First post, by retro games 100
- Rank
- l33t
Introduction
I am testing an ATi Mach32 VLB VGA card. I don't know what model it is. Is it a Graphics Ultra Pro model? When I run the Windows 95 "add hardware wizard", it detects an "ATi Graphics Ultra Pro", so I guess it must be one of these. I have no strong reason to doubt Windows 95's ability to accurately detect hardware.
Also, how can I find out what RAM it uses - is it DRAM or VRAM? I'm guessing it's VRAM. It's got 1MB of RAM onboard, and looks like its upgradeable to 2MB. I would like to upgrade it - please see question 1 below. The information written on the card's white BIOS sticker says:
VLB MACH32
113-19500-104
1) Link to the DOS and Windows 3 installation driver diskette 1 of 2, version 2.6-3. Filename is m1.7z
2) Link to the DOS and Windows 3 installation driver diskette 2 of 2, version 2.6-3. Filename is m2.7z
3) Link to the DOS and Windows 3 installation driver diskette 1 of 2, version 2.6-3. Filename is m1.img. (Rawrite format)
4) Link to the DOS and Windows 3 installation driver diskette 2 of 2, version 2.6-3. Filename is m2.img. (Rawrite format)
5) Link to Rawrite for Windows.
6) Link to 7-Zip.
Notes
1) The label on the original floppy diskette says: mach32 ISA/EISA/MCA/VLB/PCI, part no. 148-18931-260. The software on it is version 2.6-3, and I think it's the latest. I can see lots of references on DriverGuide to version 2.6. I can't see any references on the net to anything later. I understand that the Windows 95 CD-ROM has the latest driver built in to it. However, I am not aware of any driver package from ATi that adds anything more, such as W95 utilites/software etc. This software includes DOS utilities and a Windows 3 driver. The Windows 3 driver also includes an uninstaller.
2) Compressed disk contents 2 of 2. Original diskettes are high density.
3) The file format is "rawrite". This is a 100% copy/clone of the original floppy diskettes. You'll need the Windows (9x and also "NT") rawrite program, to use this rawrite format. It's here.
4) Disk image 2 of 2.
5) + 6) Just in case you need them.
Questions
1) I would like to upgrade this VGA card's RAM. Does anyone know what search text I need to type in to ebay, to find it? I found an ebay advert here, but the chips are too expensive, as I need 8 of them! Thanks a lot for any advice! 😀 The factory soldered RAM chips currently onboard this card say:
OKI Japan
M514252A-80Z
2) What goes in to that brown empty socket on this card? I think it's for something called a RAMDAC, but what does that mean? Does it allow you to have a greater colour depth in Windows?
The card
Using Windows 3
I can't get my LCD to display @ 1280x1024, without it going in to a non LCD friendly refresh rate, and consequently displaying a blank screen.
Using Windows 95
The info says that the chip type is Mach32_Rev3, and the DAC type is ATI68830. Presumably, if you put a RAMDAC chip in to the empty brown socket, the DAC type would be different - and better. In what way?