Mac OS 9 Lives

Classic Mac OS Hardware => Video Cards, Monitors & Displays => Topic started by: Protools5LEGuy on March 20, 2020, 11:58:38 AM

Title: Radeon 9250 series 256Mb 128Bit
Post by: Protools5LEGuy on March 20, 2020, 11:58:38 AM
Just pick from trash an old Semprom that had it.

Tried to find an Image of the card on the net and I am unsure if it will work (once flashed) on PowerPC

My card is red and is not the same that appear on http://themacelite.wikidot.com/9250-trick.

It has no resistor on R229

I can find info and pictures of the 256Mb that are PCI, but nothing on AGP or if it is x4 or x2 doable/compatible

It also is different than Powercolor Ati Radeon 9250 R92U-LD3 AGP 256MB DDR.

I will post pictures.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radeon_R200_series#Radeon_9200 doesnt help either.

goodfidelity user also have one 9250 256 Mb working as 128 Mb, but I guess he got one of the 9250-trick page

http://themacelite.wikidot.com/wikidownloads2

Only mentions a reduced and a modified PowerPC ROMS for 128Mb.

2 Questions:

Is ANY game in OS9 able to have an edge on 256Mb vs 128Mb or 64Mb?

Would them (9250 128Mb) be a better performer than my GeForce 4MX 32Mb?

Title: Re: Radeon 9250 series 256Mb 128Bit
Post by: Protools5LEGuy on March 20, 2020, 01:00:35 PM
My card has the same heatsink as https://www.ebay.es/itm/ATI-Radeon-9250-R92U-LD3-DVI-VGA-S-Video-computer-pc-desktop-retrocomputer/264490134379?hash=item3d94d72b6b:g:PQIAAOSwT~9WjcDk but is full size and my port order is VGA, DVI and S-Video.

My card has a NTSC/PAL jumper.

Under the heatsink on mine says:

ATI
Mobility Radeon 9200
216PP4AVA12PH
KP705
0445SS
TAIWAN


A similar chip From AliExpress https://www.aliexpress.com/i/737081435.html
Title: Re: Radeon 9250 series 256Mb 128Bit
Post by: IIO on March 20, 2020, 10:52:34 PM

Is ANY game in OS9 able to have an edge on 256Mb vs 128Mb or 64Mb?


it might be more interesting for 2D; such games often use tons of VRAM and RAM and benefit from having more of both available.

some of the video apps you use on stage will eventually also benefit from it, i am not sure now which.
Title: Re: Radeon 9250 series 256Mb 128Bit
Post by: darthnVader on March 23, 2020, 03:00:50 AM
In tests I did years ago, Call of Duty was the first Mac game that showed any advantage of 256MB of VRAM vs 128MB. COD only supports 10.2.x+, so, sadly no OS 9 version.

Some OS 9 games may show a little benefit from 256MB if we are talking insanely high game resolutions, tho you'll likely be CPU/Memory and bus bandwidth bound.

OS9 didn't support FSAA, except with 3DFX hardware, and cranking up FSAA would be where we would expect to see the most gains from more VRAM, however, the R9200 GPU clock would also become a limiting factor.

So, the short answer is, no, you're not really going to see any real world benefit to 256MB of VRAM vs 128MB under OS 9, but it will look cool in the System Profiler. 8)
Title: Re: Radeon 9250 series 256Mb 128Bit
Post by: IIO on March 23, 2020, 08:29:32 AM
but it will look cool in the System Profiler. 8)

so everyone should get one.