rec.autos.simulators

I bought a computer right when the Pentium chip first debuted, and all I
could afford was a 60 mhz Packard Bell (enter your laughter here). I now
have 24 megs of RAM but no video card help.  The damn thing runs N1 pretty
well:  I turn on all detail except grass and asphalt, and can race
smoothly with all cars drawn ahead and two behind.  People don't  believe
me, but I swear its true.  I have the following 60 mhz 24 Meg NR2
questions:

1.  From what I hear, the Reactor is the 3D card I need.  Can my system
handle it?  I already have a game card installed, and I think there is
only one expansion slot left.  Do I need more RAM or anything?

2.  If I had to choose between getting the Reactor and buying a Pentium
overdrive chip that would up my processor speed to 133, what would you
recommend doing?

3.  Can TEN only be accessed through Windows 95?  I am scared to death
about what running N2 under Windows will do to my framerates.  I hope the
NRO is not out of the question.

Thanks everybody.

Jeff Young
"PBone" on Hawaii

:>I bought a computer right when the Pentium chip first debuted, and all I
:>could afford was a 60 mhz Packard Bell (enter your laughter here). I now
:>have 24 megs of RAM but no video card help.  The damn thing runs N1 pretty
:>well:  I turn on all detail except grass and asphalt, and can race
:>smoothly with all cars drawn ahead and two behind.  People don't  believe
:>me, but I swear its true.  I have the following 60 mhz 24 Meg NR2
:>questions:
:>
:>1.  From what I hear, the Reactor is the 3D card I need.  Can my system
:>handle it?  I already have a game card installed, and I think there is
:>only one expansion slot left.  Do I need more RAM or anything?

Yes, the Reactor is the card to buy, but you need a PCI 2.1 compliant slot.  
If you bought your Backward Hell that long ago, I can almost guarntee your PC
isn't up to the challenge.

As far as memory requirements go, you need 16mb if you'll be running the sim
from the DOS prompt, and 24mb if you'll be running from Win95.

:>2.  If I had to choose between getting the Reactor and buying a Pentium
:>overdrive chip that would up my processor speed to 133, what would you
:>recommend doing?

Well, I guess since the choice is no longer a choice, if it were me, I'd just
build myself a completely new system.

:>3.  Can TEN only be accessed through Windows 95?  I am scared to death
:>about what running N2 under Windows will do to my framerates.  I hope the
:>NRO is not out of the question.

I can't answer this one.  It doesn't appear that TEN is that good of a deal,
anyway.

/*===================================================*/
 There are three types of lies...
   lies, damn lies, and press releases.

 John Simmons (Redneck Techno-Biker)              

 http://www2.connectnet.com/~jms/  
/*===================================================*/

According to the readme.txt from the Rendition Ready version of
IndyCar II included with the Reactor, there are no 60MHz Pentium
systems that properly support DMA.  You would probably have to
run all Rendition Ready programs (ICR II, NCR 2, etc.) in "safe" FIFO
mode, which is much slower than DMA.

Hopefully, those aren't your only two options..  If you can wait until you
can afford to get a new motherboard and a 133, that would probably be
the best option.  The bus support chips from your machine's era are
generally rather slow.  I replaced my (very early) ZEOS P90 motherboard
with a Super Micro motherboard about a year ago, and got about a 50%
speed increase using the same processor chip.  I don't think you can do
that with your 60MHz chip since it runs at a higher voltage than the
current crop of Pentium's.

Randy

I have the same system that you have, a Crappy P60 Packard bell.( i`ll
never make the same mistake again)
I don`t think you`ll be able to put another video card in it, cause 3 times
i`ve tryed, with 3 different brands of vidio cards and it never worked. The
video board on this Damn Packard Hell is part of the Motherboard so you
can`t take it out, so what was supposed to happen was, you put a new card
and the old one in the computer would turn itself off automatically, but it
didn`t happened that way every time i`ve tryed  i woud get a black screen,
i spent hours with Packard Hell on the fone, but those clowns are clueless,
i had to return the new cards every time i bought  one.
So if you want a new video card, you better get a new computer.
I`ve bougth the overdrive, on a P60 it`s supposed to go to 120, but i`ve
overclocked it so it`s running 133. I`m pretty pleased  with it`s
performance now, the overdrive is not such a bad idea for you.
Go for it.
Xeeko

   If your motherboard is three years old (as you are describing), I'm
highly skeptical that it can handle the DMA data transfer mode of the
Rendition cards.  In my experience, the card isn't a worthwhile
purchase if it can't be run in DMA mode (it will look prettier, but
run slower).  OTOH, the SVGA VESA mode will probably run faster than
your current video card (assuming its similar vintage), so its not a
total lost cause.

Pick one or more: Model Rockets (competition-NERCB) / PCs (even Atari!) /
Papyrus ICR-ICR2-NCR / Who needs a life when you have multiple non-lives?