rec.autos.simulators

GPL- Which card?

Albert

GPL- Which card?

by Albert » Fri, 02 Oct 1998 04:00:00

    I desperately need to play GPL, but my P1 233mmx, Matrox Millenum II 4MB
won't cut it. I can't afford a new computer, so what is a good video card? I
also need a wheel and pedal setup. Preferably one that's been proven to work
with GP2 also. Thanks.

Joel


Jerry

GPL- Which card?

by Jerry » Sat, 03 Oct 1998 04:00:00

If you plan on keeping your P233MMx for at least six months get a 3Dfx Voodoo
1.  should be $85 or less.  

If you plan on upgrading to a Pentium II and keeping the video cards then get a
Voodoo 2 12Mb card.  The Voodoo 2 is no faster on a Pentium 233 than the Voodoo
1 at 640 x 480.  The Voodoo 2 will allow you to run at 800 x 600 but the
Pentium may not be fast enough to keep up.  The Voodoo 2 will scale up nicely
with faster processors where as the Voodoo 1 will run at it's max with a
Pentium 233.  

I have both Voodoo cards and they are the best 3D solutions for people like you
who have a Matrox 2D card.  You should be able to play GPL fine with a Voodoo 1
and P233MMX.  I ran the demo with a K6-233 and Voodoo 1 all summer and got
great frame rates at 640 x 480.  

Best Data has the 4MB Voodoo 1 card, same performance as the Diamond Monster 3D
for just $49.99 plus shipping.  They also have their Voodoo 2 card for $169.99

look here:
http://shop.merchantwave.com/catalog/PC000053/G30171304

You should be able to buy both GPL and a Voodoo 1 card for about $100.  Plus
you should be able to play any game on the market right now with that
combination.  
I would buy the 4MB Voodoo 1 for the P233 as it's the best match for your
system.  

For a comparison of performance between the Voodoo 1 and Voodoo 2 I ran the
timedemo of Unreal, the torcher test of 3D games, and report the avg framerate
during the Nali Castle Flyby

On a 400 Mhz Pentium II:

Voodoo 1  (4MB)
512 x 384   28FPS avg.
640 x 480  22FPS avg.

Voodoo 2 (12MB)
512 x 384   44FPS avg.
640 x 480   39FPS avg.
800 x 600   28FPS avg

On my K6-233:
Voodoo 1  (4MB)
512 x 384   20FPS avg.
640 x 480   18FPS avg.

Voodoo 2 (12MB)
512 x 384   22FPS avg.
640 x 480   20FPS avg.
800 x 600   ??FPS avg  forgot to run it sorry

The Voodoo 2 really scales up the performance with the faster MHZ chips, but on
a 233MHz machine your not going to get your money's worth.

As for the wheel and Pedal setup, I would look for the T2 by thrustmaster.
Well maybe not the best out there your get a lot for the money. Got mine for
$49 after $30 rebate this spring not sure of the price lately.  Thrustmaster is
a great compnay they sent me replacement bungee cord, guides, and springs for
NO CHARGE.  I haven't needed the replacement parts yet but the bungee cord is
close to being worn out and I had heard that the springs for the pedals will
fail over time.   I also  have the CH pedals and a homemade wheel setup that I
built that work well but the CH pedals have too short of travel..    For Xmas
I'm going to get the Microsoft Force Feedback steering wheel and pedals.  This
looks like the best thing coming out before Xmas.  
Good Luck,
Jerry

Marc J. Nelso

GPL- Which card?

by Marc J. Nelso » Sat, 03 Oct 1998 04:00:00

A Hercules Thriller is reportedly the better of the cards for GPL, and
is less expensive than a Voodoo-II.  Colors in the sim will be more
vibrant, as opposed to the "washed-out" look of V-II cards.

Cheers!

Marc


>     I desperately need to play GPL, but my P1 233mmx, Matrox Millenum II 4MB
> won't cut it. I can't afford a new computer, so what is a good video card? I
> also need a wheel and pedal setup. Preferably one that's been proven to work
> with GP2 also. Thanks.

--
Marc J. Nelson
The Sim Project - http://www.simproject.com/
Extinct Track Archive - http://www.simproject.com/eta/

* Switch confused.net with concentric.net to reply...Confused-yet? *

Ronald Stoeh

GPL- Which card?

by Ronald Stoeh » Sat, 03 Oct 1998 04:00:00


> A Hercules Thriller is reportedly the better of the cards for GPL, and
> is less expensive than a Voodoo-II.  Colors in the sim will be more
> vibrant, as opposed to the "washed-out" look of V-II cards.

But the V2 has MUCH better software support, I know as I still have a
Rendition board, too. So if you only play GPL, N2 or ICR2, go for the
Rendition, otherwise V2 or Banshee.

l8er
ronny

--
Toys'R'Us '99: "So, would you like a hand gun with that action figure,
kiddo?"

          |\      _,,,---,,_        I want to die like my Grandfather,
   ZZZzz /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_              in his sleep.
        |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'     Not like the people in his car,
       '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)            screaming their heads off!

John Simmo

GPL- Which card?

by John Simmo » Sat, 03 Oct 1998 04:00:00

I can say that I'm not impressed at all with my Reactor's performance in
GPL.  It never goes above 13fps on my P2/333.  It would be REAL hard to
convince me that a V2200 card would be any (or much) better.  Thank
goodness I have a Voodoo2 card too (36fps).


>A Hercules Thriller is reportedly the better of the cards for GPL, and
>is less expensive than a Voodoo-II.  Colors in the sim will be more
>vibrant, as opposed to the "washed-out" look of V-II cards.


>>I desperately need to play GPL, but my P1 233mmx, Matrox
>>Millenum II 4MB won't cut it. I can't afford a new computer,
>>so what is a good video card? I also need a wheel and pedal
>>setup. Preferably one that's been proven to work with GP2
>>also. Thanks.

--
=========================================================
John Simmons - Redneck Techno-Biker (Zerex12)
http://www.members.home.net/jms1/index.html

John Simmons - Barbarian Diecast Collector
http://members.home.net/jsimm/diecast_index.html

If you want to send me email, go to either of the URL's
shown above & click "Send Me Mail" in the contents frame.
=========================================================

Marc J. Nelso

GPL- Which card?

by Marc J. Nelso » Sat, 03 Oct 1998 04:00:00

Funny, my buddy replaced his Reactor with a Hercules, and said GPL's fps
improved significantly - saying the card was worth every penny.  BTW,
he also has a Monster V-II, but prefers the Herc.  System is a standard
P-200MMX.

Cheers!

Marc


> I can say that I'm not impressed at all with my Reactor's performance in
> GPL.  It never goes above 13fps on my P2/333.  It would be REAL hard to
> convince me that a V2200 card would be any (or much) better.  Thank
> goodness I have a Voodoo2 card too (36fps).

--
Marc J. Nelson
The Sim Project - http://www.simproject.com/
Extinct Track Archive - http://www.simproject.com/eta/

* Switch confused.net with concentric.net to reply...Confused-yet? *

Don Clawso

GPL- Which card?

by Don Clawso » Sat, 03 Oct 1998 04:00:00


> I can say that I'm not impressed at all with my Reactor's performance in
> GPL.  It never goes above 13fps on my P2/333.  It would be REAL hard to
> convince me that a V2200 card would be any (or much) better.  Thank
> goodness I have a Voodoo2 card too (36fps).

John;

That's strange - my old reactor on a 233 mmx gets about 20-25 fps in
training with all grahics(forward - just cars in mirror) on.  Do you
have the latest drivers for it?

Just curious.

Don Clawson
DonCl on TEN

John Simmo

GPL- Which card?

by John Simmo » Sat, 03 Oct 1998 04:00:00



>>I can say that I'm not impressed at all with my Reactor's
>>performance in GPL.  It never goes above 13fps on my P2/333.  
>>It would be REAL hard to convince me that a V2200 card
>>would be any (or much) better.  Thank goodness I have a
>>Voodoo2 card too (36fps).

>That's strange - my old reactor on a 233 mmx gets about 20-25 fps in
>training with all grahics(forward - just cars in mirror) on.  Do you
>have the latest drivers for it?

Yup - latest drivers and latest bios.  I've gone beyond the training
aspect and am in GP mode with 19 AI at 800x600.

I haven't tried it at 640x480 yet (with the Reactor card).

--
=========================================================
John Simmons - Redneck Techno-Biker (Zerex12)
http://www.members.home.net/jms1/index.html

John Simmons - Barbarian Diecast Collector
http://members.home.net/jsimm/diecast_index.html

If you want to send me email, go to either of the URL's
shown above & click "Send Me Mail" in the contents frame.
=========================================================

Jeff Ha

GPL- Which card?

by Jeff Ha » Sat, 03 Oct 1998 04:00:00



I concur with Mark's friend.  I bought a Herc shortly after Alison
posted some notes about its performance with herGP legends testing.
I've always liked the image from  the Reactor card and the new one is
just as good.  I have an SLI Monster 3d2 setup but have abandoned it
for the Herc V2200. I get 36 fps from it with everything on and the
slider for distance a little to the right of center.  I like the image
better. I get some slowdown in some cases but I think this is due to
the limited (128k) secondary cache that my celeronA has. I am running
a 300 at 450 with fast CAS2 125 mhz memory.   I would guess that a
full bore 450 with the 256k cache would do the deed.

Jeff

Randy Magrud

GPL- Which card?

by Randy Magrud » Sat, 03 Oct 1998 04:00:00

I just bought a 12 meg Voodoo 2 today.  I passed on the herc Thriller
because I already have a 2D/3D card with my nVidia Riva AGP and don't
see the need (yet) to switch.  And Papyrus is one of the few companies
doing Rendition-targeted games.  The Voodoo 2 is at this point a
better all-around choice I would think.




>>Funny, my buddy replaced his Reactor with a Hercules, and said GPL's fps
>>improved significantly - saying the card was worth every penny.  BTW,
>>he also has a Monster V-II, but prefers the Herc.  System is a standard
>>P-200MMX.

>>>   It would be REAL hard to
>>> convince me that a V2200 card would be any (or much) better.  Thank
>>> goodness I have a Voodoo2 card too (36fps).

>I concur with Mark's friend.  I bought a Herc shortly after Alison
>posted some notes about its performance with herGP legends testing.
>I've always liked the image from  the Reactor card and the new one is
>just as good.  I have an SLI Monster 3d2 setup but have abandoned it
>for the Herc V2200. I get 36 fps from it with everything on and the
>slider for distance a little to the right of center.  I like the image
>better. I get some slowdown in some cases but I think this is due to
>the limited (128k) secondary cache that my celeronA has. I am running
>a 300 at 450 with fast CAS2 125 mhz memory.   I would guess that a
>full bore 450 with the 256k cache would do the deed.

>Jeff

Randy Magruder
http://members.home.com/rmagruder
Mike Dun

GPL- Which card?

by Mike Dun » Sat, 03 Oct 1998 04:00:00

<Funny, my buddy replaced his Reactor with a Hercules, and said GPL's fps
improved significantly - saying the card was worth every penny.  BTW,
he also has a Monster V-II, but prefers the Herc.  System is a standard
P-200MMX.>

The buddie steps in....yes a hecules is a ton better if you have a P-200MMx.
And I perfer it over the M3D 2 by far.

Mike Dunn

Michael E. Carve

GPL- Which card?

by Michael E. Carve » Mon, 05 Oct 1998 04:00:00


% A Hercules Thriller is reportedly the better of the cards for GPL, and
% is less expensive than a Voodoo-II.  Colors in the sim will be more
% vibrant, as opposed to the "washed-out" look of V-II cards.

Setting the gamma level with my Voodoo2 gives me as rich of colors as my
Rendition card.  While they both have different "feel" to the colors, I
wouldn't say that the Voodoo2 is "washed-out".

--
**************************** Michael E. Carver *************************
     Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./.  [-  < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Michael E. Carve

GPL- Which card?

by Michael E. Carve » Mon, 05 Oct 1998 04:00:00



% >
% > A Hercules Thriller is reportedly the better of the cards for GPL, and
% > is less expensive than a Voodoo-II.  Colors in the sim will be more
% > vibrant, as opposed to the "washed-out" look of V-II cards.

% But the V2 has MUCH better software support, I know as I still have a
% Rendition board, too. So if you only play GPL, N2 or ICR2, go for the
% Rendition, otherwise V2 or Banshee.

If you don't have a PII, stick with a Rendition v2200 board, you'll get
better performance in GPL.

--
**************************** Michael E. Carver *************************
     Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./.  [-  < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=


rec.autos.simulators is a usenet newsgroup formed in December, 1993. As this group was always unmoderated there may be some spam or off topic articles included. Some links do point back to racesimcentral.net as we could not validate the original address. Please report any pages that you believe warrant deletion from this archive (include the link in your email). RaceSimCentral.net is in no way responsible and does not endorse any of the content herein.