3D Video Board -- Worth It ?

I running 'N2' on a Pentium 75Mhz system. I've been thinking of getting a 3D board for use with 'N2'. Is it worth the money? Will it improve the video by that much? Does anyone have any sugestions on which video board I should purchase? I'm not sure of my limitations by having a 75Mhz system. Thanks in advance, Dan

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> I running 'N2' on a Pentium 75Mhz system. I've been thinking of getting a > 3D board for use with 'N2'. Is it worth the money? Will it improve the > video by that much? Does anyone have any sugestions on which video board I > should purchase? I'm not sure of my limitations by having a 75Mhz system. > Thanks in advance, > Dan

I own the Sierra Screamin'3D and love it. In my opinion, it will really supercharge the graphics on that P75. Any Rendition Verite based video card should work, but I recommend avoiding the Creative Labs 3D Blaster PCI card unless you can live without the enhanced Indycar2 version made for the Rendition cards. And, trust me, you can't live without it. It is that good. Try the Screamin'3D or the Canopus Total 3D cards. These offer less bugs and slightly better performance. Or, if you are on a tight budget, save $30 over the Screamin'3D by getting an Intergraph Intense 3D card. -- Matt Lewis

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> > I running 'N2' on a Pentium 75Mhz system. I've been thinking of getting a > > 3D board for use with 'N2'. Is it worth the money? Will it improve the > > video by that much? Does anyone have any sugestions on which video board I > > should purchase? I'm not sure of my limitations by having a 75Mhz system. > > Thanks in advance, > > Dan > I own the Sierra Screamin'3D and love it. In my opinion, it will really > supercharge the graphics on that P75. Any Rendition Verite based video > card should work, but I recommend avoiding the Creative Labs 3D Blaster > PCI card unless you can live without the enhanced Indycar2 version made > for the Rendition cards. And, trust me, you can't live without it. It > is that good. > Try the Screamin'3D or the Canopus Total 3D cards. These offer less > bugs and slightly better performance. Or, if you are on a tight budget, > save $30 over the Screamin'3D by getting an Intergraph Intense 3D card. > -- > Matt Lewis

I have a rendition Intense 3d(was the reactor), and it made a huge difference on my Packard Bell P133. If it will help a Packrd Bell it will help anything. I was able to run Indyfast with everything on! Smooth as silk! Almost changed my favorite saying from "race cars have doors!" to "race cars do 233 at Michigan!" Pretty impressive. Luckily I got my homebuild runnin first, now I can run just about everything in renddma on at 30 fps. Wheew. Mick in Tampa -- Mike Schreiner http://pages.prodigy.com/CNSRL #3 = #8 in '97!!!!!!!!!!!!

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> > I running 'N2' on a Pentium 75Mhz system. I've been thinking of getting a > > 3D board for use with 'N2'. Is it worth the money? Will it improve the > > video by that much? Does anyone have any sugestions on which video board I > > should purchase? I'm not sure of my limitations by having a 75Mhz system. > > Thanks in advance, > > Dan > I own the Sierra Screamin'3D and love it. In my opinion, it will really > supercharge the graphics on that P75. Any Rendition Verite based video > card should work, but I recommend avoiding the Creative Labs 3D Blaster > PCI card unless you can live without the enhanced Indycar2 version made > for the Rendition cards. And, trust me, you can't live without it. It > is that good. > Try the Screamin'3D or the Canopus Total 3D cards. These offer less > bugs and slightly better performance. Or, if you are on a tight budget, > save $30 over the Screamin'3D by getting an Intergraph Intense 3D card. > -- > Matt Lewis

Could we have the advice of any people who are involved in video card area at which one is better? I would ask the papyrus guy for his opinion but of course he would say the Sierra mad Screamin 3d.

Basically there are no physical differences between the Intergraph and Sierra cards. The main differences are in the quality of drivers, support, price, and bundled software. -- The IWCCCARS Project: Q & A Representative http://www.theuspits.com/iwcccars/index.html http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

I'm not involved in the video card area but the only hardware that N2 supports is Rendition. Be warned, though, that if you want to play VGA (320x200) games, you might want to avoid it. It has trouble with a lot of lo-res stuff (the fixes available only seem to work on a minority of games, thankfully GP2 is one of them). Bottom line - if your PC is purely a simracing machine, buy Rendition - you'll get good N2, good ICR2 and GP2 wont be harmed (it may be better if your current vid card is slow). You want arcade? Upgrade your Processor, M/B, Vid Card and shove in a 3Dfx add on (or buy a Playstation - a lot cheaper ;) ). No one ever said it was gonna be easy! Mark Reading, UK

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> > I running 'N2' on a Pentium 75Mhz system. I've been thinking of getting a > > 3D board for use with 'N2'. Is it worth the money? Will it improve the > > video by that much? Does anyone have any sugestions on which video board I > > should purchase? I'm not sure of my limitations by having a 75Mhz system. > > Thanks in advance, > > Dan > I own the Sierra Screamin'3D and love it. In my opinion, it will really > supercharge the graphics on that P75. Any Rendition Verite based video > card should work, but I recommend avoiding the Creative Labs 3D Blaster > PCI card unless you can live without the enhanced Indycar2 version made > for the Rendition cards. And, trust me, you can't live without it. It > is that good. > Try the Screamin'3D or the Canopus Total 3D cards. These offer less > bugs and slightly better performance. Or, if you are on a tight budget, > save $30 over the Screamin'3D by getting an Intergraph Intense 3D card. > -- > Matt Lewis

I agree. Have a P120 with Screamin 3D and N2 is so much better with the 3D card. Double check that you P75 supports DMA. Without it, N2 seems slower with the 3d card.

True, but how many ModeX games (those VGA games that don't work with Renutil) do you still play? I don't have a single game that doesn't use DirectX or VESA modes. -- The IWCCCARS Project: Q & A Representative http://www.theuspits.com/iwcccars/index.html http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

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> > > I running 'N2' on a Pentium 75Mhz system. I've been thinking of getting a > > > 3D board for use with 'N2'. Is it worth the money? Will it improve the > > > video by that much? Does anyone have any sugestions on which video board I > > > should purchase? I'm not sure of my limitations by having a 75Mhz system. > > > Thanks in advance, > > > Dan > > I own the Sierra Screamin'3D and love it. In my opinion, it will really > > supercharge the graphics on that P75. Any Rendition Verite based video > > card should work, but I recommend avoiding the Creative Labs 3D Blaster > > PCI card unless you can live without the enhanced Indycar2 version made > > for the Rendition cards. And, trust me, you can't live without it. It > > is that good. > > Try the Screamin'3D or the Canopus Total 3D cards. These offer less > > bugs and slightly better performance. Or, if you are on a tight budget, > > save $30 over the Screamin'3D by getting an Intergraph Intense 3D card. > > -- > > Matt Lewis > I agree. Have a P120 with Screamin 3D and N2 is so much better with > the 3D card. Double check that you P75 supports DMA. Without it, N2 > seems slower with the 3d card.

I am going to be buying a new motherboard this weekend at a computer show. Do you know if the Intel Triton 2 Motherboard or the Intel Marl Motherboard support DMA? BTW... what is DMA beside's a configuration item.

Don't skimp and buy a no-name MB. Stick with a reputable manufacturer (ABIT, ASUS, SuperMicro, etc.) who has a presence on the web. Not only will you get better performance, but you'll have easy access to BIOS upgrades. -- The IWCCCARS Project: Q & A Representative http://www.theuspits.com/iwcccars/index.html http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

> True, but how many ModeX games (those VGA games that don't work with > Renutil) do you still play? I don't have a single game that doesn't > use DirectX or VESA modes. First I wanna apologise for misunderstanding the question. He obviously wanted to know which -Rendition- card to go for, not any other accelerator. Sorry 'bout that. To answer your question, none :) Thats why I still have the 3D Blaster (I'm English and am not aware of a Rendition card that has ICR2 3D bundled over here). -But- after some bad experiences trusting magazine reviews I always try before I buy and there are game demos out there which are too demanding for SVGA (on my P200). Destruction Derby 2 and Tunnel B1 are examples of games that I'm sure would fly on a less -er- 'specialised?' video card in VGA. Rendition can't deal with them. Too slow SVGA, no chance VGA. My point is that if you play a LOT of DOS software, you could be in for an unpleasant surprise. Personally I'm just a saddo that wants to have Papyrus' baby so I'll stick with Rendition and beg once more: Please release ICR2 3D. Please, please, please, please, please. It's in the 3D Blaster catalogue as available now, but I suspect this is a misnomer :( BTW Thanks for all your help in the past, Eric. I owe you. Mark Reading, UK

To strech these ?'s along further. What about a Tyan mb? I see them all over the place but noticed you left them out. Another ? dealing with the 3d boards. I was all set on buyin the Sierra board but realized that it is only a 4mb board. I noticed that some can be expanded to 8mb. Is this something I should be concerned with? -- "You stick to driving your typewriter and I'll stick to driving the racecars"-Freejack David W. McFarland '87 LX hatch

On Fri, 07 Feb 1997 11:56:54 -0500, "Robert A. Knauber" >I am going to be buying a new motherboard this weekend at a computer >show. Do you know if the Intel Triton 2 Motherboard or the Intel Marl >Motherboard support DMA? BTW... what is DMA beside's a configuration >item. Do yourself a big favor, and don't think about buying any other board than the ASUS P/I-P55T2P4. Just got mine yesterday and WOW! DMA out of the box was 77.8, then with PCI Latency set to 54, it was 90.0. Then I turned it back down to 32, and overclocked it to 208Mhz with 83Mhz bus speed and got 91.6 and 4 more fps' with cbench.

None of the current Rendition boards are expandable. Unless you need 24-bit or above at resolutions greater than 1024x786, I wouldn't worry about it. That's all the extra memory will get you, higher resolutions and color depths. -- The IWCCCARS Project: Q & A Representative http://www.theuspits.com/iwcccars/index.html http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

> Bottom line - if your PC is purely a simracing machine, buy Rendition - > you'll get good N2, good ICR2 and GP2 wont be harmed (it may be better > if your current vid card is slow). > You want arcade? Upgrade your Processor, M/B, Vid Card and shove in a > 3Dfx add on (or buy a Playstation - a lot cheaper ;) ). REPLY: IMO performance wise you get very good N2, great ICR2 and normal ok GP2. You seem to down play the verite chip a bit. It's way ahead of a playstation and at the moment close to 3dfx. Overall the arcade is behind both 3d chips, pc games are so much deeper than arcade games with having near or better graphics quality. How can one ever argue that Daytona Arcade should ever be used in the same sentence with N2? N2 puts that highly aclaimed game to shame. Q.B.M.

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>On Fri, 07 Feb 1997 11:56:54 -0500, "Robert A. Knauber" >>I am going to be buying a new motherboard this weekend at a computer >>show. Do you know if the Intel Triton 2 Motherboard or the Intel Marl >>Motherboard support DMA? BTW... what is DMA beside's a configuration >>item. >Do yourself a big favor, and don't think about buying any other board >than the ASUS P/I-P55T2P4. Just got mine yesterday and WOW! DMA out >of the box was 77.8, then with PCI Latency set to 54, it was 90.0. >Then I turned it back down to 32, and overclocked it to 208Mhz with >83Mhz bus speed and got 91.6 and 4 more fps' with cbench.

Heck, my old (Aug '95) Packard Bell P100 with a Sierra 3D card gets 80.9, with latency set at default (not sure)...never screwed with the PCI latency...It's an Intel Triton (1, I believe) motherboard.