from P3-500 - P3-800 significant difference running games?

[CMB]

hi- i have a p3-500 now and a G400 Flex 3D
baring in mind i am tied to powerdesk 5.27 (till the rt200 development team see fit to release an update)

what kind of improvement would i see in frame rates in half-life, quake 3, UT, ect?

anyone had a similar processor upgrade.
all i can remember is that the g400 scales well upto a certain point..

can anyone help?

[Michel]

Well i just upgraded from an celly 300a@450 with 128mb ram to an P3 1000@1050 with 512mb ram and i went from 20-40 to 60-80 fps in Halflife-Counterstrike!!.

One warning though: Playing CS on an much faster processor is like learning to ride the bike again. Everything is so much faster. I have the feeling that even the bullets leave the gun faster

BTW. i am using the latest drivers on G400 MAX.

Michel

[paulcs]

I think Maggi's the expert on CPU speed and the G400's fill rate limitations. You should see a decent jump, particularly at lower resolutions. I can tell you this. I think the PIII 800 is a great bargain at around $200, and it'll make everything else go faster. Including your video work.

I jumped from 500 to 600 to 800 MHz on my primary and most conservative system. The system is based around the PIII 800 @ spec, an Asus BX board, lots of SCSI hard drives, and a G400 Max, and I only use it for running applications, DVD's, and surfing. It also functions as an Internet server.

The jump from 500 to 600 MHz was noticable. The jump from 600 (Katmai) to 800, I believe, was very worthwhile. If you're wondering if the upgrade will be worth it, I think you'll be very happy.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[cjyo~]

I recently upgraded from the old Cel300a@450 to a p3-800 and the difference is really worth it.

By the way, I am also running a Flex3d in an rt2000 system, but I have a seperate system (with System Commander 2000) for editing and another for games. On the gaming system, I can use whatever G400 drivers I like (and disable the rt2000 in System devices). So far, I have had good luck with 6.04 (and bad luck with 6.10) and TurboGL on my Flex3d.

[Greebe]

I think Maggi's the expert on CPU speed and the G400's fill rate limitations.

Really Paul?!


Considering I have been running @850mHz for over a year now and am the first to hit the G400(Max) fillrate limits, even before Matrox, how is this possible? (not to claim Maggi doesn't know what these limits are also

[CMB]

Thanks people... i had just decided to buy another hard drive and leave the p3 for a while but im all fired up for it again now :O)

cyjo, im curious.. how do you set up the flex with normal g400 drivers?, i was under the impression that if i created another profile and installed the latest drivers, it would overwrite my flex3d ones and i would have to reinstall them again to edit...

would you share the secret of how to do it?
:O) pretty please.. go on...

[paulcs]

Sorry Mike. It was a typo. I swear!!

What I meant to say was that Greebe is the expert on the G400's fillrate limitations. Maggi's no slouch either.

As I get older, my memory gets worse and worse. Maggi was the last person I recalled mentioning it, so he was crowned "the expert."

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[cjyo~]

I didn't do it with profiles. I have a multi-boot system on different partitions, using System Commander 2000. So I have two full separate systems on my hard drive (and yes, you have to install programs twice - for each system, if you want to use them in both).

I do it this way to keep my editing system clean and stable, with only the bare essentials running. My other system is my email/internet/gaming/testing etc system. That's where I am using the PD6.04 drivers. I don't think you can do the same thing with profiles.

To install the non-Flex 3D drivers, I first installed the Standard VGA driver, then go into Display:Settings:Advanced: and change the Display Adapter, by browsing to the folder with whatever drivers I want to use (not using the Setup.exe).

[cjyo~]

I didn't do it with profiles. I have a multi-boot system on different partitions, using System Commander 2000. So I have two full separate systems on my hard drive (and yes, you have to install programs twice - for each system, if you want to use them in both).

I do it this way to keep my editing system clean and stable, with only the bare essentials running. My other system is my email/internet/gaming/testing etc system. That's where I am using the PD6.04 drivers. I don't think you can do the same thing with profiles.

To install the non-Flex 3D drivers, I first installed the Standard VGA driver, then go into Display:Settings:Advanced: and change the Display Adapter, by browsing to the folder with whatever drivers I want to use (not using the Setup.exe).

[CMB]

cool, im assuming sytem commander 2000 is a stand alone program that cost the earth?

are there any cheaper alternatives that come with windows or anything???

or any other programs to duel boot,?

sorry if i sound like a total newbie but its something i know nothing about, duel booting

[cjyo~]

Yes, but it is well worth it to have a pristine editing system and still be able to play around with new stuff on the same machine.

I don't think you can do dual boot with 2 win98 systems for free. Partition Magic also has Boot Magic software which should do the same thing.

You can dual boot 98 and NT or 2000 for free. The OS loader is built into NT/2000. Of course NT and 2000 aren't free either...

[CMB]

Hiya, well i got partition magic 6 of a friend and its weird...
i have paritioned my hard drive and have 2 installations of windows ME then o found out that it doesnt support 2 versions of win95/98/me apparantly. so anyway.. one partition is hidden and the other active.. the weird thing is.. i can swap between them using the loader thing, i load it up, make the active one hidden then it boots with the others but i cant get it to do it on startup as its booting (ie pick which one)

[cjyo~]

I haven't tried Boot Magic, but System Commander 2000 is pretty easy to use - when I turn on my machine I get a screen letting me choose a system (I actually have 3 systems: 2 x 98se sytems and 1 x win2000 system). I can customize the length of time the screen stays on (I have it set for 10 seconds). After 10 seconds, it defaults to my Main (email, gaming, etc) System...

I think it re-writes the MBR (master boot record) everytime I reboot and automatically hides the other 2 systems. I can still access all the files on the other system partitions though.

[CMB]

hi, i hadnt installed bootmagic correctly.
now i have all is sweet.. i have installed powerdesk 6.21 and ONI runs fine now.. its a pretty good game too, Thanks a lot for your help