Any difference between ELSA 3000 "M" and "L" in S3D games and early D3D \ VOGONS

Any difference between ELSA 3000 "M" and "L" in S3D games and early D3D

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First post, by BigDaddyM

Posted on 2016-06-08, 20:05

BigDaddyM Offline

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Hey, i want to buy a VirgeVX and i have two options:
1. ELSA Winner 3000M - 2MB EDO +2MB VRAM
2. ELSA Winner 3000L - 2MB EDO +4MB VRAM

My question is: Will there be any benefit from having extra 2MB of VRAM in S3D and early D3D games? Is it true that VRAM is only used in special aplications and not in games?

Reply 1 of 6, by bjt

Posted on 2016-06-08, 20:52

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Check this out

http://vintage3d.org/virge.php

Reply 2 of 6, by BigDaddyM

Posted on 2016-06-09, 08:06

BigDaddyM Offline

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But for tests Putas uses Diamond card which has 4MB VRAM only and i wonder of 2MB EDO (ELSA 3000L) will slow it down. Will it behave like 2, 4 or 6 MB card?

Reply 3 of 6, by Putas

Posted on 2016-06-09, 09:42

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I think it is safe to assume the memory is not wasted, not even in 3d rendering. VRAM will be used for frame buffer data and EDO can hold the rest. That means you will have performance advantage of VRAM, but also maximum resolution of 2 or 4 MB card.
Since early s3d games were made with 2 MB cards in mind, you should be safe.

Reply 4 of 6, by Tertz

Posted on 2016-06-09, 10:27

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BigDaddyM wrote:
My question is: Will there be any benefit from having extra 2MB of VRAM in S3D and early D3D games?

To use 1024x768x32bit you need 4 Mb. For D3D it's better to use something else. Virge was office chip with "some 3D", not for games. For fast 2D it's not bad.

DOSBox CPU Benchmark
Yamaha YMF7x4 Guide

Reply 5 of 6, by dr.zeissler

Posted on 2016-06-09, 12:14

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Interesting! Thx! I am currently checking out, if one of these S3-Cards will be my Main-Card for a retro-project.
I'll take some pics of the cards I own...

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines

Reply 6 of 6, by BigDaddyM

Posted on 2016-06-09, 13:52

BigDaddyM Offline

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So in 6MB VirgeVX i will have 2MB EDO for textures?

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