rec.autos.simulators

Will adding more RAM improve the framerate.  My computer is a P166 16Megs,
I don't know about my video card, but it came on my computer and I don't
think it's very good (It's a Packard Bell).  Also will adding RAM to the
video card help.  Rigth now I get 18fps with most of the detail off.

Hi !

From what I've been reading on this newsgroup, I highly doubt that you'll
notice an improvement by adding more RAM. I think that 8 MB should
suffice, with 16 MB (your configuration) you should not notice any disk
access (if you don't have enaugh RAM, GP2 uses a file on your HD to store
data on-the-fly, so you'll probably notice a little slowdown in the game
but I'm not 100% sure here). I've 16MB of RAM and I never notice any
slowdown.

Which I think isn't that bad but please keep in mind that the video-card
plays a key role in the simulation. My brother acquired a P166 just to
play this beat but after some testings, I've noticed that his PC runs GP2
like a P100 with a slow card. I've got a P150 overclocked to P166 (GP2 is
the only piece of sw which runs a 166 - others crash - 19 fps in SVGA with
Sky-Track off & mirror datils near to minimum) and it completely screams
when compared to it. I replaced his video card with mine (Trio 64+) but
unsuccesfully. I tried some other tests (3dbench included) and I've
noticed that the raw processing power (CPU power) is pretty similar to the
one noticed on my PC but when it has to face other processing areas (video
card, HD) it's terrifically slow !!

I've yet to discover why: he asked a techie to inspect the machine but he
didn't find anything out of order. It's PC is simply much slower than
mine.

Best,
Roberto

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I have experienced similar problems with the frame rate.  I'd imagine the
cure is more video RAM but could someone help me with his one?  I'd hate
to blow $70 on Vid RAM or $200 on a vid board and only rise up two or
three frames.

Thanks.  Go Team Ferrari and Hey Dave Cullins!

Jason

More video RAM should do nothing to increase your frame rate. All it
will do is allow you to use more colors in Windows.
The only real option, besides a faster processor, is a better video
card.

Tony

I have a P5 200MHz, 512kb PB cache, 24Mb EDO RAM, with a Tseng
ET4000/W32p Video Card (okay, so it's a naff video card, but it's the
only one I've got!), and these are the results I get-

SVGA
Object Detail = ALL
Textures = All except sky (obviously)
Mirrors = All except hills, bank, smoke, and trackside objects
Mirror Textures = As forward view
Framerate Estimate = 21.3fps
Framerate Set = 15.0fps
Occupancy = 111% at Start of San Marino, dropping to a low of 48%
GP2 log:on = CPU-389 and VIDEO-372

I have recently upgraded from a P5 133MHz, and although things have
improved, they did not improve as much as I hoped. I had been hoping
that I would be able to get all details and a framerate of about 20fps
without occupancy reaching triple figures, but no. Nevertheless, I've
got all the important details, and 15fps is enough to make it seem
smooth. I keep the set framerate low to keep occupancy down. Now, would
a better video card help me?

/----\     /---\ /---\ |\  /|
| oo |       |   |   | | \/ |     Thomas Hughes - Engineer

\ -- /       |   |   | |    |         'If you can't beat them, give up'
 \  /        |   \---/ |    |

Last week I got rid of my Cirrus Logic 5430 PCI with 1 meg and bought
a Diamond Stealth 64 with 2 meg DRAM, my frame rate went from 16fps
to 19.6fps.  With all textures on execpt sky and only track and
smoke shown in mirrors, and full detail.  This is on a pentium 150
with 16meg RAM

Dave Smith

By the way, that Diamond ( 2mb pci) is for sale.  Paid 399.00 $ canadian
dollars for it in May of this year ( about 280.00 $ US ).

Tony

I am new to this newsgroup, and was wondering if all the reference to
frame rates etc are in SVGA mode?

Regards Steve
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wow,

When i went from a p100 to a ppro 200 i kept my mach64 2meg card.

Oddly enough, the video benchmark in gp2 gp2 log:on, went from 148 to
134.   cpu went from 175 to 379.

after fastvid and univbe 5.3 (i tested just about every possible
configuration for dos)  she scored 74.5 on svgabnch.exe.

I still turn off some mirror textures and usually go with about object
detail level one, the trees suck anyway.

everything else on.

i get 100% occ when about 3 cars are on the track at 19.5 fps.

I cant wait to try a game like this thats 3d ready, my new orchid
rules!

Jeff