rec.autos.simulators

Colleagues,
        In search of even better framerates in GPL I have bitten the bullet
(or at least the bankbook ) and lashed out on a V3 3000 and PIII 450. I
thought you guys might be interested in my findings so far.
    Firstly, for all you Celeron devotees out there, let me justify your
decision with the news that a PIII at 450 gives EXACTLY the same framerate
in GPL as a Celeron 300a o'clocked to 450. The advantage that the PIII has
is the ability to be overclocked further still !
    Again the V3 3000 on its own is not much faster than SLI V2s but does
allow higher resolutions. To my disappointment, my particular V3 doesn't
like being o/c'd above about 172 MHz, above that it just throws you out of
GPL in the middle of a race. Incidentally, a standard Pentium cooling fan
will bolt straight to the heatsink of the 3000, so I don't think cooling is
my problem.
    So, where does this leave us with numbers? As a standard test I use the
following scenario:
    Monza circuit, 19 AI cars, start from rear of grid, all graphics on for
forward view accept drivers arms, most graphics off in mirrors, trackside
objects to all, mirrors to cars and track, no specular lighting or the other
one (I'm at work and can't see the menu !) detail slider in the middle,
sound set to seven. I get the following results as the flag drops:

1024x768 - 450mhz - V2 SLI            25-26 fps
1024x768 - 450 MHz - V3 3000        27-29 fps
1024x768 - 504 MHz - V3 3000        31-32 fps
1024x768 - 527 MHz - V3 3000        33-34 fps
1024x768 - 560 MHz - V3 3000        35-36 fps  *******
1280x1024 - 560 MHz - V3 3000       30-32 fps

In all cases the framerate  maxes immediately after the start, and even in a
major tangle at the first corner never drops more than 3 fps or so. Tonight
I'll try the PIII at 580 MHz ( 129 x 4.5 ) and see if I can get a little
more at 1280 x 1024. This resolution on a 17" monitor is amazing, with all
the little jaggies (like the top of the dashboard) being smoothed right out.
    So it seems that the magic 36fps at all times is possible, but requires
both graphics throughput and CPU horsepower. I should think that a V3 3500
at 190 or so, plus the next PIII (coppermine?) at 650, should make for 36
fps at 1280x1024 achievable in almost all situations. Current hardware will
just about achieve it at 1024x768 now.
    Just thought I would pass these observations on for all you
"hardware-junkies" out there.
                                                Cheers...
                                                Phillip

Thanks for the info, it's always hard to get the 36 f.p.s
all the time but it gives you something to shoot for.
Thanks Steve!

[s]

Oh well, let me add mine.

I bought GPL while running a 200MHz PI with a Herculese Stingray 128
(Voodo rush), control was via a set of Ch-pro pedals and an old,
CH flightstick. The controls were quickly swapped for MS Sidewinder FF
wheel and also out went the P200, motherboard and memory for an ABIT
BH6, a PII350. This left me running with the Voodo rush at 640x480 and
24-28fps.

Last weekend saw a V3000 AGP installed and GPL happily chuging along at
36fps in 1024x768 with most graphics options on. Most of the point of
this post is that before I didn't think 36fps was as essential as some
people say. Now I'm 99% convinced that the difference is *very*
significant to the ability to control the car.

I'm plagued by strange colors in gpl with the V3. Setting the texture
limit through a batch file helps, but... question (for those still with
us)... how can I get spyboy to launch GPL through a .bat file??? I wanna
go racing online!!!

--
Suck The Goat

Try overclocking the 350 (and up the voltage if needed.)  The BH6 is really
great for extreme overclocking; you can up the voltage, and also, with a 133
MHz bus (which would normally produce around 50 MHz PCI bus) the PCI is at a
normal 33 MHz  - so whether or not it will overclock is left up to the CPU
and memory!

Believe me, it's pretty cool to be able to play GPL with 19 opponents using
a 4MB Stealth and a 'PII 466' :)

--
Kirk Lane
Tempe, AZ

ICQ: 28171652
RMRL #119