I'm tossing up between a Diamond TNT 2 or a Voodoo III.
What would be a better card. I am more concerned with support and the
availability of patches to support most car sim's.
Any comments appreciated.
Regards
Andrew
Check out Sharky Extreme for a good comparison. Bottom line is, future
games will run much better on a TNT 2 Ultra than a Voodoo 3. Current
games that require glide, such as GPL, will always run better on a
Voodoo.
Quoted text (9 lines)
> I'm tossing up between a Diamond TNT 2 or a Voodoo III. > What would be a better card. I am more concerned with support and the > availability of patches to support most car sim's. > Any comments appreciated. > Regards > Andrew...and by the time these future games are out there'll be something better
again on the market ;-) "Always in motion is the future" etc. My philosophy
is buy for what you play - not what you 'might' play. If that's GPL - go for
V3, if it's Q3, go for TNT2.
Mark
Reading, UK
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Quoted text (9 lines)
>> Check out Sharky Extreme for a good comparison. Bottom line is, future >> games will run much better on a TNT 2 Ultra than a Voodoo 3. Current >> games that require glide, such as GPL, will always run better on a >> Voodoo. >....and by the time these future games are out there'll be something better >again on the market ;-) "Always in motion is the future" etc. My philosophy >is buy for what you play - not what you 'might' play. If that's GPL - go for >V3, if it's Q3, go for TNT2.I wouldn't and I didn't. Legacy? GPL is virtually the only game I play! I
go back to F1RS from time to time (-Glide- and D3D) and will be buying SCGT
(-Glide- and D3D) pretty soon. All I use my pc for is race sims. If I was a
Q3 player and only dabbled in racing games the story would be different.
Let's put some prices in here - I own a P200, V2100 and V1, 64Mb (shows how
often I can afford to upgrade). My system that arrives on friday is PIII450,
128Mb, Win98, 10.1Gb, 40xCD, 56K modem, no-name cheapo 8Mb graphics, no
monitor (I have a 17" pana monitor that I'm perfectly happy with). That cost
795 My gfx options were Ultra + V2 SLI or V3. V3 cost me 130. Ultra would
have cost me 180 + at least another 120 for the SLI. Why would I pay an extra
170 for a card that is of no current use to me and get worse image quality
(V2 SLI vs V3) for the game that I actually -do- play more than any other,
and probably will do until the next papy sim comes out (N3, -Glide- and D3D).
Be happy with your Ultra. Be proud that it's more powerful. Enjoy those
large textures and 32 bit colour (I've always ran my desktop at 16 bit 'cause
I can't tell the difference). I'll enjoy my Glide racing sims, you have fun
with your 'future games'.
Cheers
Mark
Reading, UK
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32 bit (24bit) colour makes a difference not so much in "solid/static"
graphics as in effects such as lighting, smoke, fog and other transparent
things. In these areas there is, IMO, a noticable difference.
TF
I believe in the saying "you don't miss what you never had". If I played Q3
on an ultra then went back to my V3, perhaps I'd be disappointed, but I don't
intend to buy Q3, and by the time the next 'must have' racing title comes out
I'll probably have to upgrade from the computer I recieve tomorrow.
I had a 486 and played ICR and N1. I moved to a P200 to play N2, GP2 and
ICR2 - and I bought rendition - something 99% of -gamers- would have advised
me against. I bought a Voodoo for F1RS. I'm upping my P200 to a PIII450 and
V3 3000 just for GPL. Incidental titles will come and go - like SCGT for
instance which I just bought today. 99% of gamers will tell me I did the
wrong thing buying V3 over ultra (even though it was 50 pounds (about 80
dollars?) cheaper. I am a motorsport nut who is never going to get to race
for real. Sim racing is my substitute - and it enhances my enjoyment of
spectating at motorsport events by an order of magnitude. I am not a gamer,
I'm a sim racer. I would -never- tell anyone that a V3 is better than an
ultra, but I would tell them to buy hardware that is 'fit for purpose'. I
don't want to get into a my*** is bigger than yours argument, I just think
anyone posting in RAS asking about 3D cards is probably more into racing than
Q3 benchmarking. My philosophy is buy for what you do now, not for what you
might do later. Sorry, that turned into as right old rant.
Mark
Reading, UK
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Mark,
I feel what you are saying is a very good point that alot of people miss. The
TNT2 Ultras may very well kick ***and be superior to the V3s in many, many
ways. However, if the game or sim you are running only supports 3dfx or
Rendition (such as GPL), then the TNT2 Ultra doesnt do you a whole lot of good
does it?? (Yes.. I know there is a OpenGL patch, but its far from being a good
alternative at this point).
Heck, I just picked up a cheap Hercules Thriller 8mb PCI card to upgrade from my
old Stealth II. Why? Because I am not a "gamer". The only "games" I have on
my PC are sim racing products and Sim City <G>. I primarily run N2 on TEN and
GPL currently. So a Rendition card fits my needs best right now. Yes, I could
have spent more money and gotten the Voodoo3 card which will run N2 and GPL, but
Ive also seen both versions and I prefer the Rendition over 3dfx and the Thriller
pushes GPL at 800X600 at 36fps with 95% of everything maxed out. So it fit my
needs... for now. When N3, AMA Superbike, Can-Am, GP3, etc comes out... who
knows. I may then determine the V3 is better for my needs or the OpenGL patch
for GPL will make the TNT2 Ultra a good option. Heck.. maybe I buy a TNT2 Ultra
and pick up a cheap Voodoo2. So many decisions and options that there really
isnt a "best way to go" right now. By the time you determine what you need and
think you are set... something else comes out that totally changes that.
Only buy and pay for what you need now and in the near future. Its almost
impossible to buy for the future when it comes to items such as video cards.
Good luck.
Scott
PA-Scott
High Gear Editor - "The View" - http://www.simracingnews.com
G.T.S. Racing - http://www.GTS-Racing.com
--
Scott B. Husted
ICQ# 4395450
