TNT vs. Rage128 vs. Savage3D -- HELP!!!

gonna upgrade my diamond viper v330 and plan on a TNT or Rage128 or Savage3D. i've been reading a lot of posts here and would like some assistance in gathering all of this data together. would you guys please comment on what i've summarized below. ALL high res (>= 1024x768) able to use multi-texturing support D3D and OGL don't support Glide ====TNT==== runs hot very good 2D quality (at res < 1280 x 1024) very good 3D quality slower at 32-bit 3D than Rage128 or Savage3D 100 MHz / 0.35 micron / 16MB about $100 mail order (creative labs) ====RAGE128==== just Tom's runs hot very good 2D quality at all res very good 3D quality (maybe a little better than TNT) quickest at 32-bit hi-res hardware DVD decoder on chip 125MHz / 0.25 micron / 32MB about $170 mail order (if in-stock) ====SAVAGE3D==== no temperature problems very good 2D quality at all res good 3D quality (maybe a little less than TNT) faster than TNT at 32-bit 3D but slower than Rage128 125MHz / 0.25 micron / 8MB (+ compression for D3D) about $70 mail order i will be triple-booting NT4 SP4 / Win98 / Linux. for games, strictly racing sims (and because of this i'm thinking i maybe should add a Banshee in my list for Glide support but resolution limited to 800 x 600 right?) any suggestions / comments?? when can we expect Rage128 price to come down? when TNT2 / Voodoo3 comes out?

Actually the Banshee will support up to 1920x1440 res. I'm not sure what the max res is in Glide games, but it'll do 1024x768 in OpenGL. It is limited to 16.7M colours, but has support for D3D, MiniGL and Glide. I bought the Diamond Monster Fusion which has the built in fan, and it runs nice and cool. The only possible drawback is the missing second texture chip, but framerates are still very playable in multi-texture games. JMHO. Zog

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> gonna upgrade my diamond viper v330 and plan on a TNT or Rage128 or > Savage3D. i've been reading a lot of posts here and would like some > assistance in gathering all of this data together. would you guys please > comment on what i've summarized below. > ALL > high res (>= 1024x768) > able to use multi-texturing > support D3D and OGL > don't support Glide > ====TNT==== > runs hot > very good 2D quality (at res < 1280 x 1024) > very good 3D quality > slower at 32-bit 3D than Rage128 or Savage3D > 100 MHz / 0.35 micron / 16MB > about $100 mail order (creative labs) > ====RAGE128==== > just Tom's runs hot > very good 2D quality at all res > very good 3D quality (maybe a little better than TNT) > quickest at 32-bit hi-res > hardware DVD decoder on chip > 125MHz / 0.25 micron / 32MB > about $170 mail order (if in-stock) > ====SAVAGE3D==== > no temperature problems > very good 2D quality at all res > good 3D quality (maybe a little less than TNT) > faster than TNT at 32-bit 3D but slower than Rage128 > 125MHz / 0.25 micron / 8MB (+ compression for D3D) > about $70 mail order > i will be triple-booting NT4 SP4 / Win98 / Linux. for games, strictly > racing sims (and because of this i'm thinking i maybe should add a Banshee > in my list for Glide support but resolution limited to 800 x 600 right?) > any suggestions / comments?? when can we expect Rage128 price to come down? > when TNT2 / Voodoo3 comes out?

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> Actually the Banshee will support up to 1920x1440 res. I'm not sure what the > max res is in Glide games, but it'll do 1024x768 in OpenGL. It is limited to > 16.7M colours, but has support for D3D, MiniGL and Glide. I bought the Diamond > Monster Fusion which has the built in fan, and it runs nice and cool. The only > possible drawback is the missing second texture chip, but framerates are still > very playable in multi-texture games. JMHO. > Zog

jb mentioned 32bit several times in his post and appears to be a high priority for him. That leaves out anything from 3DFX.

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> > gonna upgrade my diamond viper v330 and plan on a TNT or Rage128 or > > Savage3D. i've been reading a lot of posts here and would like some > > assistance in gathering all of this data together. would you guys please > > comment on what i've summarized below. > > ALL > > high res (>= 1024x768) > > able to use multi-texturing > > support D3D and OGL > > don't support Glide > > ====TNT==== > > runs hot > > very good 2D quality (at res < 1280 x 1024) > > very good 3D quality > > slower at 32-bit 3D than Rage128 or Savage3D > > 100 MHz / 0.35 micron / 16MB > > about $100 mail order (creative labs) > > ====RAGE128==== > > just Tom's runs hot > > very good 2D quality at all res > > very good 3D quality (maybe a little better than TNT) > > quickest at 32-bit hi-res > > hardware DVD decoder on chip > > 125MHz / 0.25 micron / 32MB > > about $170 mail order (if in-stock) > > ====SAVAGE3D==== > > no temperature problems > > very good 2D quality at all res > > good 3D quality (maybe a little less than TNT) > > faster than TNT at 32-bit 3D but slower than Rage128 > > 125MHz / 0.25 micron / 8MB (+ compression for D3D) > > about $70 mail order > > i will be triple-booting NT4 SP4 / Win98 / Linux. for games, strictly > > racing sims (and because of this i'm thinking i maybe should add a Banshee > > in my list for Glide support but resolution limited to 800 x 600 right?) > > any suggestions / comments?? when can we expect Rage128 price to come down? > > when TNT2 / Voodoo3 comes out?

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> > Actually the Banshee will support up to 1920x1440 res. I'm not sure what the > > max res is in Glide games, but it'll do 1024x768 in OpenGL. It is limited to > > 16.7M colours, but has support for D3D, MiniGL and Glide. I bought the Diamond > > Monster Fusion which has the built in fan, and it runs nice and cool. The only > > possible drawback is the missing second texture chip, but framerates are still > > very playable in multi-texture games. JMHO. > > Zog > jb mentioned 32bit several times in his post and appears to be a high > priority for him. That leaves out anything from 3DFX.

Roger that. Zog

I got tired of waiting for the ever-delayed Rage Fury, and got the Viper 550 instead. I don't really regret it. From what I have read: 2D - The Viper 550 is a bit faster. Important for NROS. 3D 16Bit - About equal 3D 32Bit - The Rage Wins by a large margin. If true-color games are your thing (I can only really think of one - Unreal) then the Rage Fury is the one to get. Otherwise, I think the Viper 550 is just fine. -Larry > gonna upgrade my diamond viper v330 and plan on a TNT or Rage128 or > Savage3D. i've been reading a lot of posts here and would like some > assistance in gathering all of this data together. would you guys please > comment on what i've summarized below.

also , if dvd is your thing.. get the rage

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>I got tired of waiting for the ever-delayed Rage Fury, and got the Viper >550 instead. I don't really regret it. >From what I have read: >2D - The Viper 550 is a bit faster. Important for NROS. >3D 16Bit - About equal >3D 32Bit - The Rage Wins by a large margin. >If true-color games are your thing (I can only really think of one - >Unreal) then the Rage Fury is the one to get. >Otherwise, I think the Viper 550 is just fine. >-Larry >> gonna upgrade my diamond viper v330 and plan on a TNT or Rage128 or >> Savage3D. i've been reading a lot of posts here and would like some >> assistance in gathering all of this data together. would you guys please >> comment on what i've summarized below.

>also , if dvd is your thing.. get the rage If DVD is your thing, don't waste time with a PC. Z. Please remove NOSPAM from my email address when replying.

>>also , if dvd is your thing.. get the rage >If DVD is your thing, don't waste time with a PC. Why do you say that? I've been considering getting a DVD drive for a while now.

>>>also , if dvd is your thing.. get the rage >>If DVD is your thing, don't waste time with a PC. >Why do you say that? I've been considering getting a DVD drive >for a while now. Well, if you're considering getting DVD, then get it has part of a home cinema setup. About the only thing on DVD as a media for PC's is all of the er.. MSDN Library, and a few other silly sized apps. Z. Please remove NOSPAM from my email address when replying.

I'm going to throw my two-cents worth in here about DVD on the computer. I've had a PC-DVD Encore since last spring and love it! There are some really cool games that use the DVD capabilities and you would not have that if you only got a Home Entertainment version. Lewis >>>also , if dvd is your thing.. get the rage >>If DVD is your thing, don't waste time with a PC. >Why do you say that? I've been considering getting a DVD drive >for a while now.

Get with the times man, PC's are comming with DVD drives as standard these days.... call me a cheap skate... but it's a decent cheap option The only thing you can get for a pc on DVD is the 1000's of films !!!! anything is better than VHS actually... call YOU cheap skate... seeing as you still got a CDROM :) M p.s. ATI's DVD software has not shipped yet

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>>>>also , if dvd is your thing.. get the rage >>>If DVD is your thing, don't waste time with a PC. >>Why do you say that? I've been considering getting a DVD drive >>for a while now. >Well, if you're considering getting DVD, then get it has part of a home

cinema

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>setup. >About the only thing on DVD as a media for PC's is all of the er.. MSDN >Library, and a few other silly sized apps. >Z. >Please remove NOSPAM from my email address when replying.

Hmmm.... They sure don't advertise that. Is it one of the "Pink slip in the box" type of deals? -Larry > p.s. ATI's DVD software has not shipped yet

I find good use for it on my Laptop, but can't come up with too much reason (yet) to have it on the desktop). The most important thing about DVD is the 5.1 Digital Dolby and, in some cases, DTS. I don't know _too_ many that have 6 speaker stereo systems in their computer room :) On the Laptop, even though it's only stereo, it's nice to be able to toss a couple of movies in the bag to kill time. As soon as more software titles start shipping on DVD, I'll go for it. If my CD-ROM drive breaks, I'll go for it then as well. I'm not against it at all. I just don't need it on the Desktop yet. BTW... This brings up yet _another_ reason not to get into Divx. Divx discs will not play on computer DVD drives, and most likely never will. -Larry

Well I'm one of those people that has there PC , TV setup in the same room, I know people who have 10 meter cables going from one room to the next though. When you can buy a basic setup to watch DVD's so cheap - it's worth it. My cdrom was starting to play up, so I used it as an excuse. Besides we are only just starting to get the really decent DVD players on the market And they cost between 3 and 10 times more than a drive. - I'll wait till they are cheaper. DVD also sounds great in stereo and pro-logic (for us losers that have old pro-logic setups) Personally I only use my drive as a cdrom or to watch DVD's.......... it's a damn good option, two of my friends also have them Nobody buys a DVD to play 'special games' - if they did they are probably really dumb. it's not on your desktop if you have a great big cable :) miki

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>I find good use for it on my Laptop, but can't come up with too much >reason (yet) to have it on the desktop). >The most important thing about DVD is the 5.1 Digital Dolby and, in some >cases, DTS. I don't know _too_ many that have 6 speaker stereo systems >in their computer room :) >On the Laptop, even though it's only stereo, it's nice to be able to >toss a couple of movies in the bag to kill time. >As soon as more software titles start shipping on DVD, I'll go for it. >If my CD-ROM drive breaks, I'll go for it then as well. >I'm not against it at all. I just don't need it on the Desktop yet. >BTW... This brings up yet _another_ reason not to get into Divx. Divx >discs will not play on computer DVD drives, and most likely never will. >-Larry >> I'm going to throw my two-cents worth in here about DVD on the computer. >> I've had a PC-DVD Encore since last spring and love it! There are some >> really cool games that use the DVD capabilities and you would not have

that >> if you only got a Home Entertainment version. >> Lewis

actually they company I bought it from shipped me a copy of it on CD today along with a composite and svideo cable. I am just glad I got the card, after waiting for months :)

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>Hmmm.... They sure don't advertise that. >Is it one of the "Pink slip in the box" type of deals? >-Larry >> p.s. ATI's DVD software has not shipped yet

That will be mine, too :) -Larry > My cdrom was starting to play up, so I used it as an excuse.