rec.autos.simulators

by **Brad Larocqu** » Sun, 24 Mar 2002 17:14:46

I am finally breaking down and looking at new monitors and vid cards. I
think I'm going to go with a NEC MultiSync FE 950+ 19" monitor (gotta
lose this old 14" POS). Is this a good one to get. From the in-store
comparisons it seemed to have the shapest pictures at 1024x768.

I'm stumped on a vid card though. I currently have (laughter please) an
NVIDIA TNT2 Vanta with 8MB on-borad (orig card that came with the
system) I run N4, GPL, and a bunch of older sims (want some newer ones
too) and would like to know what would be the best card to get. Radeon
8500? GF4? Any advice would be greatly welcome.

by **Brad Larocqu** » Sun, 24 Mar 2002 17:26:52

Sorry forgot to add other system specs:

Pentium 3 600 mhz CPU
128 MB RAM
not sure what kind of motherboard I have, but it's an HP Pavilion 8670C
machine I bought 2 (or was it 3,whatever year System Shock 2 came out)
years ago.

I currently run 800x600x32 res but have to turn the brightness almost to
max for games (software controlled brightness, as the knob is already
maxed out) or else the games are to dark to see, unless in game res is
dropped to 640x480

> I am finally breaking down and looking at new monitors and vid cards. I
> think I'm going to go with a NEC MultiSync FE 950+ 19" monitor (gotta
> lose this old 14" POS). Is this a good one to get. From the in-store
> comparisons it seemed to have the shapest pictures at 1024x768.

> I'm stumped on a vid card though. I currently have (laughter please) an
> NVIDIA TNT2 Vanta with 8MB on-borad (orig card that came with the
> system) I run N4, GPL, and a bunch of older sims (want some newer ones
> too) and would like to know what would be the best card to get. Radeon
> 8500? GF4? Any advice would be greatly welcome.

by **Dave Henri** » Sun, 24 Mar 2002 23:42:08

Brad for the very new games your entire system is toooo slow. Upgrading
is kinda like racing, how fast you go depends on how much you can afford.
(first nvidia cards, even the newer ones, run very dark. My son has one<so
do I...> and can barely see some of his games, there are brightness controls
in the desktop properties that should brighten your display some so that you
don't burn out your new monitor with full brightness settings)
2nd, any new card is going to be faster than the one you have. However,
the absolute bare minumum should be a card with 32 megs of memory....64
would be better and there are even several cards out now with
128megs...these are price tho.
3rd. upping your memory to at least 256 will give your games room to
breathe and not bog down while windows does its housekeeping.
4th...Compaq and/or any other brand are notoriously hard to upgrade since
they use custom cases and oem parts.
5th Get as MUCH CPU as you can afford. This probably mean replacing your
motherboard and your memory as well unfortunately, and there is where the
Compaq name gets in the way...but if possible get yourself a chip that is
well above the one gigahertz level.
Good luck...
dave henrie

> Sorry forgot to add other system specs:

> Pentium 3 600 mhz CPU
> 128 MB RAM
> not sure what kind of motherboard I have, but it's an HP Pavilion 8670C
> machine I bought 2 (or was it 3,whatever year System Shock 2 came out)
> years ago.

> I currently run 800x600x32 res but have to turn the brightness almost to
> max for games (software controlled brightness, as the knob is already
> maxed out) or else the games are to dark to see, unless in game res is
> dropped to 640x480

> > I am finally breaking down and looking at new monitors and vid cards. I
> > think I'm going to go with a NEC MultiSync FE 950+ 19" monitor (gotta
> > lose this old 14" POS). Is this a good one to get. From the in-store
> > comparisons it seemed to have the shapest pictures at 1024x768.

> > I'm stumped on a vid card though. I currently have (laughter please) an
> > NVIDIA TNT2 Vanta with 8MB on-borad (orig card that came with the
> > system) I run N4, GPL, and a bunch of older sims (want some newer ones
> > too) and would like to know what would be the best card to get. Radeon
> > 8500? GF4? Any advice would be greatly welcome.

by **Doug Hoo** » Sun, 24 Mar 2002 23:39:13

First you might want to check your motherboard to see if you have an actual
agp slot. I had an HP before and with onboard graphics they sometimes don't
even bother to give you the actual agp slot because the graphics chip is
soldered right on the board. I think you might find that a graphics card
upgrade might be impossible if this is the case.(unless you go to a pci card
which I don't recommend.)

As far as monitors go I just picked up a Samsung Syncmaster 955 DF 19" flat
screen. $299 from BestBuy with $30 mail in rebate. I highly recommend this
monitor.

> Sorry forgot to add other system specs:

> Pentium 3 600 mhz CPU
> 128 MB RAM
> not sure what kind of motherboard I have, but it's an HP Pavilion 8670C
> machine I bought 2 (or was it 3,whatever year System Shock 2 came out)
> years ago.

> I currently run 800x600x32 res but have to turn the brightness almost to
> max for games (software controlled brightness, as the knob is already
> maxed out) or else the games are to dark to see, unless in game res is
> dropped to 640x480

> > I am finally breaking down and looking at new monitors and vid cards. I
> > think I'm going to go with a NEC MultiSync FE 950+ 19" monitor (gotta
> > lose this old 14" POS). Is this a good one to get. From the in-store
> > comparisons it seemed to have the shapest pictures at 1024x768.

> > I'm stumped on a vid card though. I currently have (laughter please) an
> > NVIDIA TNT2 Vanta with 8MB on-borad (orig card that came with the
> > system) I run N4, GPL, and a bunch of older sims (want some newer ones
> > too) and would like to know what would be the best card to get. Radeon
> > 8500? GF4? Any advice would be greatly welcome.

by **Glen Pittma** » Mon, 25 Mar 2002 00:52:58

Not sure what you are looking to spend, but the Geforce 3 Ti200 is probably
the best value for the dollar in Video cards. If you choose the Gainward
model, some say they run at the same clock speeds as the Ti500, which means
you get the same performance. Then there is the Radeon 8500. The card
performs well, but there are lots of instances where Geforce users have no
problems and Radeon users do. Course, there are probably instances the
other way also.

Your CPU is a huge bottle neck now though.

A quick check on pricewatch shows:

ECS K7S5A w/ AMD XP 1500 CPU - 147.00
256 M of PC2100 DDR memory - 50.00
Ti200 Video Card - 120.00

So it looks like about 320.00 + shipping would get you a pretty decent
upgrade for your PC. Of course, for a little more, you can really step up
the performance.

www.pricewatch.com

Glen Pittman

by **Jone Tytlandsvi** » Mon, 25 Mar 2002 01:00:49

I think those days were over many years ago. They all use standard ATX,
micro ATX cases and motherboards. Even if it's a slim PC, it follows the
NLX, SFX and whatever-it's-called standards. You will be able to find OEM
motherboard's to fit these slim cases, but it might be more expensive and
harder to find than ATX mb's.

Jone.

by **Todd Walke** » Mon, 25 Mar 2002 01:14:36

Just last week, I got the Gainward GeForce3 Ti200 (Gainward calls it the
Ti450) and I couldn't be more pleased. I went from a Voodoo3/3000 to this
card and the difference is amazing. Not only are my games much faster but
the GeForce graphics are so much prettier than the Voodoo. There is a lot
of detail in my games that I never knew was there because the Voodoo3
simply wasn't capable of displaying them. My system is a P3/1Ghz with 256
megs and I get 4900 on 3DMark2001 at 1024x768, 32-bit color, no AA. I
HIGHLY recommend the GF3.

--
______________________
Todd Walker
http://twalker.d2g.com
Canon Pro90IS
______________________

by **Brad Larocqu** » Mon, 25 Mar 2002 01:34:12

Doug, I was going to go with the Samsung. It was right next tho the NEC
model on the shelf and there was no comparison. The Samsung flickered
too much, and the NEC had a MUCH sharper picture. The only problem is
the NEC is $120 (Cdn) more. I think thats the biggest problem for me is
being in Canada, everything cost up to 50% more than in the States. AUGH!!!

> First you might want to check your motherboard to see if you have an actual
> agp slot. I had an HP before and with onboard graphics they sometimes don't
> even bother to give you the actual agp slot because the graphics chip is
> soldered right on the board. I think you might find that a graphics card
> upgrade might be impossible if this is the case.(unless you go to a pci card
> which I don't recommend.)

> As far as monitors go I just picked up a Samsung Syncmaster 955 DF 19" flat
> screen. $299 from BestBuy with $30 mail in rebate. I highly recommend this
> monitor.

>>Sorry forgot to add other system specs:

>>Pentium 3 600 mhz CPU
>>128 MB RAM
>>not sure what kind of motherboard I have, but it's an HP Pavilion 8670C
>>machine I bought 2 (or was it 3,whatever year System Shock 2 came out)
>>years ago.

>>I currently run 800x600x32 res but have to turn the brightness almost to
>>max for games (software controlled brightness, as the knob is already
>>maxed out) or else the games are to dark to see, unless in game res is
>>dropped to 640x480

>>>I am finally breaking down and looking at new monitors and vid cards. I
>>>think I'm going to go with a NEC MultiSync FE 950+ 19" monitor (gotta
>>>lose this old 14" POS). Is this a good one to get. From the in-store
>>>comparisons it seemed to have the shapest pictures at 1024x768.

>>>I'm stumped on a vid card though. I currently have (laughter please) an
>>>NVIDIA TNT2 Vanta with 8MB on-borad (orig card that came with the
>>>system) I run N4, GPL, and a bunch of older sims (want some newer ones
>>>too) and would like to know what would be the best card to get. Radeon
>>>8500? GF4? Any advice would be greatly welcome.

by **Brad Larocqu** » Mon, 25 Mar 2002 01:37:37

Thanks for all the help guys. My only hold up with all these
improvements is price. As proud as I am to be Canadian (oops asking for
trouble there lol) it sucks when our prices are up to 50% higher than
down south. The NEC monitor I'm considering is $550 here, and I always
see it about $320-350 US in various websites. Cripes!

> I am finally breaking down and looking at new monitors and vid cards. I
> think I'm going to go with a NEC MultiSync FE 950+ 19" monitor (gotta
> lose this old 14" POS). Is this a good one to get. From the in-store
> comparisons it seemed to have the shapest pictures at 1024x768.

> I'm stumped on a vid card though. I currently have (laughter please) an
> NVIDIA TNT2 Vanta with 8MB on-borad (orig card that came with the
> system) I run N4, GPL, and a bunch of older sims (want some newer ones
> too) and would like to know what would be the best card to get. Radeon
> 8500? GF4? Any advice would be greatly welcome.

by **Biz** » Mon, 25 Mar 2002 05:47:25

Ummm, am I missing someting here? When you do the currency conversion, isn't it the same? If there
weren't currency exchange rates most Americans might buy stuff from the UK, since an item maybe $15
US but 10 pounds or less in the UK. Think about it and you'll see that its not more expensive....
--
Biz

"Don't touch that please, your primitive intellect wouldn't understand
alloys and compositions and,......things with molecular structures,....and
the....." - Ash

> Thanks for all the help guys. My only hold up with all these
> improvements is price. As proud as I am to be Canadian (oops asking for
> trouble there lol) it sucks when our prices are up to 50% higher than
> down south. The NEC monitor I'm considering is $550 here, and I always
> see it about $320-350 US in various websites. Cripes!

> > I am finally breaking down and looking at new monitors and vid cards. I
> > think I'm going to go with a NEC MultiSync FE 950+ 19" monitor (gotta
> > lose this old 14" POS). Is this a good one to get. From the in-store
> > comparisons it seemed to have the shapest pictures at 1024x768.

> > I'm stumped on a vid card though. I currently have (laughter please) an
> > NVIDIA TNT2 Vanta with 8MB on-borad (orig card that came with the
> > system) I run N4, GPL, and a bunch of older sims (want some newer ones
> > too) and would like to know what would be the best card to get. Radeon
> > 8500? GF4? Any advice would be greatly welcome.

by **Brad Larocqu** » Mon, 25 Mar 2002 06:38:31

No, maybe not more expensive, but either way it's still $550 bucks Cdn
(about $320 US) and thats a lot of dough!

> Ummm, am I missing someting here? When you do the currency conversion, isn't it the same? If there
> weren't currency exchange rates most Americans might buy stuff from the UK, since an item maybe $15
> US but 10 pounds or less in the UK. Think about it and you'll see that its not more expensive....
> --
> Biz

> "Don't touch that please, your primitive intellect wouldn't understand
> alloys and compositions and,......things with molecular structures,....and
> the....." - Ash

>>Thanks for all the help guys. My only hold up with all these
>>improvements is price. As proud as I am to be Canadian (oops asking for
>>trouble there lol) it sucks when our prices are up to 50% higher than
>>down south. The NEC monitor I'm considering is $550 here, and I always
>>see it about $320-350 US in various websites. Cripes!

>>>I am finally breaking down and looking at new monitors and vid cards. I
>>>think I'm going to go with a NEC MultiSync FE 950+ 19" monitor (gotta
>>>lose this old 14" POS). Is this a good one to get. From the in-store
>>>comparisons it seemed to have the shapest pictures at 1024x768.

>>>I'm stumped on a vid card though. I currently have (laughter please) an
>>>NVIDIA TNT2 Vanta with 8MB on-borad (orig card that came with the
>>>system) I run N4, GPL, and a bunch of older sims (want some newer ones
>>>too) and would like to know what would be the best card to get. Radeon
>>>8500? GF4? Any advice would be greatly welcome.

by **Biz** » Mon, 25 Mar 2002 07:01:09

So what you're saying is that monitor is just too much money for your wallet? Try choosing one that
does fit your wallet.
--
Biz

"Don't touch that please, your primitive intellect wouldn't understand
alloys and compositions and,......things with molecular structures,....and
the....." - Ash

> No, maybe not more expensive, but either way it's still $550 bucks Cdn
> (about $320 US) and thats a lot of dough!

> > Ummm, am I missing someting here? When you do the currency conversion, isn't it the same? If
there
> > weren't currency exchange rates most Americans might buy stuff from the UK, since an item maybe
$15
> > US but 10 pounds or less in the UK. Think about it and you'll see that its not more
expensive....
> > --
> > Biz

> > "Don't touch that please, your primitive intellect wouldn't understand
> > alloys and compositions and,......things with molecular structures,....and
> > the....." - Ash

> >>Thanks for all the help guys. My only hold up with all these
> >>improvements is price. As proud as I am to be Canadian (oops asking for
> >>trouble there lol) it sucks when our prices are up to 50% higher than
> >>down south. The NEC monitor I'm considering is $550 here, and I always
> >>see it about $320-350 US in various websites. Cripes!

> >>>I am finally breaking down and looking at new monitors and vid cards. I
> >>>think I'm going to go with a NEC MultiSync FE 950+ 19" monitor (gotta
> >>>lose this old 14" POS). Is this a good one to get. From the in-store
> >>>comparisons it seemed to have the shapest pictures at 1024x768.

> >>>I'm stumped on a vid card though. I currently have (laughter please) an
> >>>NVIDIA TNT2 Vanta with 8MB on-borad (orig card that came with the
> >>>system) I run N4, GPL, and a bunch of older sims (want some newer ones
> >>>too) and would like to know what would be the best card to get. Radeon
> >>>8500? GF4? Any advice would be greatly welcome.

by **Joe Marque** » Mon, 25 Mar 2002 08:42:52

You should add a case for about $50 with a 300-400w PS to run all that
stuff. I seriously doubt his old Compaq case will be AMD approved/capable.
I wouldn't be surprised if there was only a 140w ps in that machine.

--
Joe Marques

> Not sure what you are looking to spend, but the Geforce 3 Ti200 is
probably
> the best value for the dollar in Video cards. If you choose the Gainward
> model, some say they run at the same clock speeds as the Ti500, which
means
> you get the same performance. Then there is the Radeon 8500. The card
> performs well, but there are lots of instances where Geforce users have no
> problems and Radeon users do. Course, there are probably instances the
> other way also.

> Your CPU is a huge bottle neck now though.

> A quick check on pricewatch shows:

> ECS K7S5A w/ AMD XP 1500 CPU - 147.00
> 256 M of PC2100 DDR memory - 50.00
> Ti200 Video Card - 120.00

> So it looks like about 320.00 + shipping would get you a pretty decent
> upgrade for your PC. Of course, for a little more, you can really step up
> the performance.

> www.pricewatch.com

> Glen Pittman

> > I am finally breaking down and looking at new monitors and vid cards. I
> > think I'm going to go with a NEC MultiSync FE 950+ 19" monitor (gotta
> > lose this old 14" POS). Is this a good one to get. From the in-store
> > comparisons it seemed to have the shapest pictures at 1024x768.

> > I'm stumped on a vid card though. I currently have (laughter please) an
> > NVIDIA TNT2 Vanta with 8MB on-borad (orig card that came with the
> > system) I run N4, GPL, and a bunch of older sims (want some newer ones
> > too) and would like to know what would be the best card to get. Radeon
> > 8500? GF4? Any advice would be greatly welcome.

by **Glen Pittma** » Mon, 25 Mar 2002 13:14:48

Very true. I had completely forgotten that one.

> You should add a case for about $50 with a 300-400w PS to run all that
> stuff. I seriously doubt his old Compaq case will be AMD
approved/capable.
> I wouldn't be surprised if there was only a 140w ps in that machine.

> --
> Joe Marques

> > Not sure what you are looking to spend, but the Geforce 3 Ti200 is
> probably
> > the best value for the dollar in Video cards. If you choose the
Gainward
> > model, some say they run at the same clock speeds as the Ti500, which
> means
> > you get the same performance. Then there is the Radeon 8500. The card
> > performs well, but there are lots of instances where Geforce users have
no
> > problems and Radeon users do. Course, there are probably instances the
> > other way also.

> > Your CPU is a huge bottle neck now though.

> > A quick check on pricewatch shows:

> > ECS K7S5A w/ AMD XP 1500 CPU - 147.00
> > 256 M of PC2100 DDR memory - 50.00
> > Ti200 Video Card - 120.00

> > So it looks like about 320.00 + shipping would get you a pretty decent
> > upgrade for your PC. Of course, for a little more, you can really step
up
> > the performance.

> > www.pricewatch.com

> > Glen Pittman

> > > I am finally breaking down and looking at new monitors and vid cards.
I
> > > think I'm going to go with a NEC MultiSync FE 950+ 19" monitor (gotta
> > > lose this old 14" POS). Is this a good one to get. From the in-store
> > > comparisons it seemed to have the shapest pictures at 1024x768.

> > > I'm stumped on a vid card though. I currently have (laughter please)
an
> > > NVIDIA TNT2 Vanta with 8MB on-borad (orig card that came with the
> > > system) I run N4, GPL, and a bunch of older sims (want some newer ones
> > > too) and would like to know what would be the best card to get. Radeon
> > > 8500? GF4? Any advice would be greatly welcome.

by **rik zeppeli** » Tue, 26 Mar 2002 13:27:11

> >No, maybe not more expensive, but either way it's still $550 bucks Cdn
> >(about $320 US) and thats a lot of dough!

> One thing about when checking monitors in the store, they usually use
> one PC and have all the monitors running in a chain so you are not
> always seeing the true quality anyway as this degrades the monitor
> picture quality. Also, you said the other monitor was flickering and
> the NEC wasn't. They probably had the chepaer monitor set to a lower
> refresh rate, maybe they want you to think the NEC is much better so
> you will buy it when it really isn't.

Very insightful Jim!
I bet you're right!

rec.autos.simulators

Video card and monitor question

Video card and monitor question

Video card and monitor question

Video card and monitor question

Video card and monitor question

Video card and monitor question

Video card and monitor question

Video card and monitor question

Video card and monitor question

Video card and monitor question

Video card and monitor question

Video card and monitor question

Video card and monitor question

Video card and monitor question

Video card and monitor question

Video card and monitor question