rec.autos.simulators

Best bet upgrade?

Mark Lierman

Best bet upgrade?

by Mark Lierman » Sat, 29 Jan 2000 04:00:00

Its down to these two

Add'l 64meg PC100 CAS2 SDRAM to get to 128

        or

Voodoo3 3000 AGP graphics card replaces Banshee

What does anyone think?
Thanks for all assistance

Ian Riche

Best bet upgrade?

by Ian Riche » Sat, 29 Jan 2000 04:00:00


What do you play?

If it's GPL, and you are satisfied with the size of replay file that your
system can provide then the V3 would be a good bet.  An extra 64MB wouldn't
speed up a thing...

Of course, if you have a slow processor, then a V3 probably wouldn't be much
improvement on a banshee.

General advice:

1) decide what you want to improve (i.e. game frame rate, windows
performance, image quality etc.)
2) Try and ascertain where the weak link is in your system. (e.g., if your
frame rate largely stays constant no matter what resolution you run your
games at, then the CPU is probably the bottleneck.  If your frame rate tails
off rapidly as you up the resolution / colour depth, then your video card is
likely to be a bottle neck.  If you sit there staring at a little hourglass
while you hard disk make a machine-gun like noise, then more memory would
definitely help)
3) Ask back here with more specific information - it would help if it
relates to an auto sim to keep it on topic :-) - and you'll get more
specific advice!

Hope this helps...

Ian

Ian Riches
Bedford, UK

------


Mark Lierman

Best bet upgrade?

by Mark Lierman » Sat, 29 Jan 2000 04:00:00

Sorry,  This relates to a post earlier this month.

Anyhow, my current setup is


64MEG PC100 SDRAM
Voodoo Banshee AGP
Yamaha Waveforce PCI sound
5.1GB Quantum HD
Accura ISDN modem
Homemade Wheel w/CH Pedals

My main *** is GPL, Nascar3, Tribes and PGA99 golf.  All online as
much as possible.




> > Its down to these two

> > Add'l 64meg PC100 CAS2 SDRAM to get to 128

> > or

> > Voodoo3 3000 AGP graphics card replaces Banshee

> > What does anyone think?
> > Thanks for all assistance

> What do you play?

> If it's GPL, and you are satisfied with the size of replay file that your
> system can provide then the V3 would be a good bet.  An extra 64MB wouldn't
> speed up a thing...

> Of course, if you have a slow processor, then a V3 probably wouldn't be much
> improvement on a banshee.

> General advice:

> 1) decide what you want to improve (i.e. game frame rate, windows
> performance, image quality etc.)
> 2) Try and ascertain where the weak link is in your system. (e.g., if your
> frame rate largely stays constant no matter what resolution you run your
> games at, then the CPU is probably the bottleneck.  If your frame rate tails
> off rapidly as you up the resolution / colour depth, then your video card is
> likely to be a bottle neck.  If you sit there staring at a little hourglass
> while you hard disk make a machine-gun like noise, then more memory would
> definitely help)
> 3) Ask back here with more specific information - it would help if it
> relates to an auto sim to keep it on topic :-) - and you'll get more
> specific advice!

> Hope this helps...

> Ian

> Ian Riches
> Bedford, UK

> ------



Trevor C Thoma

Best bet upgrade?

by Trevor C Thoma » Sat, 29 Jan 2000 04:00:00

<snip>

Ian, this topic interests me because I have a Creative Banshee and am not
happy with it at all, several games are unplayable due to being way too
dark, even with gamma set to max. If I max the gamma though and then switch
to GPL, the screen is way too light which I dont quite understand.

I have a 450mhz with 128 meg of ram and frame rates are fully acceptable to
me in any sim I own.

I'm seriously considering a V3 3000 card as a replacement for the Banshee,
the price is quite reasonable for this card. My question is is the V3 a
better performer in any way over the Banshee? This is assuming that the
gamma problem is cured by a swap.

Trev

Olaf's Hotmail accoun

Best bet upgrade?

by Olaf's Hotmail accoun » Sun, 30 Jan 2000 04:00:00



From what I've seen the Voodoo3 would be the best bet. I red on the Alison
Hine pages www.simracing.com/alison/gpl that more memory is only good for
more replay.

Greetings

Olaf

bph..

Best bet upgrade?

by bph.. » Sun, 30 Jan 2000 04:00:00

The voodoo3 is the better of the two choices.  You can adjust the
replay length without having more memory.  An SB Live would also be a
good upgrade.  Great sound and probably a couple of fps.





> > Its down to these two

> > Add'l 64meg PC100 CAS2 SDRAM to get to 128

> > or

> > Voodoo3 3000 AGP graphics card replaces Banshee

> > What does anyone think?
> > Thanks for all assistance
> From what I've seen the Voodoo3 would be the best bet. I red on the
Alison
> Hine pages www.simracing.com/alison/gpl that more memory is only good
for
> more replay.

> Greetings

> Olaf

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Jon Brooke

Best bet upgrade?

by Jon Brooke » Sun, 30 Jan 2000 04:00:00

Very tricky choice.. I had a Banshee then upgraded it to v3 and found it
made little difference to GPL framerates as GPL seems to be much more
processor dependent than most games ( I have P2 450).
However almost all other games (First person shooters are my"all other
games") a huge increase in FPS is obtained by a V3 - well over twice the
framerate in most cases.


Kirk Lan

Best bet upgrade?

by Kirk Lan » Sun, 30 Jan 2000 04:00:00

I would bet a large bonus in performance when switching from a Banshee to a
V3 3K...IIRC, the Banshee is a little slower than just a standard V2,
whereas the V3 2K (not the 3K you mention you are contemplating) is faster
than a pair of V2s in SLI, and the 3K is faster still...

--
Kirk Lane


ICQ: 28171652
BRT #187

"Yeah you won't find me
I'm going MIA
Tonight I'm leaving
Going MIA
Getting lost in you again
Is better than being known"
                     -Foo Fighters, "MIA"



> <snip>

> Ian, this topic interests me because I have a Creative Banshee and am not
> happy with it at all, several games are unplayable due to being way too
> dark, even with gamma set to max. If I max the gamma though and then
switch
> to GPL, the screen is way too light which I dont quite understand.

> I have a 450mhz with 128 meg of ram and frame rates are fully acceptable
to
> me in any sim I own.

> I'm seriously considering a V3 3000 card as a replacement for the Banshee,
> the price is quite reasonable for this card. My question is is the V3 a
> better performer in any way over the Banshee? This is assuming that the
> gamma problem is cured by a swap.

> Trev

Ian Riche

Best bet upgrade?

by Ian Riche » Tue, 01 Feb 2000 04:00:00


> Sorry,  This relates to a post earlier this month.

> Anyhow, my current setup is


> 64MEG PC100 SDRAM
> Voodoo Banshee AGP
> Yamaha Waveforce PCI sound
> 5.1GB Quantum HD
> Accura ISDN modem
> Homemade Wheel w/CH Pedals

> My main *** is GPL, Nascar3, Tribes and PGA99 golf.  All online as
> much as possible.

Mark,.

In that case I would go for the V3.  It won't, IMHO, make a HUGE difference
in GPL - especially at high CPU stress times such as the start of a race -
but it will smooth things out a bit, and probably allow you to run at the
same frame rate at a higher resolution.

Ian

Ian Riches
Bedford, UK

------



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