Graphics Card Advice Please

[old.{ velvet }]

Okay, in a bid to get more than 10fps I feel like buying a new graphics card... Looking to spend £100 - £150... Which one please

 

[old.{ velvet }]

Btw, I'm running a p300mmx with 128mb ram and currently a voodoo2 12mb @ 800 x 600...

 

[old.Stamper2]

get another voodoo2, get them cheaply now probobly

my spec:
p2 400, 128mb, 2 x 12mb voodoo2

I get about 70fps running @ 1024 x 768

 

[old.Plantpot]

One v2 now for £50 then a voodoo 4 in october. Rawk on man

[This message has been edited by Plantpot (edited 04 August 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Plantpot (edited 04 August 1999).]

 

[old.{ velvet }]

What about if I only had 0 free PCI slots and was going to get something to take the v2's place???

What I guess I'm asking is whether the TNT2 is better than the V3 3000 for Tribes and if there are any particular makes of these which are better...

 

[old.Shelob]

My v3 3000 is the biz for tribes

But I'd try turning your res down to 640x480 or getting a celeron 466 or sommit b4 a graph card upgrade.

Shrap

 

[old.Dr_Teeth]

Right now I'd go for a V3-3000. It's AGP, so it saves you two PCI slots (2D card and V2) it's Glide, so Tribes will rock with it. They're about 100-150 quid depending where you go. TNT2s are cool, but unless you trust Dynamix to release absolutely perfect OpenGL drivers for Tribes, I'd go for the V3.

Teeth.

 

[old.Barak]

I'm about to buy a Matrox Millenium G400 MAX after hearing it's the best. Am I making a bad decision here? Does it have good compatibility? Any help is much appreciated. As for between £100 and £150 I'd go for a V3000 or a second V2.

------------------
Barak

 

[old.Ewan]

The G400 has incredible ability to go fast in the high res' but at <1280 its falls away quickly from the tnt2 and v3. Unfortunately for us tribes players the v3 3000 is still the only realistic choice

Ewan

 

[old.Barak]

Thanks for the advice. I can run high res. so what's the problem it has with Tribes? Is it incompatible?

------------------
Barak

 

[old.Ewan]

Even with the latest drivers and tribes version the tribes opengl system is pretty awful compared to the glide version for voodoo cards :/

 

[old.Barak]

Thanks, I'll bear that in mind. I may leave the V2 in if I can and switch according to which game I'm playing.

------------------
Barak

 

[old.packetloss]

Velvet,

You say your cpu is P300mmx.

is that a typo (i.e. you mean a P2-300?) or is it a crap Cyrix cpu thingy? If so replace the cpu with a nice celeron 466 or 500.
I have a P2-300, 64 MB and Tribes and Q3 run 'nice and smooth'. In other words I haven't measured fps but it feels fast enough.

 

[old.{ velvet }]

Unfortunately its not a typo, it is a p300mmx - probably some crappy Cyrix thing

I've also been told I can't get any good graphics cards for pci which is a shame as my 2d card is in me only agp slot

Don't really want to upgrade the whole pc though, guess I'll have to start the ball rolling on another month by month re-build...

 

[old.Dr_Teeth]

Cyrix chips have the fpu power of a small hedgehog. I'd suggest that you go for a CPU upgrade first and foremost - a single V2 will be fully utilised on a 400-500Mhz machine.

If you're going for a new card *now*, then get a Voodoo3 3000. It's AGP, it's 2D and 3D, it's exceptionally fast, and it has Glide support so Tribes will run beautifully.

In general a top-of-the-range Ultra TNT2 is superior to a V3, but as Tribes OpenGL still sucks, a V3 is the way to go for the Tribally Addicted.

Get a new chip and mobo first though.

Teeth.

 

[old.{ velvet }]

Please excuse my complete 'inside of my pc' stupidity, but are you saying I can throw my S3 Virge agp graphics card away and just stick a v3 3000 in its place???

Other advice taken on board, I'll be back next month with a thread entitled 'Motherboard Advice Please'...

Cheers

Neal

 

[old.Dr_Teeth]

Yes indeedy, the V3 is all-singing and all-dancing, like all of the new cards. The V3 2000 comes in AGP and PCI variants, the 3000 comes in AGP only. All of them will do 2D and 3D in one. If Tribes performance is paramount, then grab one. If not, then grab an Ultra TNT2.

If you can wait, then the V4 and next gen Nvidia cards will be out in a couple of months. However, with your current system, getting a new processor and motherboard will yield the biggest jump in performance - a V2 is still a great card, it's just under utilised with the Cyrix chip.

One thing, if you're going for a P2 or P-III, make sure your memory can handle a 100Mhz bus. If you're going for a Celeron (and you're not going to O/C it insanely) your current memory will be fine.

Teeth.

 

[old.{ velvet }]

I've got 128mb of pc100 sdram - that sound about right???

 

[old.Dr_Teeth]

Yup, go forth and buy hardware, my son.

Teeth.