rec.autos.simulators

The motherboard will probably be an Intel SE440BX2 that has onboard PCI
audio.  Would a separate sound card help the frame rate, or only how
pleasing the sound is in GPL?  If it makes a significant difference,
which card is the best choice with GPL (and with minimum other
compatibility problems)?  Soundblaster Live?

Thanks for any assistance.

Dave Wilson

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Celeron 466
Asus P3BF (6 PCI, 1 ISA) MB
128 Megs of RAM
V-3 3000
MX-300 s-card

GPL runs quite well even with 19 cars at 1024 x 768, although i plan to get
a PIII after X-Mas.

C. Giroux.

I have a Soundblaster Live Value (about US$75) and am very happy with
it.  It supports 4-speaker sound systems (I ended up buying the US$100
PCWorks 4-speaker set) so you can get true 3D effects with the sound.  A
little off-topic but playing a flight-sim like European Air War and
flying a Spitfire through a bunch of B-17s is incredible when you can
hear the rumble from each plane as you slowly pass them...  I'm not
aware whether GPL supports 3D sound.

Otherwise, I am also happy with my V3 2000 running on a 450.  So I'm
sure that the 3000 will run great on a PIII.

I have a PIII 450 (not oc'd) and I'm very satisfied with its performance in
GPL. Of course there's never enough horsepower to have, it's just a matter
of  how much money you want to spend (The same as with cars :-). I think the
600mhz is still a little too expensive for its relative small performance
advantage over the 550 or 500mhz PIII.
BTW, has anybody tried the K7 Athlon with GPL already ?

The V3 3000 is surely the best graphics card for GPL for now. (I have one
too). I don't know about the problems with the 3500, but if you don't need
TV-in (which the 3500 has), I'd go for the 3000. AFAIK the 3500 runs at
183mhz and the 3000 at 166mhz, but I think the 3000 can be easily
overclocked to 183mhz, if you put a fan onto it. (haven't tried it for
myself, but there surely are guys in this NG, who oc everything and can tell
you more... :-)

I have a SBLiveValue, which is said to need very little CPU usage (can't
tell for myself, since it's the only soundcard my system ever had). It has a
very good sound in GPL and was quite cheap (800AS = about 60$, probably
cheaper in the US). Don't know about this Intel MB and its onboard sound
card, but IMO it's better to buy a MB without onboard sound and add a sound
card you know about. At any case, if you want exactly this MB, make sure the
onboard sound can be disabled in any way (by jumper or BIOS) , otherwise
you'll have problems if you want to add a sound card later.

Hope, that helps!

Peter
Vienna, Austria

--
Brian
"Yeah baby, yeah....Oh behave"

I just bought a Celeron 400 socket 370 with slot 1 converter, excellent
cpu fan, and FIC VB-601 BX chipset motherboard at www.cpusolutions.com.
All for $184 plus $11 shipping.  The Celeron 400 easily clocked up to
500 without any extra cooling, voltage, or anything fancy.  The
motherboard allows you to adjust the bus speed without using jumpers.
At 500, the Celeron rocks in GPL with 19 cars.  Around 22 fps at start
of race and 36 once driving.  This is with Voodoo2 12 meg, 64 meg ram.

A whole lot cheaper than a PIII for sure.

ANash

Run out and do it now.  The racing in GPL with a good machine and all 19
cars is just phenomenal!