Amiga RTG graphics cards

[Harrison]

There were many 24bit RTG graphics cards released for the big box Amigas over the years, but which were the best ones?

I remember wanting a Picasso IV card back in the day. Were they good? Still worth getting? And also the Cybervision 64/3D? That has a built in scan doubler for AGA, right? Were these the two best cards for Zorro III Amigas? (A3000/A4000).

What about the Retina Z3 cards?

Obviously there is also software compatibility to consider. What are the graphics card software driver options available? Picasso 96 and CyberGraphX? Are are there more?

[Buleste]

I've got the CV64/3d and it does not have a scan doubler built in. I think it was the PIV that had that although i'm not sure. The scandoubler was optional for the CV and is also very rare (I have a monitor switcheron my miggy). CV64/3D was ZorroII and the PIV was ZorroIII. As for software P96 works on most if not all cards (not sure about the latest PCI cards though) same with CGX4. The CV64/3D was the first (and last Zorro board) to have 3D support although the Virge chip is actually very, very crap and TBH the 4MB RAM is no where near enough. Although i haven't tried one i imagine that the best graphics cards for the Amiga are the CVPPC and BCPPC as they have a whopping 8MB of memory and a better 3D chip making them the best Amiga only graphics cards especially for the later games.

[Harrison]

Thanks for the info.

I thought the Phase 5 CV64/3D had the snap off designed flicker fixer so it was inline for the A4000, but it could be snapped off from the main board and connected via ribbon cable for older big box installation. Or am I thinking of a different board?

[Buleste]

Theres 2 versions of the CV64/3D the Phase 5 and the DCE as far as i know the only difference is the DCE supports fast ZorroII. I do remember a board that had a "snap off" scan doubler but i can't remember which one but i don't think it was the 64/3D as the connector would have been bent if you snapped the thing off.