Best video card for an X5000?
  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12176 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    > If the OS does not support the graphic card in the primary slot
    > (The PCIex16 slot) then you will not get a display. Also It appears
    > that currently both MorphOS and AmigaOS 4.1 do not support multiple
    > Radeon cards on the X5000. So to run MorphOS on the X5000 at present
    > you will have to remove your Radeon HD Southern Island card.

    At AmiWest it was claimed (and reaffirmed here on MorphZone) that MorphOS can use a Radeon 9200 in a PCI slot of the X5000 without removing the unsupported Radeon HD Southern Islands card from the primary PCIe slot. What's your opinion of this?
  • »25.10.18 - 23:18
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  • Order of the Butterfly
    Order of the Butterfly
    Spectre660
    Posts: 275 from 2015/6/30
    If anyone gets it to work it would be nice if they would share their configuration and method. Also U-boot version.
    If there is a U-Boot variable to switch the initial video output slot/device then yes .

    The only way I could get my X5000 to boot MorphOS with a Radeon HD Southern Islands card in the primary PCIe slot was by using the virtual monitor driver . For some reason I could not get the VNC properly configured to work though . I know that it booted because I could hear the MorphOS boot jingle.
  • »26.10.18 - 08:53
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  • Caterpillar
    Caterpillar
    outrun1978
    Posts: 28 from 2018/7/8
    I agree, if anyone can get this to work and share the results it would be very much appreciate as have a spare PCI Radeon 9200 lying around but am not able to get this to display in U-boot.

    Currently gone back to using my Radeon HD7750 and AmigaOS 4 full time with the new RadeonHD 3.6 driver. The X1650 I was using to allow me to use MorphOS on the X5000 is simply tad too limited for OS4 tasks.
  • »26.10.18 - 11:31
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  • Jim
  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    Quote:

    Andreas_Wolf wrote:
    > If the OS does not support the graphic card in the primary slot
    > (The PCIex16 slot) then you will not get a display. Also It appears
    > that currently both MorphOS and AmigaOS 4.1 do not support multiple
    > Radeon cards on the X5000. So to run MorphOS on the X5000 at present
    > you will have to remove your Radeon HD Southern Island card.

    At AmiWest it was claimed (and reaffirmed here on MorphZone) that MorphOS can use a Radeon 9200 in a PCI slot of the X5000 without removing the unsupported Radeon HD Southern Islands card from the primary PCIe slot. What's your opinion of this?


    It's a matter of which card is scanned first.
    It's not that you can't have two Radeon cards installed, BUT, if an unsupported Radeon card is detected first, then the OS is going to fail.

    The Radeon 9200 solution just might work. And it would give you W3D support.
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »26.10.18 - 17:21
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  • Paladin of the Pegasos
    Paladin of the Pegasos
    NewSense
    Posts: 1513 from 2012/11/10
    From: Manchester, UK/GB
    I own a PowerMac G5 that originally was fitted with a nVidia GeForce 5500 AGP 64MB GFX card, but as this is not compatible with MorphOS I needed a GFX card that was. So I acquired a Radeon 9200 128MB PCI card and fitted that in the next lower (PCI) slot in the G5 board.

    I had to connect the video monitor to the connector on the Radeon PCI slot to use the card, but MorphOS was viewable on it, even though I seem to remember the nVidia card was still sitting in the AGP slot. It's a while ago, but that's the basics of how I used a Radeon 9200 PCI card in my PowerMac G5, though I've since located an Apple/Mac based Radeon 9600 128MB AGP card so the 9200 is no longer required for the moment for that purpose.

    My use of the Radeon 9200 was extremely brief, it was more to test the PowerMac G5 hardware itsef, as it had a faulty CPU when I got it, and I had to replace it, so that required re-installation via Mac diagnostic software to get the fans to run at an acceptably quiet/slower speed, instead of on full speed all the time - requiring calibration.

    So, a Radeon 9200 PCI card is useable with a PowerMac G5, and I believe it is also OK with a G4 PowerMac, but other hardware I am unsure if there are PCI slots compatible in other hardware with that kind of card.
    MacMini 1.5GHz,64MB VRAM, PowerBooks A1138/9 (Model 5,8/9),PowerMac G5 2.3GHz(DP), iMac A1145 2.1GHz 20", all with MorphOS v3.18+,Airport,Bluetooth,A1016 Keyboard,T-RB22 Mouse,DVD-RW-DL,MiniMax,Firewire/USB2 & MacOSX 10.4/5
  • »27.10.18 - 00:29
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12176 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    > I am unsure if there are PCI slots compatible in other hardware with that kind of card.

    The PCI slots of the X5000/Cyrus are compatible, that's not the problem. The issue is probably with the board firmware or its configuration/settings.
  • »27.10.18 - 08:30
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  • Order of the Butterfly
    Order of the Butterfly
    Spectre660
    Posts: 275 from 2015/6/30
    Probably a U-Boot variable to specify the pcie16 ,pciex1 or pci slot to initialize would be required. The default is the pciex16 and it does not bother with the other slots even when there is no card in the pciex16 slot.

    The Sam460ex has a variable to select onboard graphics or pcie/pci.
    Never tried to boot with both a pciex16 and pci card installed at the same time though but it handles a single Radeon configuration as it was meant to.

    Quote:

    Andreas_Wolf wrote:
    > I am unsure if there are PCI slots compatible in other hardware with that kind of card.

    The PCI slots of the X5000/Cyrus are compatible, that's not the problem. The issue is probably with the board firmware or its configuration/settings.
  • »27.10.18 - 12:58
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  • Jim
  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    Quote:

    Spectre660 wrote:
    Probably a U-Boot variable to specify the pcie16 ,pciex1 or pci slot to initialize would be required. The default is the pciex16 and it does not bother with the other slots even when there is no card in the pciex16 slot.

    The Sam460ex has a variable to select onboard graphics or pcie/pci.
    Never tried to boot with both a pciex16 and pci card installed at the same time though but it handles a single Radeon configuration as it was meant to.

    Quote:

    Andreas_Wolf wrote:
    > I am unsure if there are PCI slots compatible in other hardware with that kind of card.

    The PCI slots of the X5000/Cyrus are compatible, that's not the problem. The issue is probably with the board firmware or its configuration/settings.





    That is a possibility. And isn't PCI addressed via a bridge chip? That might complicate accessing and detecting PCI cards.

    Further, performance of PCI linked gpus is really limited by the slow bus transfers.

    So, I think it's best to use what PCI-E cards we can, wait for some further development, and just deal with it.

    Personally, since 3D isn't as important as overlay support, I am thinking a Radeon HD 4770 would be a good match for MorphOS on the X5000.
    And Mark will no doubt enhance his current Radeon driver to provide 3D support to cards without it eventually.

    He has GCN gen 1 and 2 cards on hand.

    A driver for something like the 7750 ought to be doable.

    Still, since most of our base still uses AGP based systems, the R500's like the X1950Pro still make sense for many of us.

    I'm thinking of taping off pins 3 and 11 on one and throwing it in a G4 for the pure perverse satisfaction of it.

    I'd like to see someone install an X1950XTX in an X5000 and bench it under MorphOS.
    I think Frank once mentioned that he had one, so maybe this has already been done.

    However, like all cards with memory above 128MB (and the XTX has, I believe, 512MB of GDDR4), the extra memory lays unused.

    So, are 1, 2, or 4GB cards going to provide much beyond faster gpus and memory?

    [ Edited by Jim 27.10.2018 - 17:55 ]
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »27.10.18 - 21:42
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12176 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    > isn't PCI addressed via a bridge chip?

    Yes, behind two bridge chips (PCIe-PCIe, PCIe-PCI) actually.

    > That might complicate accessing and detecting PCI cards.

    Indeed.

    > I think it's best to use what PCI-E cards we can, wait
    > for some further development, and just deal with it.

    Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be a good option for OS4 users who also want to run MorphOS.

    > like all cards with memory above 128MB [...], the extra memory lays unused.

    Above 256 MiB.

    https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?forum=11&topic_id=12462&start=51
    https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?forum=11&topic_id=12462&start=61

    > are 1, 2, or 4GB cards going to provide much beyond faster gpus and memory?

    They are providing the possibility to use one and the same graphics card for OS4 in 3D and for MorphOS at least in 2D :-)
  • »29.10.18 - 22:10
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  • Order of the Butterfly
    Order of the Butterfly
    Spectre660
    Posts: 275 from 2015/6/30
    The X5000 U-boot recognizes all pcie and pci cards installed at boot.


    Quote:

    Andreas_Wolf wrote:
    > isn't PCI addressed via a bridge chip?

    Yes, behind two bridge chips (PCIe-PCIe, PCIe-PCI) actually.

    > That might complicate accessing and detecting PCI cards.

    Indeed.

    > I think it's best to use what PCI-E cards we can, wait
    > for some further development, and just deal with it.

    Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be a good option for OS4 users who also want to run MorphOS.

    > like all cards with memory above 128MB [...], the extra memory lays unused.

    Above 256 MiB.

    https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?forum=11&topic_id=12462&start=51
    https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?forum=11&topic_id=12462&start=61

    > are 1, 2, or 4GB cards going to provide much beyond faster gpus and memory?

    They are providing the possibility to use one and the same graphics card for OS4 in 3D and for MorphOS at least in 2D :-)




    [ Edited by Spectre660 30.10.2018 - 08:10 ]
  • »30.10.18 - 12:10
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  • Paladin of the Pegasos
    Paladin of the Pegasos
    Acill
    Posts: 1926 from 2003/10/19
    From: Port Hueneme, Ca.
    I've tried a Sapphire X1550 512MB PCIe card in my X5000 and it seems it cant even see it at power on. This card was listed as supported as well. Its a shame. I have heard it supports 3D under MorphOS.
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  • »02.11.18 - 12:20
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  • Caterpillar
    Caterpillar
    outrun1978
    Posts: 28 from 2018/7/8
    @Acill

    The X1550 I had installed on my X5000 was a Sapphire 256MB model with DDR2 ram so am perhaps there is a subtle difference here with the one you have tried..

    The X1550 series does appear to be a little hit and miss as when I was doing a little bit of research I came across the following which highlights that for some X1550 cards the U-boot May not appear.

    http://hdrlab.org.nz/projects/amiga-os-4-projects/radeonhd-driver/radeonhd-driver-hardware-compatibility/

    I’d try to find a X1650 instead as the performance for 3D in MorphOS was much better, but the one I was using does not output via DVI in MorphOS.

    @thread

    Any idea how close the development team are to being able to support the 7750 series cards?
  • »02.11.18 - 15:52
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