rec.autos.simulators

by **John Simmo** » Wed, 06 Nov 1996 04:00:00

>Whats up with this blatantly false advertising I see in PC Gamer and other mags
>with the two screen shots of ICR2.

>I can make my Indycar game look as shitty as the left picture too if I turn off
>all the details they turned off. And if I turn them all on I can make it
>looked like the one on the right and I don't need any $200 card to do it.

There is no way you can make ICR2 look as good without a Verite-based card
(any of the three that are currently available). Your current video card
won't anti-alias for one thing, and when you add the consideration that both
screenshots are runnning about 30fps, you can see why there's so many details
turned off.

As an example, I run a P5-166. Before I got the Reactor card, I could not run
withobjects, asphalt, or grass texture on and still get an acceptable frame
rate. *With* the Reactor, I run with *EVERYTHING* on and it's in the
neighborhood of 30-35 fps.

Your loss. Intergraph is one of the best companies in terms of product
support I've ever seen in the computer industry (and I've been doing this
stuff for almost 20 years).

/===================================================\
| John Simmons (Redneck Techno-Biker) |

| http://www.racesimcentral.net/; |
\===================================================/

by **David Spark** » Thu, 07 Nov 1996 04:00:00

>My P5-166 with Diamond Stealth 3400xl is getting 26-34 fps right NOW with
>full
>details - everything maxxed!! That is will full field with all cars
>forward and
>behind displayed - pace lap is around 26fps but once we spread out it moves
>to
>the 30's

>Granted I don't get the textured sky or transparent smoke but if I'm not
>mistaken you have to have SPECIAL versions of the programs to get those
>features
>anyway. I don't plan to re-buy existing games and am not sure that these
>minimal features are worth $150 and the sacrifice of my already kick-ass
>video
>card.

This is just one of those things that you have to see to appreciate. I have
a P5-166 and I can't tell you what a dramatic difference the Reactor 3D
made in the quality of the display. It's so hard to go back to NASCAR after
playing a version of ICR2 with Rendition enhancements. It's like driving a
Porsche for awhile and then switching to a Honda Civic. They're both cars
and they both get you from here to there, but the Civic just isn't anything
to get e***d about.

Dave (davids) Sparks
Late Night League
http://www.racesimcentral.net/

by **Mike Radl** » Thu, 07 Nov 1996 04:00:00

>>Whats up with this blatantly false advertising I see in PC Gamer and other
>>mags with the two screen shots of ICR2. I can make my Indycar game look
>>as shitty as the left picture too if I turn off all the details they
>>turned off. And if I turn them all on I can make it looked like the one
>>on the right and I don't need any $200 card to do it.
>>I was actually considering this card until I see that they have to resort to
>>cheap misrepresentation to sell their products.

> I don't see any blantant false advertising. What mag are you reading?
>The one in Dec PC Gamer plainly says "graphics options for ~30 fps" right
>across the pictures. To get 30fps on my p166 it almost looks like the crappy
>pic on the left...until my reactor comes.

In reality, the adverti***t doesn't do the board justice! I've had a
Reactor since 10/17 and it Rocks! ICR2 is as smooth as silk and looks
incredible (I posted some of my test results). Of all the computer upgrades
I've ever installed, the Reactor ranks right up top in all catagories (non
technical point of view):

Immediately noticeable speed increase.
Much better looking output (3D).
Extremely reasonable price.
I can't say enough about Intergraph (See Excellence).
It was available when it was supposed to be.
I got the board in 1 day.
It worked the first try.
(I admit text scrolling was slow until I heard about the Win95 Cursor Fix)
Of course, Intergraph is testing new Drivers right now.

To top that off Intergraph's price just went down to $150. I hope your
sitting down for this --> Intergraph is gonna give me $50 back because I
bought the board before the price went down! Hardware prices always go down
after I buy a product (and I thought it was some effect I had on the
computer industry). I was so suprised to hear about thier 30 price
guarantee that I thought I died and went to computer consumer heaven.

To any of you who are still on the fence about who you should buy a
Rendition board from, I hope you decide to go with Intergraph. The best way
to show that we appreciate companies that put the customer first is to make
sure they are the ones that get our Dollars.

Cya,
Mike Radler

by **Mark Smi** » Thu, 07 Nov 1996 04:00:00

>> Whats up with this blatantly false advertising I see in PC Gamer and other mags
>> with the two screen shots of ICR2.

>> I can make my Indycar game look as shitty as the left picture too if I turn off
>> all the details they turned off. And if I turn them all on I can make it looked
>> like the one on the right and I don't need any $200 card to do it.

>> I was actually considering this card until I see that they have to resort to
>> cheap misrepresentation to sell their products.
>If what you are saying is that your vanilla ICR2 looks as good as the 3d
>enhanced version,you might want to take another look...
>Apart from some solid graphic improvements,you'll be running a higher
>graphical content at a nicely higher speed..
>Take a look at the pics I've put up on my website!
>--
>rgs, John.
>< http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/2444/ >

The ONLY thing I care about is if games I buy off the shelf will support this
card or do I have to wait 1-3 months for an upgrade/patch to get the benefits.
I've never seen a game on the shelf yet that supports a single brand of video
card specifically...

by **David Spark** » Thu, 07 Nov 1996 04:00:00

>OKAY - I'm almost sold on trying the Reactor card. What the hell - its
>only $149 and I've wasted that on 2-3 lousy games before. I do have a few
>questions for anyone who know...

>How many games out there support it? I don't wanna get caught up in a N64
>scam and only get 2-3 games to go with my hardware purchase.

Native mode? Not many. Direct 3D is how most of the new game titles are
going to support Rendition. If you want a list of current titles that
support it, check out the Rendition website: http://www.racesimcentral.net/

MMX is a way of making the host processor more efficient at tasks that the
3D cards are doing now. The whole point of a 3D accelerator is to offload
those task from the host processor. The Reactor 3D makes MMX completely
unnecessary, at least for video. Believe me though, Microsoft already has
other ways lined up to steal your precious CPU cycles for other things,
like DirectMusic, DirectSound. Not to mention that Motorola wants to sell
you a software-based modem.

Check out the Rendition website.

The only full title that ships with the Reactor is ICR2. The others are
shareware versions. As far as I know, the version of Quake that ships can
be used with the full release of Quake, if you purchase it. The other
titles are Microsoft Direct3D titles, so the full version will work on any
video board that supports Direct3D.

Sorry, don't have the info handy. I know I'm running 1024x768 at 16-bit. I
was somewhat surprised to find out that with 4MB of video memory, you don't
get 24-bit color at 1024x768, but it's not necessary for me.

Yes.

I think so, haven't tried it.

There's always a possibility that there will be a conflict, the hardware
world isn't perfect. But installation went very smoothly for me.

Dave (davids) Sparks
Late Night League
http://www.racesimcentral.net/

by **Eric T. Busc** » Thu, 07 Nov 1996 04:00:00

You don't really have access to all 4megs of video memory, as some is
reserved for textures. I guess you could think of the board's
available resolutions as those of a 3meg board. BTW, there are no
24-bit modes available at any resolution.

--

Emory University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
Nascar Setups Page: http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

by **David E. Anderso** » Thu, 07 Nov 1996 04:00:00

> >> Whats up with this blatantly false advertising I see in PC Gamer and other mags
> >> with the two screen shots of ICR2.

> >> I can make my Indycar game look as shitty as the left picture too if I turn off
> >> all the details they turned off. And if I turn them all on I can make it looked
> >> like the one on the right and I don't need any $200 card to do it.

> >> I was actually considering this card until I see that they have to resort to
> >> cheap misrepresentation to sell their products.
> >If what you are saying is that your vanilla ICR2 looks as good as the 3d
> >enhanced version,you might want to take another look...
> >Apart from some solid graphic improvements,you'll be running a higher
> >graphical content at a nicely higher speed..
> >Take a look at the pics I've put up on my website!
> >--
> >rgs, John.
> >< http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/2444/ >

> The ONLY thing I care about is if games I buy off the shelf will support this
> card or do I have to wait 1-3 months for an upgrade/patch to get the benefits.
> I've never seen a game on the shelf yet that supports a single brand of video
> card specifically...

Look for games marked "Rendition Ready". Its new technology and
you wont see a lot of them but you will....
--
David Anderson
Customer Support Manager
Intergraph Computer Systems
Workstation Solutions

by **David E. Anderso** » Thu, 07 Nov 1996 04:00:00

> You don't really have access to all 4megs of video memory, as some is
> reserved for textures. I guess you could think of the board's
> available resolutions as those of a 3meg board. BTW, there are no
> 24-bit modes available at any resolution.

> --

> Emory University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
> Nascar Setups Page: http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

> > Sorry, don't have the info handy. I know I'm running 1024x768 at
> 16-bit. I
> > was somewhat surprised to find out that with 4MB of video memory, you
> don't
> > get 24-bit color at 1024x768, but it's not necessary for me.

I may have misread a previous post. Our new driver (hang on, a day or so....)
will support:

Resolution----------Number of Colors---------Vertical Refresh
1280 X 1024---------64K-------------------------60, *72, *75
--------------------256, 16---------------------60, 72, 75
1152 x 864----------64K-------------------------60, 70, *75, *85
--------------------256, 16---------------------60, 70, 75, 85
1024 x 768----------64K, 256, 16----------------60, 70, 72, 75, 85
800 x 600-----------16.8M, 64K, 256, 16---------60, 72, 75, 85
640 x 480-----------16.8M, 64K, 256, 16---------60, 72, 75, 85, 120
* - Driver allows these values but exceeds guaranteed operating conditions

Clear?

--
David Anderson
Customer Support Manager
Intergraph Computer Systems
Workstation Solutions

by **David E. Anderso** » Thu, 07 Nov 1996 04:00:00

> OKAY - I'm almost sold on trying the Reactor card. What the hell - its only
> $149 and I've wasted that on 2-3 lousy games before. I do have a few questions
> for anyone who know...

> How many games out there support it? I don't wanna get caught up in a N64 scam
> and only get 2-3 games to go with my hardware purchase.

> Is MMX gonna make this card obsolete next year or will Reactor support the new
> MMX technology? I'm already on the upgrade path for MMX when it releases.

> What upcoming titles are going to use the REACTOR card.

> Are REACTOR titles full remakes of original titles or are they hacks like that
> Descent game that game with my Diamond Edge 3D and only had 7 levels.

> What are the maximum resolutions and scan refresh rates for this card. I cannot
> give up my 1280x1024 windows at 65000 colors.

> Is this card supported under Win95?

> Does it work with DirectX?

> Can it swap resolutions and color depth without rebooting Windows?

> I guess that's about it. If the Reactor can do everything it claims and not
>***up my current way of life I will order one TODAY!

A new driver ready later this week/early next week will allow
this resolution at 60Hz refresh. It will also allow you to
select 72 and 75Hz but these are technically beyond the
guaranteed performance of the rendition chipset. Other vendors
advertize these rates but do not tell you that.

Look for it on the web SOON.
--
David Anderson
Customer Support Manager
Intergraph Computer Systems
Workstation Solutions

by **Mark Smi** » Fri, 08 Nov 1996 04:00:00

Thanks to everyone for all the info - I ordered my card today. Apparently the
best way to get valuable info on a product is to bash it in an open forum then
let everyone defend it.....

by ma » Fri, 08 Nov 1996 04:00:00

: Can it swap resolutions and color depth without rebooting Windows?

i just want to point out that this rebooting thing is a software imposed
limitation for compatibility and that nearly all cards can do this w/o
problems if windows would let them try.

i'd also like to say that microsoft's website (the win95 section) has a
package called PowerToys that includes a taskbar-based tool for these
changes w/o rebooting on all cards.

-carlos

by **David Sca** » Sat, 09 Nov 1996 04:00:00

>: Can it swap resolutions and color depth without rebooting Windows?
>i just want to point out that this rebooting thing is a software imposed
>limitation for compatibility and that nearly all cards can do this w/o
>problems if windows would let them try.
>i'd also like to say that microsoft's website (the win95 section) has a
>package called PowerToys that includes a taskbar-based tool for these
>changes w/o rebooting on all cards.

QuickRes (from PowerToys) appears to work fine with my Reactor (v1.0
and 1.01 drivers).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This space intentionally left blank

by **Eric T. Busc** » Sat, 09 Nov 1996 04:00:00

You don't even need Quickres to do it. Just check the 'Show Settings
Icon on Taskbar' in the Display Control Panel.

--

Emory University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
Nascar Setups Page: http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

by **Rick Fis** » Sat, 09 Nov 1996 04:00:00

> You don't even need Quickres to do it. Just check the 'Show Settings
> Icon on Taskbar' in the Display Control Panel.

Where is this?

by **Eric T. Busc** » Sun, 10 Nov 1996 04:00:00

It's on the Settings tab of the Display Control Panel in the lower left
corner. I believe it's installed with DirectX.

--

Emory University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
Nascar Setups Page: http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

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