On Thu, 23 Feb 2006 16:01:48 +0000
Steve <stek1961NO@SPAMmac.com> wrote:

> On 2006-02-22 15:12:17 +0000, Steve <stek1961NO@SPAMmac.com> said:
>
> > SB1K, one 750 proc, 1gb RAM, Expert3D (ie not lite).
> >
> > I find it not much faster than the U60 dual 360 I had before, bit
> > disappointed actually. Another proc might ramp it up but as it's
> > basically a desktop for me I don't think it will help that much.
> >
> > But the gfx are the real heartbreaker, the Expert is no better than
> > the Elite or the Creator I had before, PCI vs UPA admittedly but
> > still. All I want is snappier window movements not into games or 3D
> > stuff.

I'm rather pleased with the Elite3D which I salvaged from my Ultra 60
(also 2x360MHz) and put in my SB2K. There's some slight jerkiness when
dragging windows around, but then I only need that very occasionally.
Scroll speed in virtual terminals is a lot slower now that all fonts are
anti-aliased, but it's quite acceptable. I ran Sun's Gnome 2.0 for a
while, and that was lightning fast compared to the U60.

> > So I bid on an XVR-500 on Ebay but decided against it in the end,
> > thinking this card isn't not much better than the Expert3D, any
> > opinions?
> >
> > Am I better looking at the XVR-1000? The 600's and 1200's are out
> > of my range! Or again, am I looking at a marginal improvement?
> >

IMHO the XVR-1000 will be a lot faster than the XVR-500. In addition it
uses an UPA slot which can only be good for throughput.

> > Also is there any real reason not to try the Expert3D in the bottom
> > 66meg slot? I know Sun say not to but is it just a support/untested
> > issue rather than a technical one? If I did would it offer any
> > improvement?

I don't know - it wouldn't hurt to try as it's unlikely the card or
machine would be fried.

> > Running Solaris 10/JDS3, patched up as allowed by Sun nowadays.
> > Additionally I'm wondering if installing Medialibs would help as
> > Sun Docs suggest. I have OpenGL installed and the demos perform
> > quite admirably but as I say, not into that, just a smooth desktop
> > is all I want!

MediaLibs make a significant difference in my case. I suggest you try
it.

> I just fired up my old Octane (dual 195's) and it's great, much more
> responsive.....
>
> Dilemma!

The sgi (I have the same one) isn't running Gnome. If you'd try and
get Gnome 2.6 (the foundation of JDS) to run on a 195MHz Octane, you
would cry buckets.

CDE on my old Utra 60 with a Creator3D is very fast compared to Sun's
old Gnome 2.0 (pre-JDS) and Gnome 2.0 is a lot "snappier" than JDS
(the anti-aliasing that is done in JDS is a real display speed killer).

On my 2x900MHz SB2K with the Elite3Dm3, the graphics speed is quite
acceptable (in the same league as an Athlon 2000+ with a low-range
Nvidia frame buffer). I've been ogling an XVR-1000, but mainly to get
higher resolution than the Elite's 1280x1024.

Take care,

--
Stefaan
--
As complexity rises, precise statements lose meaning,
and meaningful statements lose precision. -- Lotfi Zadeh