As one of the many people with an EGA card contemplating the move to VGA graphics, I had many unanswered questions, even after seeing some reviews of VGA cards. As the owner of an original NEC Multisync monitor, I had other considerations to worry about. Because the Multisync was developed before IBM released the VGA "standard", I had heard of various annoying problems that Multisync owners could look forward to when using VGA cards. Further clouding the issues were various performance and compatibility claims, manufacturer's "compatibility" guarantees, and rumors that some of the new VGA cards had sacrificed EGA register level compatibility to achieve VGA register level compatibility. So, I decided to conduct my own evaluations with several VGA cards and report the results to the general public. At this point, I'd like to stress that I am certainly not an expert with VGA or other video cards. This is meant to be a review *by* an average user and *for* an average user. For detailed technical questions, I suggest that you contact the appropriate manufacturer's technical support department. Because I don't have complete laboratories full of testing equipment like major magazines do, I decided to focus this evaluation on several major points that I could test: 1) How well does each card seem to work with MY original Multisync monitor? (Note that your results could be different!) 2) How fast and compatible are these cards in my system, with my software? 3) How compatible are they with the older standards (CGA, EGA)? Note that all software and hardware was tested on a 16- mhz computer using a Mylex 386 motherboard with 64K of cache memory, DOS 3.3, and a NEC Multisync monitor. Please don't confuse my use of the word "Multisync" with multiscanning monitors in general, or later monitors in NEC's Multisync line. Throughout this document, I am referring only to the original NEC Multisync monitor. ---------- VGA card review p. 2 ---------- ----------------------------------------------------------- An Editorial: We live in a world full of benchmarks, few of which agree with each other. Lately, a lot of magazines have been criticizing each other's benchmarks. My policy is to take all benchmarks with a grain of salt. If you want to get anything from the benchmarks, I suggest that you consider the reports collectively. ----------------------------------------------------------- Included in this archive are reviews of Video Seven's Fastwrite VGA and Vega VGA card. Benchmark tests of my current EGA card, NSI's SMART EGA, are included for comparison purposes only. At the time of it's release, the SMART EGA was rated a little better than average for performance, so it can be used as an approximate guide to performance for other EGA cards (that were released about 2- 3 years ago). In addition, ATI has agreed to provide me with a demonstration VGA WONDER card in approximately one month. Shortly afterwards, I'll update this archive to include the review of the VGA WONDER card. Look for the update around the end of December! If you have comments or questions, you can contact me at: Illinois State University's Applied Computer Science BBS (309) 438-7370 (Data) 300/1200/2400 bps 24 hours/day, 7 days/week or Exec-PC (414) 964-5160 (data) 300/1200/2400 bps 24 hours/day, 7 days/week or Software Society BBS (201) 729-7410 (data) 300/1200/2400/9600 bps 24 hours a day, 7 days/week Rob Greenberg ---------- VGA card review p. 3 ---------- Video 7 Fastwrite VGA Summary: A full length card, form-factor compatible with the IBM PS/2 Display Adapter. This is one of the few VGA cards that comes with a feature connector that is physically and electrically compatible with the IBM feature connector, so in theory, it will work with products that use the IBM VGA feature connector. Features: Standard 256K DRAM offers up to 800x600 16-color, 720x540 16-color, and 640x400 256-color modes. Adding an optional 256K DRAM offers a 640x480 256-color mode and a 1024x768 with 2 or 4 colors (non-interlaced). The upgrade costs $159 and is available directly from Video Seven. The card includes drivers for Windows, Windows/386, AutoCAD and AutoShade, GEM, and Ventura. 132x43 text drivers are also included for Lotus 1-2-3, Symphony, WordPerfect and WordStar users. Note that a variable frequency monitor is required for the extended graphics modes (800x600 16-color, 720x540 16-color, etc). While the Fastwrite VGA will support 1024x768 graphics, this is well beyond the limits of the original Multisync monitor. This is a 16-bit card, but will work with 8-bit slots. The list price is $599, but I have seen this card advertised for as low as $330 in major magazines. Benchmarks: PC Magazine Laboratory Benchmark Series Bench24 Version 1.01: Video Display Speeds 1. Teletype to refresh whole screen: 0.44 2. Teletype with scrolling: 1.49 3. Blitz screen with REP STOSW: 2.91 ---------------------------------------------- Windows Performance ALL done in a 60X20 window Lines 100 operations .2 seconds 2.2 msec each Rectangles 100 operations .4 seconds 4.4 msec each Ellipses 100 operations 3.8 seconds 38.5 msec each Bit Blt 100 operations .3 seconds 2.7 msec each StretchBlt 100 operations 14.0 seconds 139.5 msec each Scroll 534 operations 2.4 seconds 4.5 msec each Fill 512 operations 6.0 seconds 11.7 msec each ---------- VGA card review p. 4 ---------- ---------------------------------------------- Vidspeed 1.3 reports: Vidspeed * 1 g j c a l 6112.65 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in Normal Ram 1387.53 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in 70.09Hz 80x25 (text) 1933.63 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in 70.09Hz 640x350x16 (EGA) 822.48 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in 70.09Hz 320x200x16 (EGA) 1805.37 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in 70.09Hz 640x200x2 (CGA) 822.94 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in 70.09Hz 320x200x4 (CGA) 1805.99 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in 70.09Hz 320x200x256 (VGA/MCGA) ----------------------------------------------- Award Software's SST benchmark program reports 13771 CPS. ----------------------------------------------- In addition, photocopies of several benchmark tests were included with the literature that I received from Video Seven. Because I don't have access to this software, I was not able to verify their results. Video Seven's benchmarks show: Power Meter Performance: The Fastwrite shows a performance index of approximately 1750 in mode 3, and around 1950 in mode 12. In contrast, the VRAM VGA shows up at around 1750 in mode 3 and 2200 in mode 12. The VEGA VGA shows up at around 600 (in mode 3) and 800 in mode 12. ATPERF - PC Tech Journal Benchmark: The Fastwrite shows a performance of around 2.4 in mode 12. The VRAM also shows a performance of around 2.4. The VEGA VGA shows a performance of around 1.2. The Fastwrite shows a performance of around 1.0 in mode 3 (text). The VRAM is slightly higher at around 1.05, and the VEGA at around .78. PC MAG BENCHMARK (Performance in Microsoft Windows 2.03): The Fastwrite shows around a 36% percentage improvement over the IBM PS/2 Display Adapter. The VRAM VGA shows around a 44% improvement, while the the VEGA VGA shows around a 13% improvement. ---------- VGA card review p. 5 ---------- Comments: I found the photocopies of the benchmarks very interesting. In all of the tests except the Windows test, there was very little difference between the performance of the VRAM and Fastwrite VGA cards. Also, all of the tests showed a very significant difference in speed between the VEGA VGA and Fastwrite VGA. That's interesting, because in my opinion, the 'feel' of the speed of the cards was roughly similar. I don't think I could have identified which card was in the computer (by speed alone) if I hadn't known. The only exception was when moving a full screen of EGA graphics in PC PAINT. The Fastwrite was noticeably faster and smoother than the VEGA VGA. Many of the supported graphics modes are beyond IBM's VGA standard. While the 256 color, 640x400 and 640x480 modes are quite impressive, unfortunately the card does not support a 256 color mode of 800x600 (like some competing products). The 1024x768 mode was too high a resolution for my Multisync to handle, so I couldn't test that mode. The text video display speed on my 80386 computer was screamingly fast -- you have to see it to believe it. When I ran Golden Bow Software's VSCREEN utility (that comes with VCACHE), the text display speed increased by another 30-40%. Interestingly enough, I didn't notice as much of an improvement in other modes. In order to use this card, I had to buy an adapter from NEC for $20 or $25 to run my Multisync in it's analog mode. As configured from the factory, the Adaptec 2372 RLL disk controller and the Fastwrite VGA card clash! They both try using the same block of memory. To resolve the problem, I had to move a jumper on the Adaptec controller to move it's BIOS higher in memory. This card uses about 14K of RAM for part of it's BIOS. This should help to speed execution as it's faster for the computer to be reading from RAM than ROM, but has the unfortunate side effect of permanently eating 14K of your precious RAM. There were a few 'glitches' with my Multisync monitor. Every once in a great while when changing graphic modes, the vertical hold would 'slip' and have to be manually readjusted. By carefully 'fine tuning', I managed to almost eliminate this problem. Unfortunately, images in the 640x480 modes appear to 'grow' considerably and it is necessary to adjust the vertical size and vertical position to get them to fit on the screen properly. In contrast, images in the 640x350 modes appear somewhat 'squashed' and once again, if you want the image to fill the screen, you must play around with the vertical size adjustment on the Multisync. ---------- VGA card review p. 6 ---------- The Fastwrite is VGA register level compatible, but IS ONLY BIOS COMPATIBLE at the EGA level. According to Video Seven, some of the EGA registers are not supported. This means that you might find a few EGA applications that won't run properly on this card. Don't let the above statement scare you too much. After throwing a bunch of EGA-specific programs and miscellaneous commercial and public domain games at this card, I encountered few EGA compatibility problems. The popular game Gunship didn't run properly, nor did a few of the public domain EGA demo programs that I tried. Reportedly, the Mindscape game Gauntlet won't run either, but I wasn't able to verify this myself. The Fastwrite VGA is by no means the only card that is BIOS compatible at the EGA level. Supposedly, IBM's PS/2 Display Adapter and many of the other VGA cards (including the Paradise offerings) share this problem. Another consideration is that (presumably) software companies are aware that they can no longer do fancy things with all of the EGA registers and have their products still work on all VGA cards. Hopefully, the companies are aware that the sales of EGA cards are falling while the sales of VGA cards are rising quickly, and realize that releasing EGA-specific software at this time wouldn't be a very smart move. In any case, Microprose realized this as they now have a free Gunship upgrade that they claim works fine on VGA boards. A related problem is the issue of whether these cards will support a vertical blanking interrupt. A vertical blanking interrupt is an interrupt that is generated while the electron gun is being 'pointed' from the bottom line of the screen up to the top line so that it may redraw the screen. Basically, this 4 millisecond delay while the electron gun is being repositioned is a very good time to do other things (such as make sounds or do flicker-free updates of the information on the screen). According to Video Seven, the board has a jumper used to enable the Fastwrite VGA to generate interrupts at Vertical Display End. In this configuration Fastwrite VGA is functionally equivalent to the PS/2 implementation of VGA. With this feature disabled, Fastwrite VGA is equivalent to the IBM PS/2 Display adapter (the IBM VGA board for the standard bus). A Video Seven technical support person told me that this will allow some programs like the older versions of Gunship to work correctly. Unfortunately, this may cause minor compatibility problems with software that is NOT expecting the vertical interrupt. The Fastwrite VGA card uses nonmaskable interrupts to emulate the hardware on CGA and Hercules cards. This emulation seemed to work well, but might cause some problems ---------- VGA card review p. 7 ---------- with some unusual software (such as the excellent Periscope debugging package). NMI is only used when emulating CGA and Hercules hardware, so Periscope and other NMI-picky software will run well in normal modes. Software bundled with the card includes drivers, a screen "timeout" option, emulation options, an ANSI.SYS replacement to work with standard and extended text modes, a directory list utility that automatically makes the most use of whatever text mode the computer is in, a clear screen utility that clears the screen in any mode, a utility to set various text modes, and a diagnostic program. The board is relatively easy to configure. It has 8 switches. Switches 1-3 define the monitor type. Switch 4 must always be off. Switch 5 controls the board's use of NMI. If it is on (the default), emulation is enabled. If it is off, no NMI will be used. Switch 6 allows 16-bit ROM access (default is on). Switch 7 allows 16-bit memory access (default is on). Switch 8 controls use of extension registers beyond the IBM standard. If this switch is on, the card will not access these registers (some operating environments are sensitive to this). It will also prevent any extended resolutions from being used. (Default is off). A few additional points: Video Seven offers a technical reference manual for programmers that costs $25. Toll free technical support is available, but is nearly impossible to reach (at this time). I've been told that their technical support is usually quite good. The Fastwrite VGA card has a 5 year warranty. Finally, here is the wording of Video Seven's compatibility guarantee: The Video Seven Fastwrite VGA compatibility guarantee: We guarantee that any VGA software that operates in an IBM PC/XT/AT with the IBM PS/2 Display Adapter will operate properly if the IBM PS/2 Display Adapter is replaced with a properly configured Video Seven FastWrite VGA in the same IBM PC. If it doesn't, we'll make it work or refund the price you paid. If you think you have a problem, call our Technical Support Department... and tell us what VGA software (including the version number) you're having trouble with, and we'll fix the problem within 30 days. If we can't, we'll authorize the return of your FastWrite VGA and send you a check by return mail. It's that easy! ---------- VGA card review p. 8 ---------- Video 7 VEGA VGA Summary: A short card compatible with IBM's VGA, EGA, CGA, MDA, and Hercules modes. The card includes 256K of DRAM. The feature connector is compatible with those found on the IBM EGA card. Features: 800 x 600 and 720 x 540 16-color modes. Includes analog and digital monitor connectors, software drivers for Windows/386, Windows, AutoCAD, AutoShade, Lotus 1-2-3 and Symphony, WordPerfect and WordStar. Note that the 800 x 600 and 720 x 540 16 color modes require a variable frequency display. This card supports 80 x 60 and 132 x 40 text. This is an 8 bit card. It lists for $499. I have seen prices as low as $265 in major magazines. Benchmarks: PC Magazine Laboratory Benchmark Series Bench24 Version 1.01: Video Display Speeds 1. Teletype to refresh whole screen: 0.55 2. Teletype with scrolling: 2.75 3. Blitz screen with REP STOSW: 5.00 ---------------------------------------------- Windows Performance ALL done in a 60X20 window Lines 100 operations .2 seconds 2.2 msec each Rectangles 100 operations .5 seconds 4.9 msec each Ellipses 100 operations 3.9 seconds 39.0 msec each Bit Blt 100 operations .3 seconds 2.8 msec each StretchBlt 100 operations 14.3 seconds 143.4 msec each Scroll 534 operations 2.5 seconds 4.6 msec each Fill 512 operations 8.5 seconds 16.6 msec each ---------------------------------------------- ---------- VGA card review p. 9 ---------- Vidspeed 1.3 reports: Vidspeed * 1 g j c a l 6112.65 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in Normal Ram 802.50 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in 70.09Hz 80x25 (text) 1009.15 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in 70.09Hz 640x350x16 (EGA) 638.00 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in 70.09Hz 320x200x16 (EGA) 967.81 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in 70.09Hz 640x200x2 (CGA) 637.32 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in 70.09Hz 320x200x4 (CGA) 829.52 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in 70.09Hz 320x200x256 (VGA/MCGA) ---------------------------------------------- Award Software's SST benchmark program reports 11652 CPS. ---------------------------------------------- For additional benchmarks and comments, see the comparison in the benchmark section of the Fastwrite VGA evaluation (above). Comments: Note that this card does not have 640x400 or 640x480 256 color modes and lacks the Fastwrite's 1024x768 mode. The only 256 color mode supported is the VGA standard 320x200 mode. This card will work with analog or digital monitors, but will only display 256 color pictures with an analog- capable monitor. Note that the feature connector is EGA compatible -- not VGA compatible, making it incompatible with possible future additions from IBM. Using my highly subjective sense of 'feel', the VEGA VGA card 'felt' almost as fast as the Fastwrite VGA card in many areas -- particularly with the speed of the text display. (See the benchmarks and comments section of the Fastwrite VGA evaluation). I suspect that much of the speed from these cards come from their optimized RAM BIOS. According to the benchmarks discussed in the Fastwrite evaluation, there is little difference in text display speed, but a major difference in display speed when large amounts of information must be moved to the screen (such as when scrolling an EGA picture in PC PAINT). Apparently the Vega's 8 bit bus makes a tremendous difference here, but makes little difference at other times. I encountered many more problems with rolling and other glitches on my Multisync monitor. Many more adjustments to the monitor's horizontal position knob were required. Several other graphics modes now appear too large (requiring adjustment) and/or offset to the right of the screen (also requiring adjustment). I had *far* fewer problems with the Fastwrite VGA. ---------- VGA card review p. 10 ---------- Compatibility is at the hardware level for CGA, Hercules, and EGA graphics. The card "autoswitches" without any external programs, but may require a special utility program that is included for a few "stubborn" programs. This is one of the few VGA cards that is hardware compatible with earlier standards. This card also uses 14K of RAM permanently to store part of it's BIOS for increased speed. This monitor was also easy to install. Switches 1-3 identify the monitor type, switch 4 allows for another display adapter to be co-resident, switch 5 controls the 'autoswitching', and switch 6 boots in EGA/VGA mode or CGA/MDA mode. Jumper options include a light pen connector, a jumper to allow the card to be installed in slot 8, and a jumper to tell the card the monitor type (Enhanced Color/Variable Frequency or Monochrome/Color Display). As with the Fastwrite VGA, telephone support is toll- free, and almost impossible to reach. The software included with this card is basically the same as the software included with the Fastwrite card. (See above). The VEGA VGA card has a 5 year warranty. Finally, here is the wording of Video Seven's compatibility guarantee: The VEGA VGA Compatibility Guarantee: Video Seven guarantees that the VEGA VGA will be compatible with software written for these modes: IBM VGA IBM MDA IBM EGA IBM CGA Hercules Graphics Adapter We guarantee that any software package that will operate in an IBM PC, PC/XT or PC/AT using the IBM MDA, CGA, EGA, VGA, or Hercules graphics card will operate correctly if that display adapter is replaced by the Video Seven VEGA VGA. If, for any reason, it doesn't -- we'll make it work or refund the purchase price. It couldn't be easier. Call our technical support department ... and ask for your Return Materials Authorization (RMA#). Tell us what software you may be having trouble with, including the version number. And let us try and fix the problem within 30 days. If we can't, send us the VEGA VGA board along with your sales receipt and assigned RMA# and we'll send you a check by return mail. We believe in our board. So can you, because compatibility is guaranteed. Absolutely! ---------- VGA card review p. 11 ---------- NSI SmartEGA (included for comparison purposes) Benchmarks: PC Magazine Laboratory Benchmark Series Bench24 Version 1.01: Video Display Speeds 1. Teletype to refresh whole screen: 10.05 2. Teletype with scrolling: 12.79 3. Blitz screen with REP STOSW: 6.16 ---------------------------------------------- Windows Performance ALL done in a 60X20 window Lines 100 operations .2 seconds 2.2 msec each Rectangles 100 operations .7 seconds 6.6 msec each Ellipses 100 operations 3.8 seconds 37.9 msec each Bit Blt 100 operations .3 seconds 2.7 msec each StretchBlt 100 operations 15.5 seconds 154.9 msec each Scroll 537 operations 2.6 seconds 4.8 msec each Fill 512 operations 12.5 seconds 24.5 msec each ---------------------------------------------- Vidspeed 1.3 reports: Vidspeed * 1 g j c a 6112.65 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in Normal Ram 653.47 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in 59.87Hz 80x25 (text) 653.95 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in 59.87Hz 640x350x16 (EGA) 357.16 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in 60.15Hz 320x200x16 (EGA) 573.88 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in 60.15Hz 640x200x2 (CGA) 357.21 bytes per 1/1000th of a second in 60.15Hz 320x200x4 (CGA) ---------------------------------------------- Award Software's SST benchmark program reports 1655 CPS. ---------------------------------------------- ---------- VGA card review p. 12 ---------- Quick Summary Speed: There seem to be relatively small differences in the speed of the BIOS tty-write routines that handle the display of text output -- at least between the VGA cards. There is a stunning difference in the speed of the tty-write routines between my EGA card and the VGA cards. This seems to be a problem that may be cured in software. To test this idea, I temporarily ran my EGA card with a Video Seven RAM BIOS and noticed that the tty-write speed jumped to the same level as that of the VGA cards. Of course, that also caused lots of compatibility problems... As far as raw transfer speed of data goes, the 16 bit cards easily outperform the 8 bit cards. Unfortunately, the only time that this will be a benefit is in very graphic intensive situations where large amounts of data have to be sent to the graphics card. One such situation is when scrolling a screen of EGA graphics in PC PAINT. In other situations, such as displaying a directory in DOS, the 16 bit bus seems to do little good. Based on my observations, the average user will see most of their benefit from the very fast, optimized BIOS that comes with these VGA cards. Multisync Compatibility: The Fastwrite VGA works much better than the VEGA VGA. The Fastwrite occasionaly required a few manual adjustments after software switched graphics modes, but the VEGA required adjustments much more often. Software Compatibility: The Fastwrite VGA is not register level compatible at the CGA and EGA level. That could be of importance to regular computer game players, as a few of the EGA and CGA games will not function on the Fastwrite VGA card. However, the vast majority of games should run perfectly. The Vega VGA is register level compatible at the CGA, EGA, and VGA level, so compatibility should not be a problem. Video Seven in general: The company was a delight to deal with. Customer service, sales people, and tech support people were friendly and knowledgeable. My only criticism is that the technical support people were almost impossible to reach. Having dealt with Paradise in the past, dealing with Video Seven was wonderful. ---------- VGA card review p. 13 ---------- VGA cards in general: If: -- You have a choice between these 2 cards and the Paradise VGA Plus card, and -- If you have an AT or 386 computer, and -- unless you absolutely require complete register level compatibility, get the Fastwrite VGA card. It's faster, only costs about $75 more, offers gorgeous 640x400 and 640x480 high resolution modes in 256 colors, and of the cards that I have tested, works the best on my NEC Multisync monitor.