rec.autos.simulators

                    Hi everybody.                                      
                    Maybe what i`m posting is wrong for this newsgroup,
but it`s related to it.                                                
                    I have a Packard Bell P60, the one with everything
in the mother board, i`m dying to get GP2 when it comes out, so i`m
thinking about upgrading my machine just for the game. What i`d like to
know is: I`m thinking about getting the Matrox Millenium board (is it
going to work with this computer? I`ve had problems before, i bought a
graphics card and didn`t work i had to return it.) or a new P120 CPU,
so witch one is the best choice.                                      
                    Thanks a lot.                                      
                    Xeeko

How about a pentium overdrive chip?

Intel will be releasing a chip to upgrade a P60 to 120mhz. Also check to

chip which upgrades to 133mhz.
Note that the motherboard speeds of P120 is 60mhz and P133 is 133mhz so
there should be no performance loss.

Both of these chips should be out around May/June96 a couple of months
after GP2.

If any one has bought a Matrox Millenium board I would be very
interested in hearing about its performance with ICR2 on a P60

--
Simon Fox
Information Systems Division
University College London

:                     Hi everybody.                                      
:                     Maybe what i`m posting is wrong for this newsgroup,
: but it`s related to it.                                                
:                     I have a Packard Bell P60, the one with everything
: in the mother board, i`m dying to get GP2 when it comes out, so i`m
: thinking about upgrading my machine just for the game. What i`d like to
: know is: I`m thinking about getting the Matrox Millenium board (is it
: going to work with this computer? I`ve had problems before, i bought a
: graphics card and didn`t work i had to return it.) or a new P120 CPU,
: so witch one is the best choice.                                      

  I would suggest waiting for GP2 to come out before trying to upgrade
for it.  No one really knows exactly what the requirements will be for it
until it comes out.  So, while you might miss some Christmas sales, I
think it's best to wait until it's actually out. You never know, your
current machine might be able to run it fine. Or on the other hand it
might require something really big. You wouldn't want to upgrade early
only to find that you either bought too much (unlikely) or too little.
  It might mean waiting a little bit longer before having the perfect
system for it, but it's probally the only way to go.  It's really hard to
estimate what the perfect system will be until it comes out..

--
JASON POTAPOFF. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

The only easy day is yesterday.

My impression of Packard Bell is that they cut some major corners.  If you
look in the December 95 Computer Shopper magazine, it compares a number of
Pentium 120 systems, including a Packard Bell.  It ran like ***compared to
the other systems.  The reason being is that it didn't have any cashe.  A
256K pipline-burst cashe is standard on just about every new computer sold
today and you get a tremendous performance boost out of it.  I guessing if
the Packered Bell P120 didn't have cashe, then yours doesn't either.  Using
an anology:  Packerd Bell puts Porche engine a VW beetle chassis.

Now the question is what to do about it, or how does this effect your
decision.  Well it seems obvious just to see how well GP2 runs on your P60 as
is.  If you are not satisfied then things get complicated.

The ideal answer would be to go out and buy a new Dell, Micron, Gateway, etc.
Assuming you can't afford that, I would see if you can install cashe on your
motherboard (I bet you can't).  Now do you upgrade to a P120 CPU or a Matrox
Millieum card?  I bet the graphics in you machine are pretty weak, maybe 32
bit DRAM. However, putting a Millieum card in your machine seems like
overkill.  You will only get partial benefit of the full capabilities of the
card because the P60 CPU and no cashe will be slowing it down.  My best guess
for you is to get both a new CPU and a new graphics card but to compromise.  
Maybe a P100 chip and a less expensive 64 bit DRAM graphics card.

I'm not an expert but I hope this helps you out.

Later,

Stuart J. Boyle

->                   I have a Packard Bell P60, the one with everything
-> in the mother board, i`m dying to get GP2 when it comes out, so i`m thinking
-> about upgrading my machine just for the game. What i`d like to know is: I`m
-> thinking about getting the Matrox Millenium board (is it going to work with
-> this computer? I`ve had problems before, i bought a graphics card and didn`t
-> work i had to return it.) or a new P120 CPU, so witch one is the best
-> choice.

If you can afford it, the new Pentium 150 and 166 will be available from Intel
on Jan 4, 1996 and will be shipping in systems by mid January 1996.  These are
Pentiums, not the new Pentium Pros (P6), so they will run 16 bit code as well
are the rest of the Pentium family.

Roman Tschoban