cards comparatively, are large, expensive, power hungry, heat generators.
 
  but i can respect "original hardware" though :)
   
  [edit] typos


Roy Gillotti

Posts 517
01 Nov 2019 12:16


I ran the X-surf-100 in my A2000 setup before I put the V500 in an A500 for my Checkmate A1500+ project, I think for network speed it's a bit faster than the Vampire SPI solution in the V500 V2.


Andy Hearn

Posts 374
05 Nov 2019 10:09


true enough. but to be fair, getting any sort of IP stack running at any speed opens many doors.
on my v500, i have managed playback of mpg1 files from an SMB mounted network share, and mount a network hosted ISO file as local drive. iirc i think i rated my throughput at about 1-3megabits. somewhere between a single and double speed CD rom. i can't give actual numbers right now as both my vampire machines are out of action atm.


Ronnie Beck
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 199
05 Nov 2019 13:00


Jamie Chapman wrote:

  I can use one Zorro 2 card.  And the candidates are a CV64/3D and add ethernet module to a A500 2.1 card I have coming
 
  or
 
  Zorro 2 network card ( forget name begins with A) and use the RTG on the Vampire.

The Vampire's RTG will leave CV64 for dead in 2D.  So keep in mind that keeping it in your build will be a huge advantage when it comes to snappy 2D graphics.  Think workbench, web browsers, mpeg video playback and RTG oriented 2D games.  This is because it isn't crippled by the Zorro bus.  However, there isn't hardware 3D acceleration.  If Hardware 3D acceleration is a "must" then the Vampires onboard RTG will not meet all your needs here.

As for the Network connection via the Expo port on the V500 vampire, you can reasonably expect real world performances between 250-500 Kbytes/s.  The X-Surf-100 might give you a bit more speed but for what reason do you need the additional speed?  And the X-Surf card is a whopping 130€ Compared to the 5-15€ you will pay for the ENC28J60 module.


Roy Gillotti

Posts 517
05 Nov 2019 13:17


I run the X-Surf-100 for the optional Rapidroad USB controller mostly.


Jamie Chapman

Posts 69
05 Nov 2019 15:22


Ronnie Beck wrote:

Jamie Chapman wrote:

  I can use one Zorro 2 card.  And the candidates are a CV64/3D and add ethernet module to a A500 2.1 card I have coming
 
  or
 
  Zorro 2 network card ( forget name begins with A) and use the RTG on the Vampire.
 

 
  The Vampire's RTG will leave CV64 for dead in 2D.  So keep in mind that keeping it in your build will be a huge advantage when it comes to snappy 2D graphics.  Think workbench, web browsers, mpeg video playback and RTG oriented 2D games.  This is because it isn't crippled by the Zorro bus.  However, there isn't hardware 3D acceleration.  If Hardware 3D acceleration is a "must" then the Vampires onboard RTG will not meet all your needs here.
 
  As for the Network connection via the Expo port on the V500 vampire, you can reasonably expect real world performances between 250-500 Kbytes/s.  The X-Surf-100 might give you a bit more speed but for what reason do you need the additional speed?  And the X-Surf card is a whopping 130€ Compared to the 5-15€ you will pay for the ENC28J60 module.

Thanks for the info. I already own a CV64/3D and a  Zorro 2 NIC so would not need to spend ay money.  I have also ordered the parts to do the ethernet trough the Vampire so I can mix and match.   

I don't really want three connections to my tv from my Amiga but I could for testing.  RGB to scart, DIGITAL-VIDEO and VGA from cybervision.

I doubt I am going to spend any real time on 3d games so will probably keep the zorro 2 slot empty for now and use the expansion slot for my backplates for hdmi, usb or ethernet 


posts 9