rec.autos.simulators

by **Robert Grave** » Sun, 21 Nov 1999 04:00:00

I have a Celeron 300a OC'd to 450 on an ABIT BH-6, a Voo Doo3 3000 AGP, a SB
Live Value and get constant 35/36 fps at 1024 x 768 with full details ON
except driver arms (not because of frame rate hit; they distract me) with
"mirror detail level" to cars and track and it rocks.

I built this computer for GPL and I strongly recommend a Celeron. It works
wonders for me. The 433 seams to be a good choice at the moment, performance
and price wise as its cheap and you would not have to overclock it as
drasticly as I have with my 300a.

Just make sure you spend a little extra on good PC-100 memory if you plan on
overclocking and join us online. You'll love the challenge and the new
friends you'll make.

Robert
Hull, Qubec

=:-D

by **R McAuliff** » Mon, 22 Nov 1999 04:00:00

I've been struggling with racing offline for some time now, due to a
slow frame rate with other cars on the track, even with most details
turned off. Down to 15-25 fps with anything more than 5 cars on the
track. Compared with a solid 35-37 fps in training. What I was after
was a system that can race with other cars without dropping the frame
rate.

My current system is:
k6-2 300, 128mb ram, Voodoo Banshee (o'clocked to 127mhz), sb live.

Obviously a 3dfx card is a must for GPL, but is it worth an upgrade to
a voodoo 3? I usually run in either 640x480, full detail, or 800x600
with almost all detail, detail bias set midway. This usually gives
35-37 fps no probs in training.

The options are:
k6-3 450 at (Australian)$285

or Celeron 400 and BE6 mobo for $120 + $195 = $315

P3's and Athlons are a bit too pricy at the moment out this way.

What have people found to do justice to GPL with other cars, CPU or
video card, or both?

Any comments would be appreciated, cos I'm sick of racing on my own!!!

TIA
R Mc

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by **Mike Wes** » Mon, 22 Nov 1999 04:00:00

If you stick with the K6-2 300, a voodoo3 won't help you much. When I had a
K6-2 450, a voodoo3 3k gave me only slightly (if more consistent) framerates
than my old V2. I would suggest a CPU upgrade first as GPL is very FPU
intensive and not 3DNow! optimised.

I've never seen GPL running on a K6-III, so I couldn't guarantee
performance, but for multiplayer it should be fine. It's the ai in single
player that really hits performance. Celery 450 will definitely run it ok,
as 3 of my housemates use them.

I have taken the plunge and got an Athlon 600, and now get constant 36fps,
dropping very briefly to around 25 (about 2 secs) for a full gridstart from

FF in v1.2 gives a slight framerate hit now, but it's still the fastest I've
seen GPL run on any machine...

Mike.

by **David Er** » Mon, 22 Nov 1999 04:00:00

I was in a very similar situation to yours. My old AMD 350 just wasn't up
to the task particularly at the start. It seemed the lower performing float
point side of the AMD was the culprit. Went to a Celeron 433 on an ASUS
board with a Banshee video card and now get 36 fps except for about 2
seconds at start when it drops to to 34. This with ALL objects, approx 3/4
detail bias, 11 opponents, 800x600, back of grid start, 5 sounds. I checked
out the k6-3 first but it did not give me the performance boost I was
looking for. Have not tried o/c'ing the Celeron yet sinc e I'm happy with
things as they stand. Saving my money for an Athlon now.

David

by **Don Burnett** » Mon, 22 Nov 1999 04:00:00

Same system I am running Robert.
Your right, it's a great system for GPL, and does great for N3 and NL as
well.

--
Don Burnette
Dburn in N3 and Legends

> I have a Celeron 300a OC'd to 450 on an ABIT BH-6, a Voo Doo3 3000 AGP, a
SB
> Live Value and get constant 35/36 fps at 1024 x 768 with full details ON
> except driver arms (not because of frame rate hit; they distract me) with
> "mirror detail level" to cars and track and it rocks.

> I built this computer for GPL and I strongly recommend a Celeron. It
works
> wonders for me. The 433 seams to be a good choice at the moment,
performance
> and price wise as its cheap and you would not have to overclock it as
> drasticly as I have with my 300a.

> Just make sure you spend a little extra on good PC-100 memory if you plan
on
> overclocking and join us online. You'll love the challenge and the new
> friends you'll make.

> Robert
> Hull, Qubec

> =:-D

> > I've been struggling with racing offline for some time now, due to a
> > slow frame rate with other cars on the track, even with most details
> > turned off. Down to 15-25 fps with anything more than 5 cars on the
> > track. Compared with a solid 35-37 fps in training. What I was after
> > was a system that can race with other cars without dropping the frame
> > rate.

> > My current system is:
> > k6-2 300, 128mb ram, Voodoo Banshee (o'clocked to 127mhz), sb live.

> > Obviously a 3dfx card is a must for GPL, but is it worth an upgrade to
> > a voodoo 3? I usually run in either 640x480, full detail, or 800x600
> > with almost all detail, detail bias set midway. This usually gives
> > 35-37 fps no probs in training.

> > The options are:
> > k6-3 450 at (Australian)$285

> > or Celeron 400 and BE6 mobo for $120 + $195 = $315

> > P3's and Athlons are a bit too pricy at the moment out this way.

> > What have people found to do justice to GPL with other cars, CPU or
> > video card, or both?

> > Any comments would be appreciated, cos I'm sick of racing on my own!!!

> > TIA
> > R Mc

> > * Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet's Discussion
Network
> *
> > The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet - Free!

by **Brian_Fo** » Mon, 22 Nov 1999 04:00:00

You can get a celeron 366 cheap and overclock it to 550MHz with a proper

36fps...

Brian

> I've been struggling with racing offline for some time now, due to a
> slow frame rate with other cars on the track, even with most details
> turned off. Down to 15-25 fps with anything more than 5 cars on the
> track. Compared with a solid 35-37 fps in training. What I was after
> was a system that can race with other cars without dropping the frame
> rate.

> My current system is:
> k6-2 300, 128mb ram, Voodoo Banshee (o'clocked to 127mhz), sb live.

> Obviously a 3dfx card is a must for GPL, but is it worth an upgrade to
> a voodoo 3? I usually run in either 640x480, full detail, or 800x600
> with almost all detail, detail bias set midway. This usually gives
> 35-37 fps no probs in training.

> The options are:
> k6-3 450 at (Australian)$285

> or Celeron 400 and BE6 mobo for $120 + $195 = $315

> P3's and Athlons are a bit too pricy at the moment out this way.

> What have people found to do justice to GPL with other cars, CPU or
> video card, or both?

> Any comments would be appreciated, cos I'm sick of racing on my own!!!

> TIA
> R Mc

> * Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet's Discussion Network *
> The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet - Free!

by **Christian Girou** » Mon, 22 Nov 1999 04:00:00

I have about the same system as Robert does and it rocks in GPL compare to
my old Pentium 233 Mmx....
Celeron 466 (not O/C)
Asus P3BF
V3 3000 AGP
Diamond's MX-300
128 Mgs PC-100 ram
I also have constant 35-36 fps at 1024 x 768 full details and as Robert i
don't use driver's arms (i have some hehe).

C. Giroux.

by **Karl Zose** » Mon, 22 Nov 1999 04:00:00

I got:

ASUS P2B

ASUS 3400 TNT
128 MB memory

I get 36+ framerate all the way, except for the start (17 fps)
The only setback is the mirrors. I have to reduce the refreshrate to 'every
4 frames'

Hope to buy a faster P3 whenever they get cheaper. And overclock it too :)

by **parche** » Tue, 23 Nov 1999 04:00:00

> I have taken the plunge and got an Athlon 600, and now get constant 36fps,
> dropping very briefly to around 25 (about 2 secs) for a full gridstart
from

the
> FF in v1.2 gives a slight framerate hit now, but it's still the fastest
I've
> seen GPL run on any machine...

That's interesting, as I expected the Athalon to really shine with a full
field of AI.
On my PIII 450 o'clocked to 558 (V3 3000), at 1024x768 I get 36 fps all the
time, even at the start from the back of the grid (at least at Monza, Rouen
and Spa). When running at 1280x1024 I get 32-33 fps with the PIII clocked at
558, but only 25 -26 with it clocked at 450. (this is with all detail,
INCLUDING full detail in mirrors) Increasing the clock speed of the V3 (mine
will run at 183) doesn't make very much difference at all. So it seems that
once your running a V3 3000 (or above), then the CPU starts to become the
bottleneck again. Roll on the Coppermine 733s!!
Cheers...
Phillip..

by **R McAuliff** » Tue, 23 Nov 1999 04:00:00

Thanks for all the suggestions, I think the k6-3 is now out of the
picture. Celery 400 is the slowest available round here, but I
successfully overclocked a friend's to 570 mhz, which was pretty cool.
He was able to choose 90 and 95 mhz fsb, which was good cos 100 mhz was
not possible.

I hoped that the k6-3 would have performed reasonably, since it has
256k of cache at full speed, rather than 512 at half, or 128 at full.
Especially since the GPL readme file specifically mentions the
importance of the L2 cache.

I'm very surprised by the Athlon performance - I thought that such a
fast CPU would have been the bees knees with a V3 3000. If I am able to
bankroll it (Possible, but not likely) I may stretch to the Athlon
(with the Banshee), but it may be wiser to go the celery, oclock it,
and upgrade to a V3 with the cash savings. I've heard that most Athlon
500's will o'clock to 750 mhz and up. Pity its so difficult to do (as
on www.tomshardware.com). Good thing that Intel haven't gone that way
with the Celery.

Is anyone doing well with the Banshee at all with a fast CPU? Can't
wait to get some CPU power happening and do some real racing!!

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by **R McAuliff** » Tue, 23 Nov 1999 04:00:00

Mike, I'm curious to know what mobo you have with your athlon, since
most get canned by the critics. How have you found it, stability and so
on. My brother is planning on getting an athlon, but is waiting until
the mobo's get better.

The frame drop at the start, is that with a full field with ALL details?

Just a bit surprised (like Parcher) that the athlon slowed down a bit
at the start.

R Mc.

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by **R McAuliff** » Tue, 23 Nov 1999 04:00:00

We were looking at getting the k7m, based on all the reviews around on
the net. How did you go about overclocking, did you get the old
soldering iron out and go the hack, or something like on toms hardware?
That wiring diagram that tacks onto the expansion connector looks good,
and I have a friend who can knock up a PCB for my brother to do some
clocking.

For myself, I have a friendly computer guy who may be willing to let me
try a few celerons to get the best overclocker!! Should be a ripper
anyway.

Maybe I'll try out my brother's Athlon, assuming that it happens soon
enough.

Would you recommend getting an Athlon (and sticking with the banshee)
instead of a celeron 500 or so and v3 3000?

I'll have to check out the message board, thanks for the info.
R Mc

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by **Mike Wes** » Wed, 24 Nov 1999 04:00:00

Yeah, full field, ALL details including in mirrors, max # of sounds. I'm
pretty sure it was 1024x768, I'll have to check that though (don't think I
was running higher than that)
I'll try to check my figures again, I could have been overlooking something.
Believe me, it IS quick on an Athlon.

I'm running an Asus K7M mobo. All the mobos have slight configuration
problems on some systems at the moment, as they are 1st generation
motherboards, but the K7M is the best board if you can get it sorted. The
important things for an Athlon system, particularly a K7M, are a 300W power
supply (see recommended ones at www.amd.com , decent PC100 RAM (preferably
branded, the ram that ran fine in my Asus P5A with a K6-2 at 105mhz wouldn't
run stably in the K7M at 100), and a decent cooler for the chip. My 600 is
actually a 500 overclocked.

The best place to look for info is the message board at www.amdzone.com

Mike.

by **Mike Wes** » Wed, 24 Nov 1999 04:00:00

I got mine from www.overclockers.co.uk
They sell pre-overclocked Athlon 500's at 600 and 700mhz, guaranteed for
year. If you're in the US, I think www.step-thermodynamics.com offer a
similar service. As for the graphics card, I would upgrade from the Banshee
ASWELL if I were you. Otherwise it will be the bottleneck in the system. Of
course you could wait for a DDR Geforce or a V4/V5.
The other thing to think about is that people are starting to make "golden
finger" devices for the Athlon.There is an edge connector on the top of the
Athlon PCB, which can control all aspects of the Athlon's speed (multiplyer,
L2 cache speed etc) with no soldering. Once companies start selling those,
you'll really be able to play with overclocking.

Mike.

by **R McAuliff** » Thu, 25 Nov 1999 04:00:00

Cool brother, thanks for the info. I'm located in Australia, and
Athlons are still fairly rare (and pricey) at the moment here. Sounds
like a pretty good deal that you got, especially since the
brow-sweating is left to someone else. I'd be very stressed about
taking a soldering iron to a $450 cpu.

the price of the V3's is coming down pretty well, so I'll give that a
look in as well. Might be better to upgrade, see how it goes, and then
get the V3.

I'm sure it won't take too long for o'clocking kits to be very readily
available. Then all I'll need is a Kryotech refrigerator setup...

Thanks again.
R Mc.

> I got mine from www.overclockers.co.uk
> They sell pre-overclocked Athlon 500's at 600 and 700mhz,
> guaranteed for
> year. If you're in the US, I think www.step-thermodynamics.com
> offer a
> similar service. As for the graphics card, I would upgrade from
> the Banshee
> ASWELL if I were you. Otherwise it will be the bottleneck in the
> system. Of
> course you could wait for a DDR Geforce or a V4/V5.
> The other thing to think about is that people are starting to make
> "golden
> finger" devices for the Athlon.There is an edge connector on the
> top of the
> Athlon PCB, which can control all aspects of the Athlon's speed
> (multiplyer,
> L2 cache speed etc) with no soldering. Once companies start
> selling those,
> you'll really be able to play with overclocking.
> Mike.

> > We were looking at getting the k7m, based on all the reviews
> around on
> > the net. How did you go about overclocking, did you get the old
> > soldering iron out and go the hack, or something like on toms
> hardware?
> > That wiring diagram that tacks onto the expansion connector
> looks good,
> > and I have a friend who can knock up a PCB for my brother to do
> some
> > clocking.

> > For myself, I have a friendly computer guy who may be willing to
> let me
> > try a few celerons to get the best overclocker!! Should be a
> ripper
> > anyway.

> > Maybe I'll try out my brother's Athlon, assuming that it happens
> soon
> > enough.

> > Would you recommend getting an Athlon (and sticking with the
> banshee)
> > instead of a celeron 500 or so and v3 3000?

> > I'll have to check out the message board, thanks for the info.
> > R Mc

> > * Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet's
> Discussion Network
> *
> > The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet
> - Free!

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rec.autos.simulators

GPL - upgrade suggestions please?

GPL - upgrade suggestions please?

GPL - upgrade suggestions please?

GPL - upgrade suggestions please?

GPL - upgrade suggestions please?

GPL - upgrade suggestions please?

GPL - upgrade suggestions please?

GPL - upgrade suggestions please?

GPL - upgrade suggestions please?

GPL - upgrade suggestions please?

GPL - upgrade suggestions please?

GPL - upgrade suggestions please?

GPL - upgrade suggestions please?

GPL - upgrade suggestions please?

GPL - upgrade suggestions please?

GPL - upgrade suggestions please?