Videocards & GP2

OK. Here comes another question about Videocards .... I have recently got a Cyrix P166. I am now looking for a replacement for my old W32 ET4000 card. For comparison, would anyone with the same CPU please inform me of the values of "Video Speed" as recorded in the GP2log file ? ( I dont know if it is nessecary to have the same CPU. Perhaps the Video speed refers to the Videocard only ?? ) With my ET4000 i get a value of 379. E-mail or article, whatever you prefer. Regards Lars ------------------------------------------------------------------ --- t RM 1.31 0418 t

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> OK. Here comes another question about Videocards .... > I have recently got a Cyrix P166. I am now looking for a > replacement for my old W32 ET4000 card. > For comparison, would anyone with the same CPU please inform me of > the values of "Video Speed" as recorded in the GP2log file ? > ( I dont know if it is nessecary to have the same CPU. Perhaps the > Video speed refers to the Videocard only ?? ) > With my ET4000 i get a value of 379. > E-mail or article, whatever you prefer. > Regards > Lars > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > --- > t RM 1.31 0418 t

Forget about the video speed result on the log file. It doesn't mean a damm thing.

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>OK. Here comes another question about Videocards .... >I have recently got a Cyrix P166. I am now looking for a >replacement for my old W32 ET4000 card. >For comparison, would anyone with the same CPU please inform me of >the values of "Video Speed" as recorded in the GP2log file ? >( I dont know if it is nessecary to have the same CPU. Perhaps the >Video speed refers to the Videocard only ?? ) >With my ET4000 i get a value of 379.

Hi Lars, I got a Cyrix 166+ and a Matrox Millenium 2 MB and I get the following values: Speed (c.f. DX2-66): 355 Video speed: 521 GP2 really works fine in SVGA Greetings Rudi

-> Forget about the video speed result on the log file. It -> doesn't mean a damm thing. What is it then, that makes the Video speed No. go up and down ??? Regards Lars --- t RM 1.31 0418 t

Then can you explain to me why I get a measly score of 81?! System: P-75, 32MB Ram, 2MB video card by SiS (integrated on the motherboard) I would really like to know if anyone can tell me if a better videocard (like the Hercules Terminator) would improve framerates. TIA Peter.

>Then can you explain to me why I get a measly score of 81?! >System: P-75, 32MB Ram, 2MB video card by SiS (integrated on the >motherboard) Probably the 50mHz bus speed the P75 runs. Your CPU may be a Pentium, but the data transfer rate to your video card and RAM would be a bottleneck. Your PCI bus would only be clocking 25mHz as opposed to 30 or 33mHz and this will force your CPU into waiting and wasting CPU cycles. Also, the 1.5 multiplying factor forces the CPU to wait for the bus more than would an integer multiplyer like 2 or 3. Jet

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>>Then can you explain to me why I get a measly score of 81?! >>System: P-75, 32MB Ram, 2MB video card by SiS (integrated on the >>motherboard) >Probably the 50mHz bus speed the P75 runs. Your CPU may be >a Pentium, but the data transfer rate to your video card and >RAM would be a bottleneck. Your PCI bus would only be clocking >25mHz as opposed to 30 or 33mHz and this will force your CPU >into waiting and wasting CPU cycles. Also, the 1.5 multiplying >factor forces the CPU to wait for the bus more than would an >integer multiplyer like 2 or 3. >Jet

Would overclocking my processor to 90mhz make any difference? Peter.

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> >Forget about the video speed result on the log file. It doesn't mean a > >damm thing. > Then can you explain to me why I get a measly score of 81?! > System: P-75, 32MB Ram, 2MB video card by SiS (integrated on the > motherboard) > I would really like to know if anyone can tell me if a better > videocard (like the Hercules Terminator) would improve framerates. > TIA > Peter.

I think the major problem is actually the motherboard. I used to have an ASUS motherboard with an old SIS chipset and its video was very slow too, even though I had a Hercules Stingray 64. You would probably find the largest speed increases if you upgraded to a motherboard using one of the triton chipsets.

Not only that, it's integrated on the mainboard and probably uses shared memory access... Can eat up to 30% access time to memory... The SIMMs are for main memory/video use, that's the problem. The guy should disable his video and buy a seperate card! Yves

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> > >Forget about the video speed result on the log file. It doesn't mean a > > >damm thing. > > Then can you explain to me why I get a measly score of 81?! > > System: P-75, 32MB Ram, 2MB video card by SiS (integrated on the > > motherboard) > > I would really like to know if anyone can tell me if a better > > videocard (like the Hercules Terminator) would improve framerates. > > TIA > > Peter. > I think the major problem is actually the motherboard. I used to have an > ASUS motherboard with an old SIS chipset and its video was very slow > too, even though I had a Hercules Stingray 64. You would probably find > the largest speed increases if you upgraded to a motherboard using one > of the triton chipsets.

I have a Hercules Dynamite 128, about the fastest DOS card there is. Video speed = 501 With previous Stealth64 video about 350. BUT this did not translate into anything really apparent in the actual game, only a bit better. Tried it with a Reactor, video speed around 100, but no discernable effect in the game. Others have reported the same thing. Save your money for a CPU upgrade, this will have a real effect. Guy Brosseau