SiS 6326 OpenGL is here!

[Peter M]

Hi all!

For those interested, SiS has a new 6326 drivers release "High Angle" on their website, for W98, W95 and NT, with the major new feature being ... drum roll please ...

an OpenGL ICD.

Anyone please try that one and post the results.

Regards, Peter

[BC_1]

Actually, I posted this at a few other boards the first day the drivers were made available. I have Diamond Speedstar A50 based on the SiS 6326 8mb AGP.

Looks like the new drivers fixed a very nasty display bug with Diamond's Feb 99 driver release. Anyway, 3D performance is up (especially w/OpenGL).

Some quick Wintune98 results:

//SiS Ref Drivers (new) - 31 Mar 99//
Video(2D) 34.65096 MPixels/s
Direct3D 39.88481 MPixels/s
OpenGL 28.06487 MPixels/s

//D. Speedstar A50/A70 v.204 - 9 Feb 99//
Video(2D) 41.36108 MPixels/s
Direct3D 37.89592 MPixels/s
OpenGL 12.16093 MPixels/s

The following drivers used were based on the older SiS Ref drivers:

//D. Speedstar A50 v.201 - Sep 98//
Video(2D) 35.0787 MPixels/s
Direct3D 38.29199 MPixels/s
OpenGL 9.72728 MPixels/s

//AOpen PA50 3D Artist drivers - Dec 98//
Video(2D) 35.21912 MPixels/s
Direct3D 38.85482 MPixels/s
OpenGL 9.175097 MPixels/s

System: BH6/C300(450), 192mb RAM

The Feb 99 Diamond drivers still have the fastest 2D, which I imagine is the primary use for most users who buy this card, but these drivers are buggy as hell in that it causes a display corruption. I suspect Diamond has overclocked it to inflate the benchmarks (wouldn't be the first time they used this tactic).

The Aopen drivers are identical to the reference versions, but has a cleaner control panel applet.

I might also add that the only game that can be played reasonably well with the new Opengl drivers is the original GLQuake and even that was alittle choppy on my sys. You can forget about Q2 and Unreal.



[This message has been edited by BC_1 (edited 04-06-99).]

[Eli]

will the new drivers work on the 4 meg version instead of the 8 meg one? Any chance someone could provide a link? I'm having a terrible time finding it... Thanks.

[Peter M]

Hi!

The drivers are at www.sis.com.tw, as usual.

You should be able to use the newer drivers on older implementations of the 6326, AGP or PCI. They can detect how much memory and AGP-or-not. It's only that drivers before 1.2 don't use AGP methods, but there is no mention that the new drivers wouldn't work on PCI implementations or with less than 8 MB display RAM.

Regards, Peter

[BC_1]

http://www.sis.com.tw/driver/vga_1.html

[Eli]

I checked there yesterday, but I' must've missed them. Thanks.

[Eli]

Even better. Thanks.

[Shawn]

Based on everything I have been able to find it looks like the SIS 6326 cards pretty much suck. Is this accurate? I was looking for a new, cheap video card that would outdo my old Elsa Victory Erazor 4Mb PCI card. I am trying to stay around the $50 mark, but I want something that will do well when playing games. I don't need something great, but I do want it to outperform my old card. I am looking for something AGP and 128 bit if possible.

[Bleeding Edge]

Shawn,
Is $77 considered around the fifty dollar mark? If so, you can get a AGP 16MB TNT for this price now.

[Shawn]

Bleeding Edge,
I will probably break down and spend the money. I am just trying to limit myself. Every time I turn around I am spending money on my system. I just went out to buy blank CDs today and came home with a 19 inch monitor, a new CD Rom drive, and a new modem as well. It never seems to end.

[gangstawrapper]

SHAWN DONT DO IT!!!
For I short time owning my P2 300 and then 300a(450) I was an owner of a sis 6326 card. The card is terribly slow. If you have a 19 inch monitor and want some decent video performance at higher resolutions got for a cheap TnT or better yet a TnT 2... It's what I did when I bought my CL TnT and it took me from 12fps crusher to 36!

[Bleeding Edge]

I don't get it gangstwrapper.

Don't do what??

[gangstawrapper]

6326... DONT BUY IT!!!!
ITS rubbish!!!!
no no no!!! agggrhhh!!!!
SAVE YOURSELF!!!!!!

BUY A TnT!!!!! NOW! BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!!

[Eli]

Yeah, the 6326 pretty much sucks. I tried the new drivers (which completely screwed everythnig up by the way), and STILL can't get GlQuake or accelerated Quake 2 to work...

[Bleeding Edge]

Gangstawrapper..

Say what -Say again.

[BC_1]

If you're looking for a cheap, 8mb AGP card to handle your 2d work, the SiS is fine choice.

Don't compare it to a TNT or Banshee, they're not in the same class. The SiS is definitely slow in 3d apps, but then again 99% of the people who get this card DO NOT use it for games. It is by far the most compatible and trouble free card I've seen thus far in all the systems I've put together and for $40-50, it's a good deal.

[Shawn]

Thanks for the input everybody. I think I will wait a month or so for the TNT2 to push prices down a little and then buy an TNT card.

[Shawn]

I solved my problem. I ordered a Leadtek S320. It is a Riva TNT, 16MB SGRAM, AGP 2X, TV out card. This card will smoke on my 450!! Sunway Graphics had it for $75 yesterday. They did, however, raise the price to $89 this morning. I got in when it was still $75, though.

[paradigm]

Hello BC_1

I just d/l the newest driver off SIS's
website (1.28whql) but still NO joy with
quake2 or any other opengl app.

Can you please tell me where I can get those specific drivers you used (the one with the much higher opengl score) I think it was March Reference Drivers...)

Thanks

[Win_98]

SiS are the slowest agp card you can get. pretty much in par with S3 chipset. What can I say, you gotta have a really fast cpu and I mean at least 500mhz to play any games at acceptable fps.

[Jeff7]

If you're on eBay, you might be able to get a 16MB AGP TNT card for $50. It might be generic, but with the reference drivers, it should work fine.