acook@athena.mit.edu (Andrew R Cook) (01/16/91)
Summary of Netexpertise on VGA cards/monitors based on reponses to a info.
request posted about 2 weeks ago. I have received on the order of 35
responses. I make no guarantees about the accuracy of the information
contained, it is only a reflection of what other people have told me
(along with reading that I have done of spec sheets, reviews ...).
Of the video choices available ( XGA, TI 34010, VGA), the collective
opinion was that VGA (sVGA) is the video standard of choice at this
time for a number of reasons. First of all is cost. VGA was the only
one that made it under my limit of $1000. Some people have reported
acquiring VGA hardware(monitor&card) for under $600. Aside from cost,
VGA is also the best supported of the three. There is little software
support for either XGA or TI34010 at this time. What support there
is for these does not take full advantage of the boards' capabilities
for speed or colors. One of these(or similar coprocessor assisted
scheme) may become very important in a year or so, but until then,
VGA is the best choice(price and support considered). It was suggested
however, to get as good a monitor as possible, to maximise the
likelihood of its compatibility with future standards.
On to specifics :
Video Board:
There were basically 4 main types of VGA boards mentioned. These
included ATI boards, Paradise boards, Trident 8900 boards, and Tseng 4000
boards. The general opinion was that Paradise boards were the slowest,
with ATI next. There was a lot of controversy over which were the
fastest, but it is either the Trident or the Tseng based boards. It is
difficult to compare, for they differ depending on which type of video
operation you are trying to do, who built the board, and finally how
good the drivers are for it. It seemed that the most popular, and well
spoken of, board was the Orchid Prodesigner II( based on Tseng chipset).
This board has enough memory on it(1MB) to support 256 color modes all
the way through 1024x768, will emulate EGA, CGA, Herc., the windows
drivers are reportedly the fastest and most durable, and has a wide
vareity of other drivers. The Trident 8916 board also got similar
responses, but many fewer people mentioned them. The ATI VGA wonder+
board also looks like a good board, but is a little slower, can only
support 16 colors at 1024x768(512KB max), and based on the number of
posted ATI driver questions and gripes - it seems that its driver
support may not be as good. It could also be that more people have
ATI boards, but responses mailed to me did not support this conjecture.
A few clone boards were also mentioned, often costing 1/2 of what these
name-brand boards do. However, one would be well advised to use caution
in buying a clone board. You no longer have the confidence that the
board is as well designed or supported or that quality drivers will be
written for it. This is not universally true, just a caution.
TI 34010 boards:
I thought I'd just mention a few things for those of you who
are interested, or have the money to spend. It has been found that
currently, these boards(NEC, Hercules, ...) do not provide the speed
increases that they are capable of producing, especially for Windows.
The problem appears to be twofold: First of all, the way windows works
is to first process all screen information, then pass it to the video
driver which places it on the screen. This does not take advantage of
the board's own image processing ability, thus only modest speed
increases have been observed (~20%). Speed is also limited by the
PC bus. It is not currently possible to send bitmap information to
the board as fast as it can deal with it. The biggest speed
improvements were found in 256 color modes. Currently these boards
cost 2-3 times as much as their VGA counterparts. It is probable that
in the near future, some of these problems will be worked around.
Monitors:
It has been almost universally agreed that monitors
capable of 1024x768 non-interlaced operation are a better choice
than interlaced ones. There are a number of reasons for this. First
of all, it has been reported that the flicker associated with
interlaced operation can be anywhere from simply irritating to nearly
unusable. Another strong argument is that it is possible to get
a non-interlaced monitor for about the same price as a good interlaced
multisync monitor. There are some deals out there, if you are willing
to live with interlacing. Some mail-order clone companies have their
own brand of monitor, which can be had for as low as $400. Some of
these are actually really good deals, but again I would be concerned
with manufacturer support and overall construction quality. Some
people reported being quite satisfied though. The last reason for
buying a non-interlaced monitor had to do with lasting value. As
video standards evolve, interlaced operation will die out. New
standards will still support your non-interlaced monitor(most will
require it). If you look at a monitor as an investment, a non-
interlaced one is a better value; you will not want to replace it as
soon as you might an interlaced one.
In our stated price range($1000 total) the most commonly
mentioned monitors were the Sony 1304 and the Seiko 1450. Both of
these cost about $650 mail order, and support VGA up to 1024x768. They
are both built around the same Sony Trinitron tube, and both have
very good pictures(sharp). The Sony appears to be a better choice
because the case looks better, and the controls are more conveniently
placed in the front of the monitor. Another monitor that was mentioned
was the Relisys RE-1520(?). As a warning, I would recommend staying
away from it, for there were some bad reports about its quality. I
know one person who's family bought three of them because of the great
price, but got burned when all three of them had to be sent to Relisys
for repairs within the first month. The turn-around time was also
poor.
If one is willing to increase the price range a few hundred
dollars, it was highly suggested by a few people to take a look at
the NEC 4D. This monitor can be gotten for $1000-$1100 mail order.
It's particular advantages include a larger screen (16", 15" visual),
digital controls and memories, and quality. It has been chosen by
PCMAG ("1024x768 Monitors" - a while back) as an editors' choice. NEC
is known for producing quality monitors(3D - also an editor's choice),
and also for feel & ease of use. The digital controls are a bonus
that the Sony and Seiko monitors do not have. It was reported that
with these monitors, it is ocassionally necessary to turn the knobs
that control picture size and position when changing modes, 800x600
particually. On the NEC 4D, all you have to do is enter the settings
once, then if you change modes, just hit the recall button to get
those stored settings back. This is a simgular advantage to someone
who changes modes often. All controls are also mounted on the front.
No more reaching around to the back or to the side. I have gotten
literature from NEC, and the monitor looks very good to me. Jo-bob
says check it out.
Closing comments:
If you are only using windows, you could probably go with an
interlaced monitor to save money. I suggest this because it has been
commented that when windows is used at 1024x768 on 13" or 14" monitors,
the text is too small to be read comfortably. If you plan to get a
bigger monitor, then disreguard this. Also, drivers for 1024x768 are
currently quite slow, especially at 256 colors. If you really want
windows at 1024x768x256, get a 33 MHz 486 and/or wait for coprocessor-
assisted graphics boards to come of age(TI 34010, etc.).
Some of the biggest differences in video boards/monitors in
the same class(ie/ 1024x768 non-interlaced VGA) seems to be vendor
support. What are return/repair policies? What kind of drivers
are currently available? How good are they? Will the company
cheerfully produce new drivers? Most major name-brand companies
score well in these areas. Be wary of clone stuff though, but don't
ignore it.
For myself, I plan to wait a bit until I can afford an NEC 4D
and an Orchid Prodesigner II.
If you have valuable comments/corrections/additions and feel like sending
them to me, I would appreciate them. If I get a lot of responses about
certain issues, I will post a followup.
Thanks for all your contributions. (Now if someone can tell me of a good
place to get hardware cheap in the Boston area . . . sigh).
Andy Cook
acook@athena.mit.edu