chao@oahu.cs.ucla.edu (Chia-Chi Chao) (06/08/91)
I have narrowed down my video card choices to Diamond SpeedStar+ and STB Ergo Powergraph. I have heard good comments on both of them, so I'm still trying to decide which one to buy. These are my questions: 1. STB supports VESA through BIOS. How about Diamond, BIOS or driver? 2. One person reported that 0 (zero) is not slashed on a STB clone. Is that true for the real STB one? 3. Refresh rates for individual resolutions can be set up at once on the Diamond board (for example 72@640, 60@800, 44@1024), so switching video mode automatically changes refresh rate. Does STB have the same feature? 4. Diamond already has Edsun and HiColor upgrades available. How about STB? 5. Diamond seems to be a much smaller company (22 people from what I read) and has fewer dealers. I sent letters to both STB and Diamond on 5/11/91 asking some technical questions. STB replied promptly, but I have not heard from Diamond yet. However, Diamond offers 5-year warranty versus STB's 2-year. Has anyone dealt with Diamond tech support? 6. InfoWorld (4/15/91) reported that STB was faster than Diamond overall, but Diamond was (dramatically) faster on a couple of AutoCAD tests. If you have either of these cards and VIDSPEED 2.0 (available on Simtel20), I would appreciate it if you could run the test and send me the results (VIDSPEED * + > filename). Also, the PCMag video benchmark on the STB card with shadow BIOS *OFF* would be helpful. Please let me know the processor and clock rate used for the test, and the bus speed if known. 7. Any other pros and cons on these video cards are welcome. Please note that I am interested in the SpeedStar _PLUS_ and _ERGO_ Powergraph, in case the non-72Hz (at 1024x768) versions have other differences. Email is preferable to reduce the net traffic. I will post a summary in 1-2 weeks if I receive any reply. Thanks a lot. -- Chia-Chi Chao chao@cs.ucla.edu ..!(uunet,ucbvax)!cs.ucla.edu!chao