[comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware] ATI VGA upgrade worthwhile?

bollard@hpspkla.spk.hp.com (Lee M. Bollard) (04/30/91)

I've got the opportunity to upgrade my ATI VGA Wonder to the PLUS 
model for $129.  Would this be worthwhile?  Is it really faster?

The memory to get it up to 1 meg is not included.  Any idea what
that memory would cost?  Would upgrading the "upgrade" to 1 meg
make the video even faster?   


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   Lee Bollard                     unix:  bollard@hpspkla.spk.hp.com  
   Hewlett-Packard               HPDesk:  Lee BOLLARD / HP1000/53     
   Spokane Division          Compuserve:  72105,423                   
   (509)921-4608         * Opinions are my own, not my employer's *   
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frank@sasquatch.Berkeley.EDU (Frank Pikelner) (05/02/91)

In article <6040016@hpspkla.spk.hp.com>, bollard@hpspkla.spk.hp.com (Lee M. Bollard) writes:
|> I've got the opportunity to upgrade my ATI VGA Wonder to the PLUS 
|> model for $129.  Would this be worthwhile?  Is it really faster?
|> 
|> The memory to get it up to 1 meg is not included.  Any idea what
|> that memory would cost?  Would upgrading the "upgrade" to 1 meg
|> make the video even faster?   
|> 
|> 
|> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
|>    Lee Bollard                     unix:  bollard@hpspkla.spk.hp.com  
|>    Hewlett-Packard               HPDesk:  Lee BOLLARD / HP1000/53     
|>    Spokane Division          Compuserve:  72105,423                   
|>    (509)921-4608         * Opinions are my own, not my employer's *   
|> -----------------------------------------------------------------------

I have just upgraded my machine at work and the one at home from the old
ATI VGA Wonder to the new Wonder+ 1MB versions. The Wonder+ is a faster
card then the older (original model, not the Wonder+ 512k version). The
speed improvement is realized when the full 1MB of memory is installed.
The cost of upgrading memory from 256k to 1MB cost me about $48 Cnd funds.
The new Wonder is an excellent card. It has refresh rates of 60, 70, 72Hz.
The new mouse included is 3-button and has 400 dpi rezolution. When the
full meg of memory is installed but not all used ei. 800x600x256, the
remainder of the memory is used for video buffering functions. 

If you have any other questions email me.

P.S. - ATI will soon be announcing the new ATI Wonder XL with
       a similar chip set to Edsun.

Frank Pikelner
Technical Assistant 
York University, Toronto, Canada
frank@cs.yorku.ca