ATI Graphics Ultra Pro
The Graphics Ultra Pro supported the higher resolution of 1280 x 1024 in 65,536 colours at up to 74 Hz non-interlaced. It was also the only card in the Graphics Ultra line-up to also come in PCI, VESA Local Bus, EISA and Micro Channel (MCA) variants. It came with 2 MB of faster VRAM memory onboard and this used a 64-bit memory interface.
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Released | 1992 |
| Bus | ISA 16-bit, VESA Local Bus, PCI, EISA, MCA | |
| Chipset | ATi Mach32 | |
| Standards | VGA and SVGA | |
| Memory | 2 MB VRAM (ISA, 64-bit), 1 MB or 2 MB DRAM (PCI/VLB) | |
| Ports | 15-pin DSUB (RGB analogue) | |
| Part # | 1090018940 (ISA), 1092540020, 1092540045 (PCI/VLB) | |
| FCC ID | EXM688VM (ISA), EXM254A (PCI/VLB) | |
| Price | Apr 1993: $799 (EISA version), Later: $599 | |
| See Also | Graphics Ultra, Graphics Vantage |
Rough theoretical performance of this card is 10 MPixel/s pixel rate, and 0 MTexel/s texture rate. Memory performance is 80 MB/s.
The PCI/VLB version of the Graphics Ultra Pro arrived in January 1993, and came in 1 MB and 2 MB DRAM variants. 1 MB cards could be upgraded to 2 MB by populating the other sockets. The GPU operated at a frequency of 66 MHz with memory running at 83 MHz.
Board Revisions
Competition
In the Media
"For sheer speed in the EISA department, the ATI Mach 32-based ATI Graphics Ultra Pro, EISA Version, is still a leader on our tests; it scored 15.34 megapixels per second in 256-color Super VGA mode. Also, its AutoCAD total time of 54.15 seconds made it the third-fastest board we tested for this story [out of 32].The EISA version of the Ultra Pro does not suffer from the memory aperture driver problems that beset the ISA version we tested in our issue of January 12, 1993. With 128MB of memory address space available for the EISA version, finding four contiguous megabytes for a linear-addressed display memory space isn't a likely problem.
If you don't expect to move beyond 1,024-by-768 with 256 colors, you may want to look at the ATI Graphics Ultra Pro, ISA Version. ATI claims that this board offers performance comparablto that of the EISA version, at these lower resolutions and color depths, and costs about $100 less." PC Magazine, April 1993
The Graphics Ultra Pro VLB, like all Windows accelerators, speeds up graphics processing by off-loading graphics operations from the system CPU.
The board has special drivers that let it stretch small video images, increasing their apparent resolution without decreasing video frame rates. The drivers work with Indeo, RLE, and Video 1 video files.
The Graphics Ultra Pro VLB uses ATI's second-generation mach32 chip, which started shipping to OEMs about a month ago. The chip nearly doubles the performance of the company's first mach32 processor, according to ATI.
The Graphics Ultra Pro VLB offers resolutions as high as 1,280 by 1,024 with 256 colors and a refresh rate of 74 hertz. The card can also display 65,000 colors at a resolution of 1,024 by 768 with a refresh rate of 76 hertz. At a resolution of 800 by 600, the card can display 16.7 million colors with a refresh rate of 70 hertz.
The Graphics Ultra Pro VLB includes ATI's FlexDesk Control Panel that lets users control resolution, color, font, and virtual desktop size within Windows. When a user changes the resolution, the systems automatically restarts Windows. The software also lets users select among three power-saving modes if they have a monitor that complies with the Video Electronic Standards Association's Display Power Management Proposal.
The Graphics Ultra Pro VLB lists for $499 and comes with 2MB of video RAM." InfoWorld, August 1993
Setting it Up
There is no hardware configuration required for the Graphics Ultra Pro.
Downloads
Operation Manual Get in touch if you can provide this missing item! |
Original Utility Disk Get in touch if you can provide this missing item! |
VGA BIOS ROM Get in touch if you can provide this missing item! |
Mach 8 DOS Tools A cut-down version of the Ultra-8514 utility tools. Allows you to test the card, set the startup video mode, and change the video mode. |
Mach 8 Windows 3.1 Drivers Windows 3.1 drivers for Mach 8 cards. Use the LOADER utility to install. |
Mach 8 Windows 3.1 and 3.11 Drivers ATI mach8 revision 3.0 256 color ATI Desktop driver for Windows 3.1 and 3.11. Runs on Mach8 cards with 1MB of accelerator memory, is faster than previously released drivers with an emphasis on stability. This driver does not support 16 color (4bpp) mode. |
Mach 8 Windows 3.1 Drivers Windows 3.1 drivers for Mach 8 cards. Will work only if you have previously installed an ATI Windows 3.1 driver. If you have not done so, run the installation disk #1 that came with your video card and install the Windows 3.1 driver, before running this driver upgrade install program. |
Mach 8 / Mach 32 Windows 3.1 Drivers Windows 3.1 drivers for Mach 8 cards. Will work only if you have previously
installed an ATI Windows 3.1 driver. If you have not done so, run the
installation disk #1 that came with your video card and install the
Windows 3.1 driver, before running this driver upgrade install program. |
Mach 8 / Mach 32 Windows NT Beta Drivers For the MARCH 1993 Beta Release |
Mach32 Video Drivers The two disks for Premmia ATI Mach 32 (but should work on others) |
Mach32 Windows NT Driver Windows NT Driver For ATI Mach32 Chipset |
More Pictures
The rightmost pic above is courtesy of DOS Days contributor Mike. The card came bundled in his Gateway 2000 P5-60 tower PC from January 1994, along with an Aztech Basic Audio 16 sound card.
