rec.autos.simulators

Chris G.

I hate to be blunt, but I would not spend any $$ on a 3dfx card at this
point.  The company is basically a goner and we will probably not see any
driver upgrades or future support of any kind for Voodoo cards.  N4 will be
best with a Geforce card.  For under $250, you can probably get a Guillemot
Geforce2 GTS card with 32MB of memory.  The MX card is even less, only a
little over $100.  Mwave.com sells the Leadtek GTS card for $209 and an
extra $90 will get you 64MB of memory.  The Guillemot MX card with 32MB is
$109. In benchmarks, the GTS is quite a bit quicker, but I have no personal
experience with either to help you decide which is better for these racing
simulations.  I also don't know how this choice works in GPL, but it is
supposed to be the technology of choice in N4 and Heat also I think.  I will
probably go for the Geforce ULTRA since it improves the memory bandwidth a
bunch, but it is up around $429 with 64mb of memory.  I am just waiting for
the N4 release to get a little closer, figuring the price might drop before
then.  Hope you can get some first hand experience posted herein.

/TomH

Well, my new Creative GeForce2 GTS 32MB AGP seems to work very fine in
GPL, all on (not arms!) also in mirrors - 1280x1024, nearly always
36 FPS, in full field Monaco start perhaps about 30. My prosessor
is also quite fast 1,1 GHz, though.

Also N4 Demo, SCGT, Viper Racing and MBTR Demo are fluent!

Arto

Same card here, but coupled to a PIII 500 and 192meg RAM. GPL runs at a
solid 36fps with full details in 1024x768 (solo) or 800x600 (race with all
AI cars) - can't fault it.

Bobby

256 PC133 RAM

I thought one piece of advice might be of use to you. I upgraded my video
card earlier this year from a Voodoo2 12MB to a GeForce 2 GTS 32MB and it
barely made a difference (picture quality aside). After blowing a lot of
cash on the card, I realized I would have upgrade my CPU. Since I had a Slot
1 (BX) motherboard, I went with a Celeron 566 which I run at 875 (103x8.5)
and it made all the difference. I guess what I'm trying to say is make sure
your CPU is quick enough to warrant a new video card.

Thanks,

Michael M

I currently have a Voodoo 3 2000 on a celery 466.  I would like to
rebuild my entire system.  EVERYTHING must be changed except my CD
writer, TV Card, mouse, keyboard.

Currently I am looking at:
Athlon TB 950
Gigabyte GA-7ZX-1 (w/ultra 66, 4xAGP)
256 MB
Case
Creative Labs PC-DVD Encore 12X (40X CD-ROM) with DXR3 MPEG card
20.4GB Fujitsu MPE3204AH
Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer 5.1
Speakers with sub
17" (w/Trinitron)

I still play a lot of GPL.  So I don't want to lose the performance of
the Voodoo.  However I want to get something that is cutting edge.

Who is going to be the next leader in the video card market?  Who will
dominate?  Radeon?  Anhiliator?  Nvidia?

Later,

Michael M

The GeForce MX isn't a bad card, but don't expect it to perform like the
V5500 in fps or picture quality. The MX's T&L in Nascar4 doesn't do anything
to increase frame rates, and in fact locks up my computer (922Mhz) at 1280
resolution. The Twin View support (for 2 monitors/flat panel or tv is a nice
feature that does clone or extended desktops).

I think the latest 5500 drivers have some kind of T&L support built in.
Software mode, maybe. Also, for under $180 cards, take a look at the Radeon
32 DDR. It's performance is about equal to the 5500 in racing sims and the
colors are great. The Radeon and MX don't, of course, have the nice FSAA
that the 5500 has. If you've got the money and want pure performance, a
GeForce2 Ultra is the way to go, but it'll cost you between $380 and $400.

--

Slot
www.slottweak.com
Tweaks & Reviews

A sobering consideration is that 3dfx is no more and I
seriously doubt Nvida will do anything with this acquistion
other then desolve it . I get exceptional performance with
my GeForce2 MX card but of course as the saying goes,
your mileage may vary.

--
Olav K. Malmin
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