Rendition Video Card Recommendation

OK, guys, I've heard enough to want a Rendition video card for use with Nascar 2. Which is the best? What cards by what manufacturers will work? What about the new ATI 3D cards? I've always had good luck with ATI. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Tim Kitchen

The ATI cards really are not worth the money. Their slow in DOS, average in Windows, and slow in 3D. The Rendition cards are a much better value. The Intergraph Reactor is the least expensive and Intergraph offers the best support. The Sierra Screamin'3D has the best bundle. The Creative Labs 3D Blaster is not that great (same price as the Sierra board, but the bundle sucks). The Canopus Total3D is cool (comes with Stereoscopic glasses) but expensive. -- Emory University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences The IWCCCARS Project: Q & A Representative Nascar Setups Page: http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

> OK, guys, I've heard enough to want a Rendition video card for use > with Nascar 2. Which is the best? What cards by what manufacturers > will work? What about the new ATI 3D cards? I've always had good > luck with ATI. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. > Tim Kitchen The Sierra Screamin 3-d, the Creative Labs, and the Intergraph all work w/N2 The Intergraph Reactor is on sale for 149 till the '31st. Comes w/icrII and demo's of Mtruckmadness/Quake Seems to make a big difference in frame rate, for me anyway. Mick in Tampa -- ______________________________________________________________________ | | | ____ ___ ___| | Mike Schreiner |CNSRL ADMIN. | ---\ / / /__ | |http://pages.prodigy.com/CNSRL | | --\ / /---/_ | | "Mick" on Hawaii |Earnhardt Rules!!| -\/ / / | | "Mick_S" on Ten | | / | ----------------------------------------------------------------------

>OK, guys, I've heard enough to want a Rendition video card for use >with Nascar 2. Which is the best? What cards by what manufacturers >will work? What about the new ATI 3D cards? I've always had good >luck with ATI. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. >Tim Kitchen I've got an Intergraph Reactor 3D car and it's great so far. Better order before Dec 31 though, it goes up from it's low price of 149 back to 199. I've been going nuts playing games like Quake and N2 in Rendition because it's like playing totally new software. I'm playing Quake at 640x480 (a happy medium, it'll go higher but it'll slow a bit too much for my taste) and I've seen things in the details I never noticed in the old version... like... the fiends have eyes...and you see them now perfectly. No jagged lines. Nice smooth color transition in BMP's and PCX files, hard to even see a singular pixel "lost" anywhere in any Rendition game. The install was absolutely painless for me and the card worked right out of the gate on N2 Rendition. I have an average machine by most standards today (150 mhz, 32 meg) and it's starting to run like a 200 mhz with the way my graphics are now looking. Even Windows95 looks cleaner, clearer, sharper and better defined in 2D. I had an STB Vision864 PCI card with S3 and 2 meg (which was a very decent card) and I can't believe what I used to think were great graphics with that old card. I am totally satisfied with the Intergraph Reactor 3D card as it has delivered everything it promised. Now the fun is gonna start as every software game developer jumps on the Rendition bandwagon (Sierra and idSoftware for example, as well as Microsoft)

> OK, guys, I've heard enough to want a Rendition video card for use > with Nascar 2. Which is the best? What cards by what manufacturers > will work? What about the new ATI 3D cards? I've always had good > luck with ATI. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. > Tim Kitchen Just to make sure you understand Eric's note, the ATI 3D cards are not Rendition 3D Chip-based cards and will not provide the performance of the Rendition cards for Nascar2.

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>>OK, guys, I've heard enough to want a Rendition video card for use >>with Nascar 2. Which is the best? What cards by what manufacturers >>will work? What about the new ATI 3D cards? I've always had good >>luck with ATI. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. >>Tim Kitchen >I've got an Intergraph Reactor 3D car and it's great so far. Better >order before Dec 31 though, it goes up from it's low price of 149 back >to 199. >I've been going nuts playing games like Quake and N2 in Rendition >because it's like playing totally new software. I'm playing Quake at >640x480 (a happy medium, it'll go higher but it'll slow a bit too much >for my taste) and I've seen things in the details I never noticed in >the old version... like... the fiends have eyes...and you see them now >perfectly. No jagged lines. Nice smooth color transition in BMP's >and PCX files, hard to even see a singular pixel "lost" anywhere in >any Rendition game. >The install was absolutely painless for me and the card worked right >out of the gate on N2 Rendition. I have an average machine by most >standards today (150 mhz, 32 meg) and it's starting to run like a 200 >mhz with the way my graphics are now looking. Even Windows95 >looks cleaner, clearer, sharper and better defined in 2D. I had an >STB Vision864 PCI card with S3 and 2 meg (which was a very decent >card) and I can't believe what I used to think were great graphics >with that old card. >I am totally satisfied with the Intergraph Reactor 3D card as it has >delivered everything it promised. Now the fun is gonna start as every >software game developer jumps on the Rendition bandwagon (Sierra and >idSoftware for example, as well as Microsoft)

I cannot agree with the assessment of the Reactors' 2D performance. Flat out, it sucks on 2D. I had a #9 Motion 771 2M VRAM and it blows the socks off the Reactor in 2D. No the Motion doesn't handle 3D so I was looking for a good 3D without losing on the 2D side. I tried the IndyCar 2 3D right away to see what it was like. Yes, it was impressive, but with only 5 tracks enhanced for 3D, I'm going to wait until I see more 3D games before really thiking about a full 3D. I returned the Reactor and just got a Matrox Millenium 4M WRAM. Now THAT REALLY SMOKES anything I have seen to date! I can have a 50 page Word document open, and there is NO hesitation at all. With the Reactor, even refreshing the screen in Explorer was time-consuming. Yes, the Reactor was cheap, but I don't buy by price, I buy by performance and quality. Mark Mark Formo ********** Personal Home page = http://www.pclink.com/mformo/index.htm RCSE Home Page = http://www.pclink.com/mformo/rcse.html GP2SE Home Page = http://www.pclink.com/mformo/gp2se.html

Hi Eric, Do You work for Intergraph? All rendition cards are all the same. PERIOD. The differences are minor. Almost none. I got the 3D Blaster, and It is GREAT. Another thing, " ALL" rendition cards are worse in dos and windows than most other cards. 2D and 3D. My Buddy has a Mach 64, It is much faster than his Reactor in Dos, Way faster. I use too run GP2 with a millennium, got about 23 fps with it. now with the "RENDITION" I get 10.4 . And in windows "rendition toys" are not even comparable too the matrox. Rendition cards offer Good 3D for the next 6 months then we will all want a 3DFX card or who knows what will come. Theres my peace. You are a benefit too the group, good to have you around. But get out of bed with Intergraph.

No I don't work for Intergraph, but I recognize a good value when I see it. Yes the hardware differences between the cards is very minor, that's why you need to base your decision on something else, namely: support, software, drivers, and price. So far, Intergraph has won the support category, the other's aren't even close. When's the last time you had a rep from Creative return your phone calls, much less an e-mail? With the bundled software the Sierra is the best, Intergraph second, and Creative is a distant third. Who wants three bundle of recycled 3D titles from the failed 3D Blaster VLB? Price-wise the Reactor wins, but if you take into account the bundled titled with the Sierra board it's a tie. Again the Creative board comes up short. Intergraph has been the first to post updated drivers as well as making the new BIOS available. I had a Mach64, and it is only faster in DOS for VGA games that do not work with Renutil (ModeX games like DOOM). The Rendition card's VESA speeds are faster than the ATI, and are about the same as a Matrox Mystique. You get slow framerates with GP2 because it incorrectly uses the card's VGA core to estimate framerates. In windows the cards are very good performers, very close to the ATI Mach64 and Stealth64. If you think they are bad in Windows, then so are about 80% of the other cards out there. -- Emory University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences The IWCCCARS Project: Q & A Representative Nascar Setups Page: http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

My 4MB Matrox MGA is on its way down the road for a Canopus Total 3D. Yep, Mark You're right, the MGA does SMOKE anything I've ever seen in ALL ROUND performance. My N2 looks about 1/2 as nice as a rendition card and is smooth as glass with everything turned on. Yet, I want to try the Rendition stuff first hand. If I don't like it, I'll get another MGA Millennium. My biggest problem with getting rid of the Matrox is that I'll loose my 1600x1200 Resolution. I have a Mitsubshi DP 21TX and I like the since thats the Res I usually run I'll give them a try. THEY SAY its the fastest of the Verite cards so I'll compare it to my friends Near Identical system with a Sierra and let you all know. His cost a little less but Im gettin a set of Kewl glasses and the same bundle with 3d SOUND also. 279.00 until the end of December. Check out www.canopuscorp.com for the scoop on the Total 3D. PS, Don't bother asking for anyones help on the T-3D in here or in comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video cause they just don't know yet.