Different memory on STB's Blackmagic?
DG
That's a pretty bogus thing to say about a competitor's card. If you'll
remember back, part of the initial Voodoo2 shortage was due to the fact that
only the Silicon Magic memory was available and was tested to work with the
Voodoo2. Now that time has passed, companies have been able to source
different RAM, and just what is wrong with that? My Diamond Monster II
doesn't use Silicon Magic memory, but it's still rated at 100mhz, printed
right on each chip, and it works exactly as advertised.
If it was just a rumor he heard, then Mr. Sanchez shouldn't be perpetuating
it.
John wrote in message <6lvi84$1nm$1...@news.3dfx.com>...
>Just received an email from Danny Sanchez, product developer for Quantum3D,
>and he stated that he has heard that STB is using memory from a different
>manufacturer and that is has affected the performance of the board. Now,
>personally, I don't think Danny would make this up, and he did stress that
>this was only a rumor he had heard, so no flaming.
>
>Is the memory on the STB board from Silicon Magic? Can anyone confirm
this?
>
>John
>
>
John
Delta V
What the hell?! Even if he is right and STB is using different memory. That
does not mean the memory is flawed. If it's speed is compatible to the
Voodoo2 architecture than so what? Also, for him to tell you something based
upon rumor is unprofessional! If he's willing to put his money where his
mouth is I'd tell him this....... Let's compare an sli rig of STB's voodoo2
with the Quantum X24. If the STB is 10% or more lower in performance than I
will buy your X24, if it's less than 10% than you must give me a X24 for
free. If not, than shut the hell up with your damn rumors!
Donald :\
Mike Myers
On Sat, 13 Jun 1998 23:29:22 -0600, "DG"
<dav...@NOSPAMelp.rr.comNOSPAM> wrote:
>different RAM, and just what is wrong with that? My Diamond Monster II
>doesn't use Silicon Magic memory, but it's still rated at 100mhz, printed
>right on each chip, and it works exactly as advertised.
Good old Orchid are using Silicon Magic but it seems the TMU memory is
only 83Mhz, and the rest is 100Mhz..
If I had known this before I would have avoided the Orchid card.
No-one anywhere advertised this fact when the reviews of the card came
in.. bah..
Unless its just a UK market thing? but the card says its assembled in
the States..
Later
Mike
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Daron Myrick
Yeah, different memory could mean that the memory is faster and that it works better.
If not mistaken, didn't the STB Vooodoo2 card show up as slightly faster than the other cards, though the
same reference design?
John
Guys,
I appreciate your responses. However, I did hesistate last night in quoting
from Danny because what he stated was written in an email intended for one
person, me. I hate seeing the responses to this that have occurred,
particularly from Donald (delta v). I would like to stress that I don't
think Danny was attempting to be derogatory toward STB's board, but rather
just passing on a bit of information (which he himself stressed might not be
true) toward someone that he wanted to see happy with a V2 purchase, me.
Danny, to all appearances, seems like a great guy and is well respected in
the Quantum3D newsgroup.
John
Delta V
It was nothing against you John. Danny from Quantum has a vested interest in
your decision on where to buy your Voodoo2 from regardless of how nice he
appears to be. I've never met a salesman who wasn't nice. Also, did he tell
you where he got his information from? Was it confirmed? He may not have
been trying to be derogatory, but telling you a rumor which may influence
your decision, resulting in a loss sale to another company who may not have
been given the chance to dispute it is flat out wrong. Before he emailed you
perhaps he should have called STB on the horn to ask them about it
personally. Anyways, my 2 cents worth.
Donald :\
John
Thanks for writing back Donald. Unfortunately, at least in my case, Danny
was correct: I just went out today and bought an STB board and all its
memory modules read 90mhz instead of 100mhz. However, others in this
newsgroup say they have STB board's that all read 100mhz. I've emailed STB
about this and hope for a response back soon.
Peace,
John
Mike Stanley
John <mjo...@erinet.com> wrote:
: Thanks for writing back Donald. Unfortunately, at least in my case, Danny
I bought 2 STB's today and they both have 100mhz chips.
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Delta V
But you also stated that Danny said the slower memory resluted in lower
performance on the STB which is not true. All Voodoo2 boards are set to run
at a default speed of 90mhz which means it will be identical to any other
reference design Voodoo2 regardless if they have 100mhz memory on board. The
only chance it would be slower is if you could not overclock it beyond 90mhz
like the other Voodoo2 boards. In that case the performance difference would
still be negligible. Also, even though your board's memory says 90mhz that
doesn't mean it can't go faster. It's just guaranteed to operate at that
frequency. It may be able to handle a clock setting of 95 easily so I
wouldn't lose any sleep over it.
Bottom line: Danny may be right on some boards having slower memory, but
definetely wrong on the board being a slower performer when compared to
other reference designed Voodoo2s. I still say someone should compare an STB
sli rig to Quantum's X24 just for laughs.
Donald :)
Daron Myrick
He's talking about bus speed, not memory speed.
90Mhz on this V2 chipset but 100mhz memory speed.
Also, EDO shouldn't even be allowed to be rated in Mhz since they operate in ns
which is the inverse of a square train frequency.
Mhz indicates that EDO is syncronous in its output stage which is not true.
Only SDRAM, SGRAM, WRAM and VRAM is truly syncronous due to their outputs being
shift registered, to release data syncronously on a clock edge which no form of EDO does.
Dennis John Uptegraft
Mike Stanley <c...@cdc.net> wrote:
>John <mjo...@erinet.com> wrote:
>: Thanks for writing back Donald. Unfortunately, at least in my case, Danny
>: was correct: I just went out today and bought an STB board and all its
>: memory modules read 90mhz instead of 100mhz. However, others in this
>: newsgroup say they have STB board's that all read 100mhz. I've emailed STB
>: about this and hope for a response back soon.
>
>I bought 2 STB's today and they both have 100mhz chips.
>
I just picked up one of the BlackMagic boards today form CompUSA. My
Chips are all 90MZ. I called STB, and the rep. told me at first, that
STB only made boards with 90mz chips, and that the boards with 100mz.
chips might be from Diamond, or some other company. I told him the
posters replying to this thread were pretty clear that some of them
had STB boards with 100 mz. chips. He took my e-mail address, and
said he would get back to me. He also said that there would be no
more than a 5% difference in performance between 90 and 100mz memory,
and that the user would not be able to see the difference. Does
anyone know if this is true or not. If I do get an e-mail back from
them, I will post the information. If there truly is no noticable
difference, I will keep the card, since CompUSA is offering a $50
immediate rebate, coupled with a $50 mail in rebate, making the card
only $199.
Mark Anderson
I also bought a STB V2 board, and the memory said 90 mhz, so after reading
all your posts, I went and called the STB tech support, the guy said that there
using
both 90 and 100, and is a different brand then Silicon Magic. He said that
there
is not enough of the Silicon Magic memory available. He also said that in his
board,
he has the 90 in it. Performance wise there about the same.
Mark
John wrote:
> Thanks for writing back Donald. Unfortunately, at least in my case, Danny
> was correct: I just went out today and bought an STB board and all its
> memory modules read 90mhz instead of 100mhz. However, others in this
> newsgroup say they have STB board's that all read 100mhz. I've emailed STB
> about this and hope for a response back soon.
>
> Peace,
> John