rec.autos.simulators

I have a 2mb ATI Mach64, and while I know that it sucks, I'm
wondering what kind of performance boost can I expect to see from an
upgrade. I'm not interested in meaningless GP2 log scores or benchmarks,
just framerates and CPU occupancies. My system:

P150 overclucked (yes, clucked) to 166
16mb EDO, 256k pipeline cache, 437FX chipset, ATI M64 2mb DRAM

My scores (under Win95 restarted in DOS mode):

In SVGA, with all forward textures but sky, no rear textures, and
everything rendered in mirrors except trackside objects, the estimated
framerate is 15.0 fps.

At Monaco (with the above graphics), my processor occupancy is 135% on
the grid, hits 200% in the first turn, and averagesbetween 105% and 117%
during the race.
At Canada, I get 76% on the grid, 88% in the first hairpin, and an
average of between 76% and 82% during the race.

Would anyone with a similar system please give me their results? I'd
particularly like to find out if anyone with one of the cheaper S3 cards
can do better, since I'd rather not sink a pile of cash into a card
until the Rendition and 3DFX stuff is out.

Thanks,

Glen

--

Emory University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
Nascar Setups Page: http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

I have a Pentium 133 with ATI Mach 64, 4 megs of video ram and 24 megs
of Ram.  The game configuration is everything but sky, with rear
textures with only track, curbs, fence, and something called virge, or
to me grass.  Runs at 15.0 fps supposedly, but I only encounter low
frame rates at the start at any track.  

Probably won't help, but just for your info.
The extra ram helps, and my recommendation is to wait and buy a 3D
accelerator car like the Rendition Verit.  So it doesn't work with 3d
cards, wait a while and I bet a GP2 sim shows up using those nice cards.
John

Hey! I have been thinking of overclocking my p5-150. Did you switch your bus to
66 and processor to 166 and voila? Is there more to it?  

I am rather disappointed with the performance of my Diamond Edge 3D 2MB
VRAM, when playing GP2 is a DOS session. I just about manage 15.1 FPS (in
the Graphics Page Screen) using SVGA, and many options in Manual mode,
including Verge, Curb, Road, and Track Side Objects.  
I am using a P5-166 with 24MB of EDO RAM.

Performance in Windows 95 is slower still.

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Southend, Essex. UK
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I've read a lot of peoples opinions about the affect of video cards on
GP2 and it's frame rate.
        Iv'e been building PCs for about eight years for a large company
un the UK and therefore have tried many different types (Every time a
new member of staff wants a new pc I give them mine and build myself a
new, faster one).
        In windows, sure, I've noticed lots of difference in card
performance. But in dos, not since VLb and PCI have I noticed any
difference in dos games performance using faster video cards.
        I know it's nice to know youv'e got the fastest card available,
and therefore you feel that your games are playing at their fastest
possible. But it simply doesn't seem to happen.
        My desktop is a P100, 16M, Diamond Stealth Vram, and I run GP2
at about 15 fps in SVGA with all but sky textures, mirrors-track, smoke,
kerbs. Trackside object - one below max. It plays reasonably smoothly,
seems fast in the car. External views can get quite stuttery with lots
of traffic.
        My Notebook is a P166, 16M, Cirrus something, SAME settings as
above, plays super smoothly, external views quite a lot better.
        The point being that the notebook cirrus card scores 44! and the
Diamond 174. If the graphics card had much to do with the overall game
then you would expect my notebook to perform in a similar manner to the
P100 desktop, being that the cirrus is a pile of crap.

        If games were written to capitalise on modern graphic cards
features then it would be a different story. But they are not. Graphics
cards are designed for win. Drawind windows quickly isn't a lot of use
in GP2.

        So if you're thinking of blowing a wedge on the latest Mega
Matrix Super Dooper card for GP2, Id save your money and spend it on a
day out in a proper single seater car on a proper track.

LB

Hi!

a question on the hotlap drive on GP2-Sites, that Version of GP2 you use
(x.xx)?

ciao
mathias