which 3d graphics card?

MiCr0

i'm buying a new computer atm i'm wondering which 3d card should i get
options are:
32mb nvidia m64
diamond viper 32mb tnt2
ati rage 128 16mb
voodoo 3 3000 16mb
any ideas?

MiCr0

Karla

I've got the nVidia M64 and I think it's excellent. But why not go for the GeForce 256? It would be well worth it.

acous

check for a button that says "this is the best 3d card" and click at it

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or am i just a nutter?

BugBlaster

umm if yer getting a geforce.. be warned... it does not like any version of Unreal at the mo.... ask me... ive one an im not a happy camper
q3 runs brillo on it.... 119fps without a tweak cant be bad at 1024 res

Hecate

really depends on what game your playing.

but if your looking for a good all rounder you cant go far wrong with a Xentor TNT2 Ultra or Viper V770, both damn fine cards, the next best thing to having a GeForce.

Chubby

nvidia m64 cards? Arrrrgh, they're not exactly bad but they are no way as good as tnt2s. If you want to get a tnt2 get the tnt2-pro chipset instead of the normal ones and tnt2 ultras.

Elsa and Gigabyte are the only 2 manufacturers who makes tnt2-pro cards as far as I know. You will find reviews for them on Firingsquad.com, sharkyextreme etc if you want to know more about them. As for availability. I've only seen the Elsa one for sale on http://www.insight.com/uk. Just do a search for "tnt2 pro". Elsa Erazor III pro i think is the full name.

Or if you want you can go all out and buy a GeForce.

kstop

Matrox G-400 Max 32Mb card runs about 170/190
quid if you order it from their site. Took
a mere three days to deliver it too.

Haven't got into checking frame-rates yet,
but it runs 1024x768x16bit q3 very smoothly
indeed (on a 433 MHz Celeron).

K.
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Chubby

Waaa, them G-400s are expensive. You can get a GeForce for that price and I've seen DDR GeForce going for 160 sterling (ex vat and delivery).
Tnt2-pros are selling for about 95 sterling (ex vat and delivery of course). They are as good if not better than Tnt2 ultras.

elexes

ive a voodoo 3000 and a ddr ge-force for the moment id go for the voodoo as the ge-force aint to friendly with everything but it will be good once the bugs are gone .

Kali

160 sterling ex vat and delivery
so about 250 irish then.
not exactly g400 price.

Chubby

I didn't say DDR GeForce are cheap I'm actually waiting for the Voodoo4 to come out so this will go down a bit before I get one.

You can get a standard GeForce for that G400 price. G400 should not cost that much anyway. And I can order stuff without paying vat anyway so that DDR won't be more than 200 quid for me. If you really want a G400 there's one on ebid.ie going for 32 quid at the moment. Ooops, wait, that's a Savage4 going for 32 quid.


[This message has been edited by Chubby (edited 09-03-2000).]

Chubby

http://www.insight.com/cgi-bin/bp/144075865/uk/products/vild1001.html

WinFast GeForce SDR for 99 sterling ex vat and delivery.

WhiteWashMan

hmm, i saw one in game yesterday fr 169 quid.
or maybe thats the lower spec one.
not that interested in graphics cards these days.
i'll stick with my trusty voodoo(i play every game and always work no matter what unlike other graphics cards )3

MiCr0

wwm is the voodoo 3 ne good?
which version u got? the 16mb?

WhiteWashMan

all the voodoo3s are 16 mg.
just depends what flavour.
i have the 2000 coz i already have an onboard agp card so i have to use pci and i couldnt find the v3 3000 pci version.
anyway, its about 70 quid now and it does the job very nicely. have never had one bit of problem and it does all the jobs i ask of it. i even have a nice little overclocker so if you buy one and want to up the speed all you neeed to do is add your own fan or heatsink or whatever and i'll email you the program. its only about 48k
oh, yeah. the card is good
probably wont give 5 million fps like the gforce, but there are absolutely no compatability problems with it, and with the wicked gl drivers instead of the 3dfx ones, it really speads it up noticably in q3...

Chubby

Don't mean to start a voodoo3 vs other cards debate but why do you (MiCrO) want a voodoo3 when there are better cards out there like the tnt2 for roughly the same price?

There is a new Quake3 videocard shootout article in www.firingsquad.com and if you look at the benchmarks, the tnt2 beats the voodoo3 every time. The voodoo3 will be outdated within a month when the voodoo4 comes out. The voodoo4 will have exactly the same performance as a voodoo3 except it'd support 32bit colours etc.

[This message has been edited by Chubby (edited 16-03-2000).]

MiCr0

correct me if (when) im wrong
but
best geforce
second tnt-2
third voodoo3

right?

Chubby

Net is too congested to check the performance of the cards on that firingsquad article but the new ViperII and the ATI Fury Max are better than tnt2s and voodoo3s. Then again they are the next (same as GeForce) generation of vid cards.

Times have changed basically. If you want the best of the last generation of vid cards, i'd get the tnt2 ultra or the tnt2 pro. If you don't need one in a hurry then you should probably wait a month or 2 for the price of the GeFOrce to drop and the drivers to mature.

[This message has been edited by Chubby (edited 16-03-2000).]

MiCr0

the reason i asked about these cards
is that they come with the new pc's from
gateway and dell

MiCr0

MiCr0

do they build systems?

Chubby

I think they do yeah, just call them up and ask.

MiCr0

just looked @ prices...
with sterling atm not cheap

Vincent

wwwman can u send me that overclocking program for voodoo 3's ?, and where can i download the wicked gl drivers?

My email is eamonndeegan@hotmail.com

Chubby

Oh god, no, OEM voodoo3s? Arrrgh.
Well what will you be using the PC for?

Personally I'd stay away from Gateway and Dell machines if you really must get one, I'd suggest (just my opinion, people feel free to disagree) with the diamond viper 32mb tnt2 option.

MiCr0

look at the two systems in the athlon post in tech....
that will be something like the system that i'm going to get
ie around 600-650mhz with 128mb ram

it will prob be used for games/net/work
about even amount of all

MiCr0

Chubby

Ahhhh
If you really want an athlon system check out www.overclockers.co.uk
Trust me, take a look.
(gone for early lunch )

WhiteWashMan

you can get the wicked gl drivers from http://www.wicked3d.com/products/wickedgl/default.htm

afaik it just replaces the voodoo drivers, so if you dont have a voodoo, i dont think it will work
they will work on loads of games as the wicked drivers or if its not supported oit will act like normal voodoo drivers
mail me and i'll just reply and attach the overclocker.
i'll prolly have forgotten all about this post by the time i get home

Vincent

I've tried the wicked gl drivers with glquakeworld, but it's not as good as minigl 1.48. Email to what address WWWman?
Can u send the overclocking program to eamonndeegan@hotmail.com?

Stephen

I use the WickedGL drivers with my voodoo2/P200 on Half Life and the framerate improvement is fabulous I can actually walk around in large open areas without experiencing a slideshow...which is what happened with 3dfx MiniGL...

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- Munch
- Visit The Fortress

elexes

who said the v3 cant do 32 colours well unless im seeing things which i dont think i am im allowed to chouse that option . hmmmmm think someone got that one wrong

Chubby

Originally posted by elexes:
who said the v3 cant do 32 colours well unless im seeing things which i dont think i am im allowed to chouse that option . hmmmmm think someone got that one wrong

If you said something as ignorant as that half a year ago when the debate between tnt2 and voodoo3 was heating up, this thread would be filled with flames by now .