rec.autos.simulators

Thanks,
cj.

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Before you buy.

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Chuck Kandler  #70
K&S Racing
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And spit in your face,
But legends never die.   --Gene Simmons

Second, he asked about a specific game where all bets based on a generality as
the above are off.

Third, quoting from Anandtech, a widely cited hardware website:

"Many readers suggested we use flight simulators in addition to our usual set
of first person shooter benchmarks, but from our experiences with flight
simulators, the limiting factor there is CPU  power and not the fill rate of
the video card.

It is for this reason that a TNT2 or Voodoo3 would be just as desirable as a
GeForce to a gamer that only plays flight simulators; you are better off
getting a TNT2 or Voodoo3 and a faster CPU than sheeling out  the big bucks
for a GeForce.

Racing games such as NFS 5: Porsche Unleashed are also not very demanding when
it comes to a video card with high fill rates..."

Now, he might be overstating the case, but I think his general premise that a
CPU investment is a better idea.  As important is the implication that
extrapolating performance from the myriad of First Person Shooter benchmarks
every site uses (which I'm pretty tired of seeing), is specious.

I'm not saying that you won't see a difference between a V3, TNT2, GeForce, or
upcoming V4/5/6.  But that a one-liner saying the TNT2 is way faster is
questionable at best.  Go by the experiences of those in this ng who have
tried both.  From my reading, the voodoo folk seem generally more satisfied
than the TNT'rs with this title's performance.  Though not conclusive.

I agree with you that CPU investment is a better way of increasing
performance.
When I had a V3 3000 I was playing SCGT a lot and then I replaced it with a
CL TNT2 Ultra and noticed a significant increase in performance when you
have the maximum number of cars on the grid.Although in certain games the V3
would run 10 fps faster than the TNT once you put a few more objects in
front of it it would noticeably slow down where as the TNT2 wouldn't.

I also agree that if you have a half decent system there's currently no real
advantage in getting a higher spec card, I've not seen a great deal of
difference between my Ge-Force DDR and my G400 Max DH.

IMO if you want out and out performance the fastest card I've owned is the
ATI Maxx 64Mb Dual 128Pro's, but I prefer the image quality of the G400.

,Jason

Not in F1 2000. Maybe in a vacuum.

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cisko [AT] ix [DOT] netcom [DOT] com

Can't speak for F1 2000, but I have both cards and you are mistaken in
every other case.

Andrew McP

I'm not trying to start an argument here as each card has its own merits ,
Voodoo's main one has to compatibility, and at least they'll get into the
32bit colour market with the V4/5's, which with any luck I'll be testing a
V5 5500 next month.

Having seen the difference I can wholeheartedly say I could live without
32-bit for approximately forever :-) There are times when it's noticeable,
but I'll have a few extra fps rather than a little less dithering in
graduated fills. In fact hardware antialiasing ought to make 32-bit even
less important... It'd be interesting to see some side by side comparisons
between x2/4 16/32-bit

Andrew McP

Lol ! Yeah! I'd have to go along with that one! :O)

The AA on the new Vodoo cards isn't going to come as free as some people
seem to think. Some of the test results showed pretty severe performance
hits. I wouldn't be surprised if the Nvidia GeForce model
15 doesn't turn out to be better- although not necessariyl for AA.

I don't think anyone expects them to be free. I expect half frame rates
for x2, quarter for x4. But, for example, I'm flying CH at 1600x1200
pretty smoothly... plenty of room there to swap resolution for aliasing.

The point is that these days cards are capable of some serious fps and,
while I'd like 60fps in everything I play I can live with 25+ if the
tradeoff's worth it. I certainly don't expect FSAA to be practical in
everything though!

Andrew McP