VOGONS

Search

Common searches

Buy a Tseng ET4000AX or a Cirrus Logic GD 5422?

Topic actions

First post, by egbertjan

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

I plan to buy a new graphics card for my 4086 66dx2 which only has isa on it. I came across these 2 cards for about the same price with 1 mb of memory

one is a Tseng ET4000AX the other is a Cirrus Logic GD 5422 which of these two cards is the fastest in dos games and works best in windows 3.11? Does the Cirrus Logic GD 5422 also have an integrated ramdac? I read that the Tseng ET4000AX doesn't and does that matter much to the performance?

Reply 1 of 5, by debs3759

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Both have a 32-bit memory bus.
Neither has an integrated RAMDAC.
The GD5422 has a reference clock speed of 80 MHz, compared to only 65MHz on the ET4000.

So, on paper the GD5422 is about 23% faster.

See my graphics card database at www.gpuzoo.com
Constantly being worked on. Feel free to message me with any corrections or details of cards you would like me to research and add.

Reply 2 of 5, by Grzyb

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
debs3759 wrote on 2020-10-26, 00:10:

Neither has an integrated RAMDAC.

Wrong.
All Cirrus 54xx chips have integrated RAMDAC.

GD5422 is newer than ET4000AX, so it may be faster, but it also depends on video memory speed - with the memory fast enough, both chipsets hit the ISA limit.

The RAMDAC in GD5422 supports 24-bpp.
ET4000AX uses discrete RAMDAC - some cards come with an 8-bpp one, some with 15/16-bpp, some with 24-bpp.

ET4000AX cards, if equipped with a "Sync ROM" a.k.a. "Translation ROM", provide register-level CGA and Hercules compatibility modes.
GD5422 lacks such modes.

Nie tylko, jak widzicie, w tym trudność, że nie zdołacie wejść na moją górę, lecz i w tym, że ja do was cały zejść nie mogę, gdyż schodząc, gubię po drodze to, co miałem donieść.

Reply 3 of 5, by debs3759

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Grzyb wrote on 2020-10-26, 00:43:
debs3759 wrote on 2020-10-26, 00:10:

Neither has an integrated RAMDAC.

Wrong.
All Cirrus 54xx chips have integrated RAMDAC.

I've not seen any info on an integrated RAMDAC prior to the GD5462 . Do you know any links with details, so I can add the info to a future update of gpuzoo.com?

See my graphics card database at www.gpuzoo.com
Constantly being worked on. Feel free to message me with any corrections or details of cards you would like me to research and add.

Reply 4 of 5, by Grzyb

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
debs3759 wrote on 2020-10-26, 01:20:

I've not seen any info on an integrated RAMDAC prior to the GD5462 . Do you know any links with details, so I can add the info to a future update of gpuzoo.com?

Acumos AVGA1 (later rebranded to Cirrus 5401) - http://vgamuseum.info/index.php/companies/ite … 01-acumos-avga1 -> Datasheet
Acumos AVGA2 (later rebranded to Cirrus 5402) - http://vgamuseum.info/index.php/companies/ite … 02-acumos-avga2 -> Datasheet
Cirrus 542x - https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_cirrusL … an1994_24841698

Nie tylko, jak widzicie, w tym trudność, że nie zdołacie wejść na moją górę, lecz i w tym, że ja do was cały zejść nie mogę, gdyż schodząc, gubię po drodze to, co miałem donieść.

Reply 5 of 5, by SSTV2

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

If I were in your place, I would replace that motherboard for a VLB one, at least and the reason for that is very simple - a forever bad performance in DOOM with no way of future improvement. Besides, those ISA cards are way overpriced.

Go to top of page Go to top of page
Back to General Old Hardware
Close window
Close window