rec.autos.simulators

        I'm currently running ICR2 and Nascar on a Pentium 60MHz, 16Meg
Ram, 1Mb Vram......Can someone tell me what would give me the best
performance boost for the buck...Forget multitasking etc....Looking for
best sim. performance.  

                2Mb Graphics Accel. ~ $350
                16Mb Ram Memory ~ $170
                Overdrive Processor(60 to 122MHz) ~ $350

        If you where spending your money...what would you buy?   Please
don't say all of the above.

                                Thanks in Advance

could someone please tell me the exact release date for GP2.

                                thanks,
                                Brent

Get the processor.  You've got plenty of RAM, and more won't help.
The graphics card might be a better buy than the RAM but the net
increase in performance tends to vary system-to-system and if it's
a 3D-based card you won't get any improvement unless the software
is specifically compiled for that single brand of board.  

Regards,

John

I'd go for the Overdrive Processor(60 to 122MHz,
later,
PS- Email me with the results of your choice!

              ->->->->Mark Mann->->->->
          http://www.netrunner.net/~markmann
        **************************************
           !!!Go Fast or Don't Go At All!!!
        **************************************
      Go Jacques Villeneuve - #6 Williams-Renault
 Go Greg Moore - #99 Player's/Forsythe-Reynard-Mercedes

Don't go for the Overdrive.  Get a new motherboard that'll take up to
a 200, and stick in a P120, the price has just dropped to below P100
prices.  The boards ca be picked up for arounng 80 quid, say $120 and
the procs are around 110 quid say $170.

Don't buy an overdrive, you will regret it.  

Like the others are saying, memory wont make much difference, and the
video card will depend on the chipset you buy.  Video cards are due
for a drop, so hang in there.

Norm

How about "None of the Above" - in true Richard Pryor tradition! :)

What you need is more CPU power, since that will define the speed of
your system. Try looking for a P-133 and a Triton-II motherboard with
pipeline cache (SuperMicro P55T2E is good). By selling your current
motherboard and CPU this would be within you reach, and the P-133 would
be a BIG improvement over the overdrive.

Buying an overdrive means you are stuck with 60Mhz bus (slower), and you
will still have the slower motherboard.

I'm sure you'll get lots of opinions, and that's mine! Sim Racing News
hardware section will be dedicated to upgrading systems, so have a look
at that when it is released (a week or so).

Cheers!
John
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               http://www.math.ohio-state.edu/~harmon/simnews

Hi Craig,      
:               2Mb Graphics Accel. ~ $350
:               16Mb Ram Memory ~ $170
:               Overdrive Processor(60 to 122MHz) ~ $350
:
:       If you where spending your money...what would you buy?   Please
: don't say all of the above.

I think that's easy... buy the overdrive

but isn't it possible to buy another mainboard incl a processor for $350 ?
(i don't know the Americain prices).

Greetings,

Twan

Cheers
Martin

NONE OF THE ABOVE - I agree.

Save the $800 - $900 in upgrades, sale your current system, and buy a new
one.  VEKTRON system available...

P-166
32MB EDO Ram
3.0gb HD
Diamond Stealth 64 w/4mb VRAM
8x CD Rom
AWE-32 sound
Yamaha M15 speakers w/subwoofer
Supra 33.6 v34 fax/modem/voice w/spkr phone
17" MAG DX17 .25 monitor
3.5 floppy
WIN95 installed
$2970

If you can get all this brand new through mail order for under $3000, why
not back off on some of the high-end options and get it into your price
range.  Such as 133 speed, 16mb Ram, regular Soundblaster w/spkrs, 28.8
modem, 15" monitor, and 1gb hd.  price would probably come down a bit.  

http://www.vetron.com

I own one of their P-100 systems (18 months ago) and prices just keep
plunging.

Andrew

Hey, you've got an Intel fab in your country, you should walk along
there and ask them for a new CPU :)

The Stealth 2000 3D is "okay". It's not a particularly good DOS
performer, but it's not as bad as other 3D cards have been. It's also
not particularly good in Windows. The "3D" performance is good, but only
if you have games which support it..... (you can see the problem). If
you bought it I think you would be initially very happy with the
performance of the bundled games (and the usual fun at having something
new!), but then you would find it wasn't a good buy.

I would recommend you to have a look at www.pricewatch.com - see if you
can find a dealer who will export you a good card from the USA, instead
of suffering the limited choice in Israel. If you accept the limited
choice, you will always have it. I buy a lot of stuff from America (I am
in the UK), and I've had no problems.

Cheers!
John

                     _________________________________
         __    _____|                                 |_____    __
________|  |__|    :|           John Wallace          |     |__|  |________

  \    :|  |::|    :|        Team WW Racing TSW       |     |::|  |     /
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  /    :|__|::|____/       * Sim Racing News *         \____|::|__|     \
/______:/  \::/ http://sneezy.dcn.ed.ac.uk/simnews/index.htm \::/  \._____\
               http://www.math.ohio-state.edu/~harmon/simnews

Lessee, build one yourself like this:
  Mid tower case (with power supply) - $50
  Tyan Tomcat 1 motherboard           - $190  (Intel Zappa for $150)
  P5/133                                              - $250
  16mb of 60ns EDO RAM                 - $110 (the more the better)
  2.5 GB WD hard drive                     - $325 (IDE)
  8X- IDE CD-ROM                            - $175 (IDE)
  3-1/2" floppy drive                            - $40
  Soundblaster 16                              - $150 (do NOT get OEM)
  USR 33.6 External modem             - $189
  Speakers                                         - $75  
  Keyboard                                         - $40
  Mouse (Logitech 3-button serial)    - $60
  ET6000-based video card              - $200 (Herculese? VideoLogic?)

Grand total is $1854, but you still have to pick a monitor.  I would recommend
a 17-inch either Sony, Viewsonic, or Samsung.  Don't worry about getting a
monitor or video card that can go up to 1600x1280 resolution because you can't
read the friggin text at that res anyway.

Seems to me that even if you pick the Sony 17sf2 ($820), you're still coming
in well below the $2970 mark.  Besides that, you'll be sure of EVERYTHING
that's going tinto your machine.  One more note - buy locally whenever
possible because you may need to take something back if it doesn't work right
away.

Oh yeah, Intel is droipping prices on their CPU's this month.  Watch the 133
price drop like a stone...

that's my 2cents.