rec.autos.simulators

>Regarding Radeon 9800 power supply connection:  You are supposed to make
>sure your video card and hard drive (primary hard drive, the one that
>contains your C drive if you have multiple hard drives in your computer)
>share the same power connection!  This is critical on a 9800XT, so much so
>that they provided a "harness" just to use for making this connection.  A
>few people, with spare power connections bi-passed using this harness (think
>it was more of a convenience item rather than a "requirement").....and end
>up not only with a slow video card, but also with having to reinstall their
>operating system!  Seems the "shutdown" of the video card and HD need to be
>coordinated or the ops-sys (WinXP has the biggest problem with this) can't
>save the operating system files to the hard drive fast enough.  After just a
>few shutdowns....your registry is hosed and you have to reinstall because
>the back ups are all hosed too!

>PSS:  Your BIOS settings on your mobo are "critical" to getting full
>performance from you video card, especially in regard to 3D ***
>performance.  A.  Make sure you have the latest BIOS version installed and
>the latest "northbridge chip" drivers installed.....AND, don't do this if
>you don't know what you are doing....get help with it first!  B.  Ask others
>who have your mobo what their settings are in the BIOS and what "issues"
>they have found/tweaked to make their rigs perform!

>Example:  On my current rig, with an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe mobo.....if I were to
>set my BIOS to "optimized defaults"......my ***/video card performance
>drops more than 50%!  It's a huge difference!

>I highly doubt that power supply may be the cause, but here're
>few random thoughts... Nvidia supports OpenGL better (unless it has
>changed recently) and Papy games are faster in OpenGL. Might it be
>that difference in OpenGL drivers negate the difference between GF4200
>and Radeon (if you're running in OpenGL of course)? Still it doesn't
>explain the difference between 4200 and 5900. Have you tried to
>reconfigure 3d card from the game (I think it does some benchmarking
>with some purpose)?

>>I highly doubt that power supply may be the cause, but here're
>>few random thoughts... Nvidia supports OpenGL better (unless it has
>>changed recently) and Papy games are faster in OpenGL. Might it be
>>that difference in OpenGL drivers negate the difference between GF4200
>>and Radeon (if you're running in OpenGL of course)? Still it doesn't
>>explain the difference between 4200 and 5900. Have you tried to
>>reconfigure 3d card from the game (I think it does some benchmarking
>>with some purpose)?

> I just checked something out of curiousity.  Running N2003 D3D at
> 1024x768, I went to the pits in practice(PWF Kyalami).  I set the draw
> distance to 10% last week per David's suggestion.  From the***pit
> view, I get 35 fps.  Clicked to start a race at the back of the grid,
> and got 21 fps.  Reset the graphics to use OGL, didn't change anything
> else.  In the pits, 24 fps.  On the grid, 12 fps.  Presumably, N2003
> would be new enough that it wouldn't need a patch like in GPL(which I
> never even KNEW about until last week).  So tell me, how is OGL faster?
>  My tests show it as 9-11 fps SLOWER, with no other changes.

> Eldred

>> else.  In the pits, 24 fps.  On the grid, 12 fps.  Presumably, N2003
>> would be new enough that it wouldn't need a patch like in GPL(which I
>> never even KNEW about until last week).  So tell me, how is OGL faster?
>>  My tests show it as 9-11 fps SLOWER, with no other changes.

>> Eldred
>Do you have Nvidia card with good drivers? I don't have any OGL patch, but
>I was testing with drawing distance at 80% (also 1024x768). I'm getting
>50fps alone and around 35 at the back of the grid (GF2MX here). Also, in
>the OpenGL driver panel there's a bunch of settings. I have no clue what
>they mean and I have everything set to default (whatever the driver
>installs). Another possibility is that you have AA or AF set.

> >Regarding Radeon 9800 power supply connection:  You are supposed to make
> >sure your video card and hard drive (primary hard drive, the one that
> >contains your C drive if you have multiple hard drives in your computer)
> >share the same power connection!  This is critical on a 9800XT, so much
so
> >that they provided a "harness" just to use for making this connection.  A
> >few people, with spare power connections bi-passed using this harness
(think
> >it was more of a convenience item rather than a "requirement").....and
end
> >up not only with a slow video card, but also with having to reinstall
their
> >operating system!  Seems the "shutdown" of the video card and HD need to
be
> >coordinated or the ops-sys (WinXP has the biggest problem with this)
can't
> >save the operating system files to the hard drive fast enough.  After
just a
> >few shutdowns....your registry is hosed and you have to reinstall because
> >the back ups are all hosed too!

> Is that power supply suggestion written in the manual that way(to tie the
video
> to HD)?  Otherwise, why would someone who already HAS extra power
connectors
> even think it was necessary?

> Eldred
> --
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>> No AA definitely.  I don't *think* I have AF - what *is* that?
>Anisotropic filtering
>>  I also
>> don't have an OpenGL specific control panel.  In the driver list I see
>> D3D and OGL(both .4523), so they're both loaded.  Just no way I see to
>> change anything specific to OGL...
>I have "Additional properties" button in the screen where it lists drivers
>and that's where I can change OGL settings

>    The general impression I have gotten about the Nforce1 motherboards is that they
>are slow.   Especially compared to a  Nforce2 mb.  Also you have onboard sound, and
>while they have made great strides in that area...I just have never felt comfortable
>using onboard sound.   Call me Han Solo...."I've been all over the galaxy, but I have
>never seen an onboard sound setup I like.  Gimmie a good Sound Card anyday."
>  And finally...with all the videocard switching you've done, there is a good chance
>you have lots of nvidia driver fragments hiding on your system.  Do a complete
>scrubbing of your old drivers before installing the ATI drivers.   Most 3d sites have
>utilities that will help you with that.  Good luck.
>dave henrie