Recommend a 3d card?

Legion

Thinking about getting a 3d card soon.
I've got £100 to spend. anyone wanna
recommend the best for that price.
Obviously it'll have to be compatible
with the quake engines (open GL)
Cheers

LegacyUser

: Thinking about getting a 3d card soon.
: I've got £100 to spend. anyone wanna
: recommend the best for that price.
: Obviously it'll have to be compatible
: with the quake engines (open GL)
: Cheers

Game have the Maxi 3D Voodoo 3d Accelerator for 89 lids at the mo
I think a few of the lads use em. Personally I'm saving to get a Voodoo2.

Gandalf.

Hobbes

: Game have the Maxi 3D Voodoo 3d Accelerator for 89 lids at the mo
: I think a few of the lads use em. Personally I'm saving to get a Voodoo2.

: Gandalf.

Maxi 3D will not work properly with Q2, also there is a danger of overclocking the card which will damage it, and invalidate your warranty? They have numerous warnings of this in the package.

I currently have a Canopus (PURE3D) card which has 2MB buffer/4MB texture memory, should support the new 3dfx format coming (something beyond pci slots? some techie answer this) and has the added bonus of letting you play on the TV (great for widescreen

I am also having problems with my card at the moment, due to conflicting cards/drivers, but the support guys answered my email within a day and with rakes of details on what to check/fix. I just haven't gotten around to fixing it yet Anyway out of the two I've used I recommend this one. The price was 150. (vat inc) in Game.

LegacyUser

I think you'd be ok with any 3dfx card,
for no other reason than industry support
(I've a righteous 3D meself), the Maxi 3D
Voodoo 3d Accelerator that gandalf suggests
is a good wee worker (all 3dx cards are largely
the same anyway).
I wouldn't lose much sleep over the overclocking
warnings, all manfacturers say that, just dont
over clock over 55 and make sure your box is
well fanned.

As for buying I'd hold out a month and get a Voodoo2
if I was you.

As for Quake I personnelly prefare the software
driven version myself, it looks more gritty, while
the 3dfx looks kind of plasticy, but that said its
a great way to give a older machnine a nice new lease
of life.
But thats just my own personal opinon.

hope it helps

Rev Hellfire


: Thinking about getting a 3d card soon.
: I've got £100 to spend. anyone wanna
: recommend the best for that price.
: Obviously it'll have to be compatible
: with the quake engines (open GL)
: Cheers

FlavorFlav

: Thinking about getting a 3d card soon.
: I've got £100 to spend. anyone wanna
: recommend the best for that price.
: Obviously it'll have to be compatible
: with the quake engines (open GL)
: Cheers

Here are all the options, based on chipset, then cards that I know use those chips. I'm sorry I can only guess about prices.

3dfx Voodoo chip:
Real good. Orhcid Righteous, Diamond Monster, and other cheaper brands. Only does 3D. price? 100 - 150? Canopus Pure3D also, but this card has twice as much texture memory, bit more expensive, but better for online play against lots of other players, who have diff skins and things like that. Max resolution of Voodoo is 640x480. Only works fullscreen normally (software hack available for windowed).

NVIDIA Riva 128:
Also real good, if you've got a fast computer. Diamond Viper 330, perhaps other cheap brands. Does 2d and 3d. price about 125-175? Has 4 meg and thats the max. Can have higher resolution than 640x480, but will be slower at higher res. Does 3d in a window.

Rendition V2000/V2200:
Very similar to Riva, maybe a bit slower on faster comp, maybe a bit quicker on slower comp. Diamond make the Stealth II with this chip and 4 meg on board. Hercules make the Thriller 3d with 8 meg. Price cheaper than Riva, 100-150?


THE STUFF TO WAIT FOR (if you've got the time)

3dfx Voodoo 2:
Upto 3 times faster than voodoo 1. Upto 12 meg on board. Get this, you can buy a second one and they work together,(doing each alternate line, Scan Line Interleaving, SLI) to give twice the speed! Diamond make the Monster II (8meg standard), and Creative make the Voodoo II (12 meg standard). Just about available now, 200-250.

NVIDIA Riva ZX and TNT:
ZX is a slight upgrade to Riva 128, TNT should be comparable to Voodoo2. Not available.

PVRSG:
The new one from Videologic/NEC, said to be even better than voodoo2, not yet available.

Matrox G200:
Possible comparable to voodoo2, not available yet.



STAY AWAY FROM:

PVR 1:
slow for quake, not full coloured lighting for q2. I think the matrox m3d uses this chip. its cheap.

Rendition V1000
no GL quake, but does have special version of regular quake (not QW), and q2. No coloured lighting in q2. Not very fast. Creative makes one.



Important question is what sort of PC you going to put the 3d card into?


FlavorFlav

FlavorFlav

http://www.idsoftware.com/bwh/benchmarks.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/

general intro and discussion
http://www.tomshardware.com/videocard.html

general 3d results
http://www.tomshardware.com/3drev-3dbench.html

lots of fast cards for quake
http://www.tomshardware.com/3dblastv2.html

oh and i forgot to mention 2 other things (at least):

Diamond Fire 1000/2000/3000 cards, which use permedia 2 chips. Real good for 3d opengl general applications but a bit slow for quake. The id guys use some of them for level editing.

Obsidian 3D, one word expensive-vfast
http://www.obsidian3d.com


FlavorFlav

LegacyUser

: Maxi 3D will not work properly with Q2, also there is a danger of overclocking the card which will damage it, and invalidate your warranty? They have numerous warnings of this in the package.

I've been playing Quake II with the maxi 3D card since it came out. No problems so far.

M

LegacyUser

: : Maxi 3D will not work properly with Q2, also there is a danger of overclocking the card which will damage it, and invalidate your warranty? They have numerous warnings of this in the package.

: I've been playing Quake II with the maxi 3D card since it came out. No problems so far.

Ditto, It's a lovely card, just about _every_ modern 3D game supports 3Dfx, and at
89 you can't go wrong. A good dedicated 3D accelerator coupled with a good 2D card
is the most sensible configuration to have in my view - you can replace either whenever
necessary.

Thing: can a generic 3Dfx do SLI, or is it a high-end 3Dfx/voodoo II only feature?

Teeth.

LegacyUser

: I've been playing Quake II with the maxi 3D card since it came out. No problems so far.

The brother has the maxi-gamer at the moment, and Q2 comes out with wrong colours/garbage in the textures. It works fine for other 3dfx programs though.

H

FlavorFlav

: Cheers FLavorFlav - My machine is a P233mmx.
: My Current vid card is a S3 Trio 64v+ 2Mb.
: It's a good card - so i'd like to keep it along
: with the new 3d. So i suppose i'm looking for
: a seperate dedicated 3d card that supports Open GL
: and Direct 3d. I could possibly stretch to £130
: but thats my limit.

Yea good PC, similar to mine, I'm trying to get my hands on a voodoo2, but thats a bit more than 130. Your timing is unfortunate, as we're in a transition period where in about 3 months the new new fast stuff will be cheap. But hey its always like that. If you really want somehting today get a voodoo 1, the Canopus Pure3D if possible.

Well thats my suggestion.

FlavorFlav

Legion

Cheers FLavorFlav - My machine is a P233mmx.
My Current vid card is a S3 Trio 64v+ 2Mb.
It's a good card - so i'd like to keep it along
with the new 3d. So i suppose i'm looking for
a seperate dedicated 3d card that supports Open GL
and Direct 3d. I could possibly stretch to £130
but thats my limit.




: : Thinking about getting a 3d card soon.
: : I've got £100 to spend. anyone wanna
: : recommend the best for that price.
: : Obviously it'll have to be compatible
: : with the quake engines (open GL)
: : Cheers

: Here are all the options, based on chipset, then cards that I know use those chips. I'm sorry I can only guess about prices.

: 3dfx Voodoo chip:
: Real good. Orhcid Righteous, Diamond Monster, and other cheaper brands. Only does 3D. price? 100 - 150? Canopus Pure3D also, but this card has twice as much texture memory, bit more expensive, but better for online play against lots of other players, who have diff skins and things like that. Max resolution of Voodoo is 640x480. Only works fullscreen normally (software hack available for windowed).

: NVIDIA Riva 128:
: Also real good, if you've got a fast computer. Diamond Viper 330, perhaps other cheap brands. Does 2d and 3d. price about 125-175? Has 4 meg and thats the max. Can have higher resolution than 640x480, but will be slower at higher res. Does 3d in a window.

: Rendition V2000/V2200:
: Very similar to Riva, maybe a bit slower on faster comp, maybe a bit quicker on slower comp. Diamond make the Stealth II with this chip and 4 meg on board. Hercules make the Thriller 3d with 8 meg. Price cheaper than Riva, 100-150?

:
: THE STUFF TO WAIT FOR (if you've got the time)

: 3dfx Voodoo 2:
: Upto 3 times faster than voodoo 1. Upto 12 meg on board. Get this, you can buy a second one and they work together,(doing each alternate line, Scan Line Interleaving, SLI) to give twice the speed! Diamond make the Monster II (8meg standard), and Creative make the Voodoo II (12 meg standard). Just about available now, 200-250.

: NVIDIA Riva ZX and TNT:
: ZX is a slight upgrade to Riva 128, TNT should be comparable to Voodoo2. Not available.

: PVRSG:
: The new one from Videologic/NEC, said to be even better than voodoo2, not yet available.

: Matrox G200:
: Possible comparable to voodoo2, not available yet.


: STAY AWAY FROM:

: PVR 1:
: slow for quake, not full coloured lighting for q2. I think the matrox m3d uses this chip. its cheap.

: Rendition V1000
: no GL quake, but does have special version of regular quake (not QW), and q2. No coloured lighting in q2. Not very fast. Creative makes one.


: Important question is what sort of PC you going to put the 3d card into?

:
: FlavorFlav

LegacyUser

: Yea good PC, similar to mine, I'm trying to get my hands on a voodoo2, but thats a bit more than 130. Your timing is unfortunate, as we're in a transition period where in about 3 months the new new fast stuff will be cheap. But hey its always like that. If you really want somehting today get a voodoo 1, the Canopus Pure3D if possible.

I wouldn't worry about getting a Voodoo II - it's really a waste of money unless you have a high-end PII - the card is just _too fast_!
The performance bottleneck is now no longer the card, but your CPU. check out Tom's Hardware (www.tomshardware.com) for a more in-depth
info.

Dr. Teeth.

LegacyUser

: The brother has the maxi-gamer at the moment, and Q2 comes out with wrong colours/garbage in the textures. It works fine for other 3dfx programs though.

I had that problem, try updating your drivers - Guillemot are a cheapo company and simply use the
3Dfx reference drivers - go to www.3dfx.com and get the latest ones - the ones distributed with the
current batch of Maxi Gamers date from october last year!
The latest ones are from March this year I think.

Dr. Teeth.

FlavorFlav

: Thing: can a generic 3Dfx do SLI, or is it a high-end 3Dfx/voodoo II only feature?

: Teeth.

A generic board? no. But the voodoo1 chip can, as demonstrated in the Quantum3D Obsidian boards.

They took that idea further and built it into the voodoo2 generic boards.

FlavorFlav

Hobbes

: I had that problem, try updating your drivers - Guillemot are a cheapo company and simply use the
: 3Dfx reference drivers - go to www.3dfx.com and get the latest ones - the ones distributed with the
: current batch of Maxi Gamers date from october last year!
: The latest ones are from March this year I think.

: Dr. Teeth.


Been there done that Some time ago. Still no joy.