List for Vidspeed v4.0

These are the current results of a framebuffer graphics performance survey. To add the scores for your card, get VIDSPEED from oak.oakland.edu, /pub/msdos/screen/vidspd40.zip and run 'vidspeed L W S S3 >mycard.out' and send the data to boogyman@xs4all.nl. Thanks!

The term 'DOS performance' is meant as a general indication of write-images-over-host-interface performance, with special interest to low-res VGA modes, as used by DOS games.

VIDSPEED is a good indicator of raw bus transfer speed (unlike 3dbench and, god forbid, 'Landmark'). It measures the throughput of writing constant pixel data to video memory over the bus in graphics modes, and is more or less CPU-independent. Here's a table of results, in kilobytes per second, for typical modes with both 16-bit and 32-bit writes. A vidspeed number of '17011W' means 17 Mb/s for writes.

Results so far (sorted on score):

Low Res Modes

Card and bus                            320x200 320x200 360x480 360x480
                                        16-bit  32-bit  16-bit  R 8-bit Score
Herc. Stingray Pro (ARK) PCI 1Mb P100   26340   48907   23530    2207   46.98
Hercules Dynamite Power 2MB VLB DX2/66  22200   44401   16000    3700   41.18
Genoa Phantom 64 2M (S3-864) PCI P90    19835   36571   17924    1563   35.26
Genoa Phantom 64 2M (S3-864) VLB DX2/66 22230   33032   16300    2086   35.15
ET4000/W32p (2Mb) VLB DX2/66            16650   33300   16408    3780   33.65
Diamond Stealth 32 2MB VLB DX2/66       16667   33368   15128    3657   33.05
Mercury X1/VL 2Mb (S3-805i) VLB DX2/80  19980   29204   15445    2488   32.33
D. Stealth 64 DRAM (Trio64) PCI P90     19835   30739   15149    1525   31.78
Spea Mirage P64 (S3-864) 2Mb PCI P100   22051   27863   13806    1754   31.65
Cirrus Logic 5434 2Mb VLB SX/40         18024   35929    9460    2655   31.62
Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM PCI P90         19859   29879   14804    1699   31.48
Cirrus Logic 5434 2Mb VLB SX/33         16318   32572    9064    2406   28.85
Diamond Stealth Pro 2Mb (928) VLB DX/50 24380   16667    8333    2767   27.39
Diamond Stealth 64 VRAM 2Mb VLB DX2/66  19073   22629   10081    2039   26.56
Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM 1Mb PCI P90     18575   22914   10146    1519   25.88
ATI Mach32 2Mb VLB DX2/66               13298   26597    8579    2886   24.93
S3-805 VLB DX2/66                       20634   12064    6030    2316   21.93
Cirrus Logic 5426 VLB SX/33             12497   12497    9839    2534   18.96
Diamond Stealth 24 (S3-805) VLB         15922   11077    5546    2391   18.59
Cirrus Logic 5434 1Mb PCI P90 (1)       10045   17264    8090    1740   17.90
LightSpeed W32p (1Mb) PCI DX2/66         7396   14800    7397    2655   15.97
Cirrus Logic 5428 VLB DX2/66             9508    9508    9223    2383   15.58
Orchid Fahrenheit 1280+ 1Mb VLB DX2/66  10126    9002    5177    1943   13.69
Trident 9200Cxr 1Mb VLB SX/25            6619    7386    4859    1303   10.17
ET4000 ISA DX/33                         5259    6311    5261    1255    9.03
Diamond SpeedStar Pro ISA DX/40          5191    5191    5192    1409    8.67
Diamond Viper PCI 2Mb (Oak VGA) P100     4517    4608    2956    1223    6.95
Number 9 Imagine 128 PCI P60             3211    4044    3211     557    5.38
ET4000 ISA                               3145    3145    3146     944    5.34
Diamond Viper SE PCI P90                 2716    3173    2183     845    4.61
Trident 8900 ISA                         2941    3006    1167     904    4.33

SVGA Modes

Card and bus                            640x480   640x480   640x480x16M
                                        16-bit    32-bit    32-bit    Score
Diamond Stealth Pro 2Mb (928) VLB DX/50 24415     48901     48759     48.85
Hercules Dynamite Power 2MB VLB DX2/66  22186     44373     44373     44.37
Herc. Stingray Pro (ARK) PCI 1Mb P100   24997     45953     17203     41.01
Diamond Viper PCI 2Mb (Oak VGA) P100    12573     40320     40223     37.26
Cirrus Logic 5434 2Mb VLB SX/40         17843     35687     30946     34.73
ET4000/W32p (2Mb) VLB DX2/66            16656     33346     33346     33.33
Diamond Stealth 32 2MB VLB DX2/66       16656     33346     33346     33.33
Mercury X1/VL 2Mb (S3-805i) VLB DX2/80  19991     40031      1049     32.22
Cirrus Logic 5434 2Mb VLB SX/33         15444     30889     26923     30.09
Diamond Stealth 24 (S3-805) VLB         15360     30720     14726     27.52
Diamond Stealth 64 VRAM 2Mb VLB DX2/66  19235     19235     19191     23.07
ATI Mach32 2Mb VLB DX2/66               13312     26624         0     21.29
Genoa Phantom 64 2M (S3-864) PCI P90    18492     18616     10104     20.58
Genoa Phantom 64 2M (S3-864) VLB DX2/66 17080     17080      8681     18.81
Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM PCI P90         17097     17080      8659     18.81
D. Stealth 64 DRAM (Trio64) PCI P90     16557     16557     10615     18.68
Spea Mirage P64 (S3-864) 2Mb PCI P100   15588     15588      7242     17.03
Cirrus Logic 5434 1Mb PCI P90 (1)        9780     16874     11272     16.29
LightSpeed W32p (1Mb) PCI DX2/66         7398     14804     14804     14.80
Cirrus Logic 5426 VLB SX/33             13238     13238      6725     14.58
Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM 1Mb PCI P90     11895     11887      7700     13.43
Cirrus Logic 5428 VLB DX2/66             9508      9508      7350     10.97
S3-805 VLB DX2/66                        5570     11144      7119     10.33
Orchid Fahrenheit 1280+ 1Mb VLB DX2/66   5539     11078      6632     10.18
Trident 9200Cxr 1Mb VLB SX/25            7155      8348      6260      9.12
Diamond SpeedStar Pro ISA DX/40          5191      5191      5191      6.22
ET4000 ISA DX/33                         5259      6312         0      5.89
Number 9 Imagine 128 PCI P60             3210      4024         0      3.69
ET4000 ISA                               3145      3145         0      3.14
Trident 8900 ISA                         2941      3008         0      2.98
Diamond Viper SE PCI P90                 2714      3170         0      2.98

Overall Busteroids

Card and bus                            Low Res   SVGA      Overall

Herc. Stingray Pro (ARK) PCI 1Mb P100   46.98     41.01     43.99
Hercules Dynamite Power 2MB VLB DX2/66  41.18     44.37     42.77
Diamond Stealth Pro 2Mb (928) VLB DX/50 27.39     48.85     38.12
ET4000/W32p (2Mb) VLB DX2/66            33.65     33.33     33.49
Diamond Stealth 32 2MB VLB DX2/66       33.05     33.33     33.19
Cirrus Logic 5434 2Mb VLB SX/40         31.62     34.73     33.18
Mercury X1/VL 2Mb (S3-805i) VLB DX2/80  32.33     32.22     32.28
Cirrus Logic 5434 2Mb VLB SX/33         28.85     30.09     29.47
Genoa Phantom 64 2M (S3-864) PCI P90    35.26     20.58     27.92
Genoa Phantom 64 2M (S3-864) VLB DX2/66 35.15     18.81     26.98
D. Stealth 64 DRAM (Trio64) PCI P90     31.78     18.68     25.23
Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM PCI P90         31.48     18.81     25.15
Diamond Stealth 64 VRAM 2Mb VLB DX2/66  26.56     23.07     24.82
Spea Mirage P64 (S3-864) 2Mb PCI P100   31.65     17.03     24.34
ATI Mach32 2Mb VLB DX2/66               24.93     21.29     23.11
Diamond Stealth 24 (S3-805) VLB         18.59     27.52     23.05
Diamond Viper PCI 2Mb (Oak VGA) P100     6.95     37.26     22.11
Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM 1Mb PCI P90     25.88     13.43     19.65
Cirrus Logic 5434 1Mb PCI P90 (1)       17.90     16.29     17.09
Cirrus Logic 5426 VLB SX/33             18.96     14.58     16.77
S3-805 VLB DX2/66                       21.93     10.33     16.13
LightSpeed W32p (1Mb) PCI DX2/66        15.97     14.80     15.38
Cirrus Logic 5428 VLB DX2/66            15.58     10.97     13.27
Orchid Fahrenheit 1280+ 1Mb VLB DX2/66  13.69     10.18     11.93
Trident 9200Cxr 1Mb VLB SX/25           10.17      9.12      9.64
ET4000 ISA DX/33                         9.03      5.89      7.46
Diamond SpeedStar Pro ISA DX/40          8.67      6.22      7.45
Number 9 Imagine 128 PCI P60             5.38      3.69      4.54
ET4000 ISA                               5.34      3.14      4.24
Diamond Viper SE PCI P90                 4.61      2.98      3.80
Trident 8900 ISA                         4.33      2.98      3.65

Incomplete results (320x200x256 only):  16-bit	32-bit
Number 9 GXE 64 Pro PCI P90		18492	22260
ATI Expression PCI P90			11062	16752 (SVGA modes crash)
Diamond Stealth 32 PCI P90		10051	15156

(1) Burst-mode disabled?
The 320x200x256 mode has most relevance for DOS games, 640x480x256 is becoming increasingly popular. The 360x480 VGA mode score has relevance for games that use 'Mode X'. The 640x480x16M mode result is interesting for windows-video type applications. The 16-bit 320x200x256 score corresponds to '3dbench' on a given system (ignoring its large CPU dependency).

Send Comments or Suggestion to --- sdw@dfw.net