Video cards - the maze gets murkier!

I'm still trying to find a vid card to replace a V3 3000 on my 1.2Ghz Athlon system. I play (operate?) only GPL, NFS5 and GP3, but am interested in F1 2001 as well. So far I've tried a 32 Mb MX, a 64 Mb MX400 and a 64 Mb Kyro II. The standard MX went back straight away - poor frame rates and image quality. I then bought a Kyro II, which is pretty good for GPL, except the menus get screwed up and the framerate doesn't reach the magic 36 all the time. However it will run with 4x FSAA at 1152 x 8??. Strangely it runs considerably better fps at this res than at 1024 x 768. I've also noticed that since I downloaded some updated track textures, the best framerate is down to about 31 fps and gets worse at some sections of some tracks. The main downside of this card is that it won't run GP3 at better than about 9 fps at any resolution at all! Also in F1 2000 (only EA version I've got so far) with the mirrors on I can't get better than about 12 fps at the start of a race. The MX400 has much about the same framerates as the Kyro without FSAA, but much worse when using any form of AA. As GeForce 3s are still around $800 here in Oz, this is not really an option. So the alternatives come down to a 64 Mb Geforce II GTS Pro or (dare I say it?) a Voodoo 5. As the V5 is prolly still the best card of all for GPL and seems to run GP3 and F1 2001 O.K. (comments?) - this may be the way to go. Anyone who has experience of both the V5 and a GTS in these sims care to comment? TIa... Phillip....

http://www.scorptec.com.au/ Best place to get competitive, up to date Aust prices. Steer clear of the MX versions, they don't have the horsepower needed. MSI Geforce2 Pro 64mb with Tv Out put Retail box - $350 is a pretty good deal. Don't go for anything less than a GTS really. I'm surprised the KyroII was so poor in GP3 though, must be some problem there because it sould do a lot better than that. Hell, I get 25fps at 1024 in GP3 on my V3! Rafe Mc On Thu, 18 Oct 2001 14:08:27 +1000, "Phillip Archer" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>I'm still trying to find a vid card to replace a V3 3000 on my 1.2Ghz Athlon >system. I play (operate?) only GPL, NFS5 and GP3, but am interested in F1 >2001 as well. >So far I've tried a 32 Mb MX, a 64 Mb MX400 and a 64 Mb Kyro II. >The standard MX went back straight away - poor frame rates and image >quality. >I then bought a Kyro II, which is pretty good for GPL, except the menus get >screwed up and the framerate doesn't reach the magic 36 all the time. >However it will run with 4x FSAA at 1152 x 8??. Strangely it runs >considerably better fps at this res than at 1024 x 768. I've also noticed >that since I downloaded some updated track textures, the best framerate is >down to about 31 fps and gets worse at some sections of some tracks. The >main downside of this card is that it won't run GP3 at better than about 9 >fps at any resolution at all! Also in F1 2000 (only EA version I've got so >far) with the mirrors on I can't get better than about 12 fps at the start >of a race. > The MX400 has much about the same framerates as the Kyro without FSAA, but >much worse when using any form of AA. >As GeForce 3s are still around $800 here in Oz, this is not really an >option. So the alternatives come down to a 64 Mb Geforce II GTS Pro or (dare >I say it?) a Voodoo 5. As the V5 is prolly still the best card of all for >GPL and seems to run GP3 and F1 2001 O.K. (comments?) - this may be the way >to go. >Anyone who has experience of both the V5 and a GTS in these sims care to >comment? > TIa... > Phillip.... >

"Rafe McAuliffe" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> http://www.scorptec.com.au/ > > Best place to get competitive, up to date Aust prices. > > Steer clear of the MX versions, they don't have the horsepower needed. > > > MSI Geforce2 Pro 64mb with Tv Out put Retail box - $350 is a pretty > good deal. Don't go for anything less than a GTS really. I'm surprised > the KyroII was so poor in GP3 though, must be some problem there > because it sould do a lot better than that. Hell, I get 25fps at 1024 > in GP3 on my V3!

The Kryo chipset is incompatable with GP3 - a known problem Doug

Phillip, Whatever you get (I would recommend a GF2 non-MX), I don't think you can run FSAA in GP3 - its 2.5D engine chokes on the Nvidia variety, at least. Can't say whether the same is true of the V5 (of which I have the PCI variety sitting under my desk, but couldn't get it to agree with my existing system). Rick

> I'm still trying to find a vid card to replace a V3 3000 on my 1.2GhzAthlon Just out of curiosity (I'm not suggesting it's a viable solution) but what frame rate can you get on a >1gig machine with software.dll....???

"Art McEwen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:9qn4k1$p6r$[email hidden]... > > I'm still trying to find a vid card to replace a V3 3000 on my 1.2Ghz > Athlon > > Just out of curiosity (I'm not suggesting it's a viable solution) but what > frame rate can you get on a >1gig machine with software.dll....??? >Interestingly, I did look at this when I put the V3 in my daughter's Duron 850, and get 36 fps when on the track alone in software mode. Haven't tried a race in s/w, don't think I could cope ;-) Phillip... p.s. I'll have some figures in a couple of sims comparing a V3, V5, Kyro II, MX400 and (hopefully) GTS Pro after the weekend, if anyone's interested? Phillip...