rec.autos.simulators

I'd appreciate opinions on which technology is better (better frame rates)
for NASCAR Racing 99.

Thanks!
Dave

Well, I can only compare a Hercules Thriller 3d 8mp pci 2200 rendition card
with a Canopus Pure 3d Voodoo 1 card, as these are what I have in my system.
I get better framerates in N99 with the rendition card.  Not as severe a
difference as I see in GPL, but better nonetheless.

--
Don Burnette
Palmetto Racing
Dburn on Ten

Dave,
    Actually, I use an STB V4400 AGP X2 card with 16mb and it flies on that.
I have an Intel P2-400 oc'd to 448 with 128megs 7ns PC-100 and above card
and turn everything to max and it runs smooth as silk. If you use this card,
make sure you DON'T install the Vesa drivers. It blows away 3dfx in image
quality, I am not sure about Rendition, as I haven't had one in a long time,
and can't compare them.
Regards,
Ed Medlin

www.flyairwest.com
Reach me by ICQ. My ICQ# is 191942
Page me online through my Personal Communication Center:
http://wwp.mirabilis.com/191942
Send me E-mail Express directly to my computer screen

Dave,
The answer may depend on your system, which CPU, how much memory,  does your
motherboard support dma and/or busmastering?.  if you have a fast enough cpu,
the framerate may be identical at the max 30fps.  In my opinon,having both a
v200 rendition and 3dfx2 12 meg card, with my p166mmx, I get the same frame
rates in nr1999.  The graphics seem a bit better in rendition , but they are
very close.  

II rendition v2100 graphics card nad I get 30+ fps in N2 with all graphics
on and 18 cars in front with full field.

In gpl I get 36 frames with all sounds and graphics on,full field at
640x480.

The video quality is awesome and my system was built and upgraded on a very
tight budget!

Jeff

What about GPL on your Stealth card?

With my celeron 300a oc'd to 450, 64mb memory and a monster fusion, I get
36fps at 1024x768 with all options on and detail at the middle.  It gets a
little lower (high 20's) on the grid with 19 other cars, assuming most of
them are behind me ;-).  At 300Mhz, I have to tone things down a little and
switch to 800x600.  I am too spoiled now to even consider racing at 640x480.
I LOVE my monster fusion!

Charlie

How is it possible to get anything greater than 640x480 in N99?? I
thought that was the max available....it is with my Q3D Raven Banshee
w/16 mb.....

Currently, in terms of 3D accleration, Rendition seems to have been eclipsed
by Voodoo2 in terms of fps and by TNT in terms of image quality.
In terms of fps Voodoo2 (3dfx) at 12Mb is quite a bit faster than Rendition
and dual Voodoo2s running in SLI mode are much faster than anything around
including TNT. Of course it depends on your system and on less than PII,
Voodoo2 doesn't really perform. It also depends on the games you want to play
- GPL, for example, cannot output more than 36fps, which isn't very much these
days. The graphics on Voodoo2 look a bit washed out because it only supports
16bit colours, whereas other cards support more colour depth. Voodoo2 cannot
support more than 1024x768 whereas TNT will do 1600x1200. Also Voodoo2 doesn't
have any 2D acceleration built in so you will need a 2D card as well, but you
almost certainly have one of those already. See http:\\www.tomshardware.com
(the definitive hardware review site) for comparative benchmarks between all
the graphics cards. According to tomshardware the ultimate *** machine has
a dual Voodoo2 and an AGP TNT. You will need the Open GL libraries to get GPL
to run well on TNT (don't know about N99). The Canopus TNT supports TV out
which will be great if you have a wide screen tv as games are beginning to
support that now - eg GPL and TOCA2. Obviously unless you have a wide-screen
gas plasma tv (big bucks), the resolution and frame rates will be less than on
a reasonable monitor. Also you can feed your Voodoo2 cards into the TNT rather
than vice versa and so not suffer the poorer quality 2D with 3dfx
pass-through. Things are set to change with the advent of Voodoo3, which will
have 2D acceleration, AGP support, on board SLI and increased colour depth. In
reality the Voodoo3 is the next generation Banshee, which has not had such
rave reviews as Voodoo2 and so the marketing dept at 3dfx have called it
Voodoo3 rather than Bahshee 2. How TNT and Rendition will reply to this, I
don't know.
Cheers,
Paul

Just to correct that URL:
http://www.tomshardware.com/
Cheers,
Paul

Oops, I was not thinking.  As I mentioned at the beginning of my post, I was
in GPL mode.  As for N99, I haven't spent enough time with it lately to
comment.

Sorry guys,
Charlie

Oops ignore my last 2 messages while I rewire the eyes-to-keyboard
connection to include my brain....

GPL, 1024x768, N99, 640x480

Charlie