> I'm considering finally upgrading my Videocard (Currently a Voodoo5),
> and have my eye on the Radeon 8500. (I'd be interested in the newer 9700
> when it's released, but I don't want to change my OS from Windows 98SE).
> The sims I run the most are GPL (the sole reason I've stuck with the
> Voodoo5 this long), NR2002 and F12002. My system is an Athlon 1700XP.
> How significant a performance increase could I expect with this card
> over the Voodoo5 in these sims? I don't expect much of a boost in GPL,
> since I'm presently using Glide and the graphics are almost maxed out.
> (BTW -- I've been using the Glide Wrapper with the centered mirror. I
> assume something like this is not available for the Radeon, right?)
> F12002 runs decently at 30-35 FPS, but NR2002's graphics are kind of
> pixellated and FPS jumps between 37 and 75 (usually 37).
> Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
See other replies for the Win98 issue, as for the 8500, I did the swap
myself a little while ago, and with an XP1900 it's really something else
It's been a few weeks since I ran N2002 now, but I did a bit of
benchmarking not too long ago, and with both the card (8500LE 128MB) and
the CPU slightly OC'ed, 3DMark2001SE scores are in the mid 8000's, up
from low to mid 2000's with a V5
I know it won't increase with 300% in N2002, but I know I went from
running 8x6 with about medium details seeing the same FPS as you do to
1024x768 with just about everything on, and with about twice the FPS,
testing at WG I often see 100+ FPS, I don't run GPL (horror) or F1-2002
(no interest) though, so I can't say how this card performs there
It really is an amazing card, and with the OC'ing utility from
www.rage3d.com you easily OC it to full 8500 speeds and beyond, and the
drivers have come a long way since the original Radeon cards
Beers and cheers
(uncle) Goy
http://www.theuspits.com
"A man is only as old as the woman he feels........"
--Groucho Marx--
