rec.autos.simulators

I'm currently in the market for a new VESA Local Bus SVGA Card.  I'm looking
to spend under $200 so please keep that in mind if you suggest a card.

Basically, I posted to a variety of newsgroups because, like most of you, I'm
an avid gamer but I also have to get some work done in Windows.

So, the SVGA card I'm looking for should:

        - have good DOS performance under 3D type games such as flight
        simulators, NASCAR/Indycar Racing and DOOM-type games.

        - have good to very good Windows performance, it doesn't have to
        be a Win accelarator card but just have fast redrawing in Windows.

I'm not really looking for suggestions in what chipset to buy because even
with the same chipsets benchmarks vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.  So
I'm looking for brand name suggestions.  Also how much VRAM or DRAM (which is
better?) should I be getting now?  And the card should have "green" (ie.
energy saver) capabilities so that it shuts down the monitor after a period of
inactivity.

I was thinking of getting either the ATI Mach32 or Mach64 (VLB) but heard that
there were some driver incompatibility problems and that drivers for these
cards weren't widely available.  Is this true?  Does anyone have one of these
two cards and if so, what do you think of it?  What's their performance like
in the aformentioned applications?

Just some background here:

        Intel 486DX2/66mhz CPU (green)
        Opti chipset VLB motherboard
        8MB RAM
        15" Sony Monitor (green)

        Current video card: Trident ISA SVGA 1024k (ewwwww!!!!)

Any suggestions would be welcomed, but I would appreciate if they were mailed
(as well as posted) since I don't have much time to read news lately.

 ------ ... -------------------------------------------------------------------

 --oOO--( )--OOo---------------------------------------------------------------

And Windows feels very fast too. My 486-dx2/50 at work with a S3 card
positively chugs.

Get VRAM if you want high resolutions with deep colour depth.
Otherwise, at low res/low lower depths, VRAM and DRAM are comparable.

I have yet to have an compatibility problem with my Mach64. I run
Windows 3.11 (using the latest drivers the ATI FTP site), Windows '95
(with built in drivers) and OS/2 (again with built in drivers). I've
had no problems running any SVGA games that I've thus far tried:
Nascar and System Shock being the obvious ones.

Stuart.
Stuart Booth
Transport Routeing Software

: I'm currently in the market for a new VESA Local Bus SVGA Card.  I'm looking
: to spend under $200 so please keep that in mind if you suggest a card.

: So, the SVGA card I'm looking for should:

:       - have good DOS performance under 3D type games such as flight
:       simulators, NASCAR/Indycar Racing and DOOM-type games.

:       - have good to very good Windows performance, it doesn't have to
:       be a Win accelarator card but just have fast redrawing in Windows.

:  ------ ... -------------------------------------------------------------------

:  --oOO--( )--OOo---------------------------------------------------------------

--

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: /|(X)/---\ (X)|]

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: \|(X)\---/ (X)|]

Later.....
______________________________________________________________________________

                "It's good enough for government work"

I'd reccomend a Hercules Dynamite Pro/Power 1megVLB . (I don't know if the
1M version comes in a Power series, but it does come in the Pro series.
It uses one of the best implementations of the Tseng ET4000W32p chip that
you can get. It's arguably the fastest DOS card ever, and it handles Windows
applications solidly. I believe this card can be had for around
$120 for 1M and $170 for 2M (of course, my numbers could be off a bit)

--

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Neil Mouneimne                       | Only the government could have

                                     | sacrifices so much to achieve so
                                     | little for so few    
                                     |  - Frustrated Ada programmer
-----------------------------------------------------------------------                                                            

: >> I'm currently in the market for a new VESA Local Bus SVGA Card.  I'm looking
: >> to spend under $200 so please keep that in mind if you suggest a card.

: I'd reccomend a Hercules Dynamite Pro/Power 1megVLB . (I don't know if the
: 1M version comes in a Power series, but it does come in the Pro series.
: It uses one of the best implementations of the Tseng ET4000W32p chip that
: you can get. It's arguably the fastest DOS card ever, and it handles Windows

   Performance is reduced if there is only 1 meg on the card.  The w32p uses
4-way interleaving, so it needs the extra data width to achieve this.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------
P.Chen

Yes, I'm happy with mine!

And another happy Dynamite Pro VL (Tseng ET4000W32i).

Mike V.

+------------------------------------------------------+
|  Mike Viscount                                       |
|  MCNC / North Carolina Supercomputing Center         |
|  Systems Programmer Analyst II                       |
|                                                      |

|  Phone: (919) 248-9212                               |
|  Fax:   (919) 248-1101                               |
+------------------------------------------------------+

Lac

-------------------
Ladislav Sedivy
Pittsburgh, PA
(412) 481-9225
-------------------

: And another happy Dynamite Pro VL (Tseng ET4000W32i).

I'll throw my vote in for the Hercules 2M Power(pretty much the same as
the Pro, except in Windows).
--
Tom

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