Supported RAMDACs

Information for ARK Logic Chipset Users : Supported RAMDACs
Previous: Supported chipsets
Next: Acceleration

## 2. Supported RAMDACs

If no RAMDAC is specified, a standard RAMDAC supporting 256 colors up to 80 MHz dot clock frequency is assumed. The following RAMDAC types can be specified in the Device section of the XF86Config file (e.g. `Ramdac "att20c490"`):

att20c490

  Industry-standard 8-bit RAMDAC. The RAMDAC used on the basic Hercules Stingray Pro is compatible. 16bpp color depth is supported up to 40 or 55 MHz, depending on the DAC speed rating. Packed 24bpp is supported up to about 36 MHz.

att20c498

  Industry-standard 16-bit RAMDAC. The RAMDAC used on the Hercules Stingray Pro/V and the Stingray 64/V is compatible. 16bpp is supported up to 80 MHz or 110 MHz dot clock frequency, 32bpp is supported up to 40 or 55 MHz.

zoomdac

  This is the actual DAC used by the Hercules Stingray Pro/V and 64/V. It is treated mostly as an ATT20C498, but with dot clock limits set correctly (16bpp up to 55 MHz with ARK1000PV, up to at least 110 MHz with ARK2000PV). In addition, packed 24bpp is supported (up to 36 MHz with ARK1000PV, not yet on the ARK2000PV), and 32bpp is also supported on the ARK2000PV (up to 55 MHz) This RAMDAC should be auto-detected.

stg1700

  Completely untested.

ics5342

  This is a clockchip/RAMDAC combination and is used on the Diamond Stealth 64 Graphics 2001 and newer Hercules cards that use the ARK2000MT. It is supported at 16bpp and 32bpp in addition to 256 color mode. 32bpp mode may not work.

The Dacspeed keyword can be used to indicate the speed rating of the RAMDAC, but it must be used with care. The raw clock frequency may exceed 80 MHz. Both the ARK chips and some of the RAMDACs are specified for raw speeds up to 120 MHz, but this might violate FCC regulations or otherwise be unstable. High dot clock 8bpp modes (e.g. 135 MHz) are normally achieved by sending 2 pixels at at time over a 16-bit DAC path (the raw clock would be 67.5 MHz for 135 MHz dot clock), a mode of operation that is not yet supported by this driver. No high-dot clock configurations have been tested.

The driver now limits the maximum dot clocks according to the DRAM speed (bandwidth). Because it is not possible to determine the memory clock speed (except on the ICS5342), the driver assumes a default of 60 MHz. On an ARK1000PV, that allows 8bpp up to 109 MHz, 16bpp up to 55 MHz, 24bpp up to 36 MHz, and 32bpp up to 27 MHz. On an ARK2000PV with 2MB memory, it allows 16bpp up to 110 MHz, 24bpp up to 72 MHz, and 32bpp up to 55 MHz. If you know what your real memory clock is, you can specify it with the `MCLK` keyword, for example `MCLK 70`.

To run `XF86_SVGA` at 16 bpp, pass options to the X server as follows:

    startx -- -bpp 16               5-6-5 RGB ('64K color', XGA)
    startx -- -bpp 16 -weight 555   5-5-5 RGB ('Hicolor')
    startx -- -bpp 24		8-8-8 RGB (packed 24-bit truecolor)
    startx -- -bpp 32		8-8-8 RGB (32-bit pixel truecolor)

Information for ARK Logic Chipset Users : Supported RAMDACs
Previous: Supported chipsets
Next: Acceleration