I was quite disappointed with Nascar2 frame rates. I've been tinkering
around trying to get better performance. I have a Giga-Byte GA-586HX rev
1.54 mother board with a Pentuim P166, 512KB pipeline cache, 32MB EDO ram
and a Reactor. It had the latest Award bios 4.51PG rev 1.11.
I was having trouble trying to upgrade the system to 64MB ram (that's
another story). While trying to get it to work I downgraded to the rev 1.05
bios. My dmatest results doubled and I picked up about 4-5fps in RendDma at
all the tracks! Here's my dmatest results:
Award bios 4.51PG rev 1.11: FIFO=21.9 DMA=39.8
Award bios 4.51PG rev 1.05: FIFO=21.9 DMA=79.9
The fixes in the newer bios were not Nascar2 related, so why
bother with it<G> If you have a GA-586HX mother board it might be worth your
while to try it out (at your own risk). You can get 3 different bios
versions at thier web page --> [link lost in import]
BTW, They claim to have an even newer bios posted soon (AVI).
Here's my frame rate test results for comparison. I'd also like to see any
other Giga-byte owner's results to see how far off or on I am.
Parameters:
All graphics on except asphalt=auto
12ahead, 3behind, 4heard, max field size, speech on, spotter full, opp 97%.
Torture test=standing start from rear of field. Take the inside line and
pass as many cars as possible until about the middle of the back straight.
Try to run the left sides on the apron line all the way for consistancy.
Keep trying at different frame rate settings until the asphalt doesn't
flicker EVEN ONCE. That's the number that I consider to be my guaranteed
frame rate (except when wrecking- too many things going on). I don't use the
flicker method for determining fps because I seem to have a range of
settings that flicker and I can't tell how low it gets when the asphalt
shuts off. I get more consistant results this way. Anyway here's some
tracks.
______________________Atlanta_____Marty_____Bristol_____Dega
Nascar2.exe, 1.11 bios_____14________12________12________14 FPS
Renddma , 1.11 bios_______25________12________18________24
Renddma , 1.05 bios_______30________16________24________28
N2rend__________________________HA HA HA
Renddma , 1.11 bios, 4bit___30________26________30________30
Note: 4bit means I downgraded my memory to 16megs to try 4bit textures. I
haven't tested 4bit texures with the 1.05 bios but my guess is I'll be able
to get 30fps even while wrecking with that setup ;-). SURE would be NICE if
Papy would give us a switch to force 4bit textures even if you have 24megs
or more.
Lastly, (sorry this got so long). Thanks to Eric Busch for all his help on
the NG. I never would have noticed the DMA speed difference if he hadn't got
me thinking about it. Another thanks to Dave Sparks for the NCR2 FAQ.
Cya,
Mike Radler
myyke on Hawaii
Quoted text (11 lines)
>I was quite disappointed with Nascar2 frame rates. I've been tinkering >around trying to get better performance. I have a Giga-Byte GA-586HX rev >1.54 mother board with a Pentuim P166, 512KB pipeline cache, 32MB EDO ram >and a Reactor. It had the latest Award bios 4.51PG rev 1.11. >I was having trouble trying to upgrade the system to 64MB ram (that's >another story). While trying to get it to work I downgraded to the rev 1.05 >bios. My dmatest results doubled and I picked up about 4-5fps in RendDma at >all the tracks! Here's my dmatest results: >Award bios 4.51PG rev 1.11: FIFO=21.9 DMA=39.8 >Award bios 4.51PG rev 1.05: FIFO=21.9 DMA=79.9You can get DMAtest from my webpage. It tests DMA across the PCI bus,
and it unrelated to your IDE or SCSI drives. You do have to have a
Rendition card for the program to work though.
--
Emory University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
The IWCCCARS Project: Q & A Representative
Nascar Setups Page: http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/
