PD6 - Is it for G200 too?

[Alec]

Is it worth the installation yet? And what about 5.5?

Windows 98 + Service pack 1 + Y2K Patch
DirectX 7

[This message has been edited by Alec (edited 23 June 2000).]

[Vic]

It is, and well worth a try! Q2 runs for the first time on my MVP3 based K6 G200 system since the 5.41 drivers.


It seems to be VERY stable too!

Vic

[NeSuR]

Hi. I installed PD6, the only two games I have are Half-Life and NFS:PU.
I was dissapointed with the first one, I ran some tests and it runs slower! It dropped from 23 fps to 17 aprox. in a med. complex scene at 640x480.(Even in OpenGL or Direct3D, I also optimized H-L with the autoexec.cfg Kruzin posted here some time ago).
The good news are that NFS is now smoother, using fraps it raised from 42 to 48 aprox.
I don't know what to do, H-L is almost unplayable!

NeSuR

[Alec]

I played only Quake 3, and the framerate seems to have raised a little bit. It´s running quite fast. I think this is the FPS shooter that runs more consistently on my system:

Celeron 433@459Mhz
Intel Atlanta 440LX motherboard @70.7 FSB (Bios 14)
Soundblaster PCI 128
128 Mb SDRAM 100 Mhz
Matrox G200 8Mb SDRAM AGP @103/137Mhz (Bios 2.7.20)
4.3 Gb Western Digital Caviar EIDE
Iomega internal 100Mb Zip drive
Sony HMD-A200 17" Trinitron

Windows 98 + Service pack 1 + Y2K Patch
DirectX 7
Powerdesk 6.010 beta
AGP aperture size 256
Forced Triple Buffering
16-bit Z-buffer

Nesur, 23fps at 640x480 is a tad slow, even for a G200... 25-50fps on Quake 3 for me (800x600 16-bit max. textures). What´s your system, cause something else could be wrong...

[NeSuR]

Alec, the problem is that I don't know how to measure fps, there are two ways, timerefresh (I've been told it is not accurate, but I don't know why). I used timerefresh in the same position (used a saved game) and it gave 50 fps (I know this is too high to be true), but with PD6 timerefresh doesn't work. So I used another way (you type in the console host_speeds 1) but it shows that kinda slow framerate. I know Half-Life is slow in my system (if there is an explosion, it is so slow that the sound gets choppy), the normal fps could be 20-25 except for very simple scenes (40 fps in a corridor, for example). Perhaps it is due to my (laughable) system:

P2 300 @66 FSB
64 MB SDRAM
Crappy PC-Chips mainboard }:-[
Sound Blaster 16 (6 years old!)
And Half-Life @640x480x16x16z-buffer

I was wondering, if I buy a G450, will it be as slow as G200 due to my system? I now my G200 is limited by my processor (if I overclock the G200 the speed is the same). Do you know from which processor the G200 begins to be fillrated limited?

Thanks!

NeSuR

[Alec]

I saw a review once about a Voodoo 2, a G200 and a Rage 128, and the G200 was pushed to its limits with a PIII 600. From a 450Mhz PIII up, the increase is minimal. You´ve got to make sure that bus mastering is on. I think that the problem might be your mainboard, alongside with the memory. I obtained some results overclocking both my system and my G200, and no cooling, except on the G200.

The best solution for you with the systm you´ve got is a Voodoo 3 3000, cause it´s cheap now and 3Dfx is good with slower processors. A G400 MAX would be advisable with a more powerful computer. A G450 would increase significantly your framerates, but you would be using only 30/40% of its capabilities, cause the bottleneck would be your system.


Do one of three things:
- Buy a Voodoo 3;
- Buy a PIII with a G450;
- Stay home and drink tea and save money.

DON´T DO THIS:
- Overclock your syste until it burns your house down...


Cheri-o

[NeSuR]

That's ok, becouse I was thinking in upgrading my system, but not sure about what to buy first. I don't have enough money to buy all the stuff, but I think I'll buy a AMD Duron and its motherboard and keep, for now, the G200. Thanks!