GeForce256

[Kirin]

Hi there,

has anyone gathered some experience with a GeForce256 board? I am running a PIII/500 at the moment, but with only an Erazor2(TNT). Now I want to upgrade and wonder what gfx-board would be the right one for me. I want to stick to ELSA, so what do you people think? Erazor3, Erazor3pro, ErazorX??? Should I wait for the DDR version of the ErazorX (and better drivers) and buy an Erazor3 meanwhile? Or will an Erazor3pro be enough? It's just because at the moment I have a mismatch between CPU & gfx generations...

Thank you

[zuni]

If you can manage to wait, it would be better to wait until the DDR Geoforce sticks have come down in price, once they come out in force. If you really want the amazing power of the card now, the most available and cheapest is the Annihilator from Creative Labs. Other makers such as LeadTek, Elsa, Guillemot and Asus have more expensive Geoforce boards available. Choosing this route will get you some extras like TV-out. In any case, the board is the latest and greatest PC video tech. The DDR will carry you well into the future though (just how long is that in PC time though!??). Good luck.

Zuni

[humble]

I had to replace my vidio card recently and decided on a 3D Prophet (Guillemot). Overall I've been very happy with the card but it wont provide framerates much better than a tnt2 chipset in most current games. My framerate in AH averages 50-52 at highest resolution.

Hmble

[gatt]

Heya Kirin  

I have a P3-500Mhz overclocked to 560Mhz and 256MByte RAM.
I run AH at 1600x1200 (16bit), full range and details. With the GeForce at standard settings (120/166)and v-sync on, I get 35/45fps during dogfights.

[Jinx]

Hey Gatt,

If you have the time, could you try it at 1280x1024 with 32 bit color and see how it does?
I have a G400 now and I can run it at 1280/16bit or 1024/32bit with okay frame rate, but I want 1280/32bit or better..    If the GeForce can do it I’ll get one.

Thanx
  -Jinx

[Kirin]

Heya Gatt,

thx for the info - gonna get me an Erazor X ASAP; though I don't like to pay 55 bucks for shipment at EBWorld. So I have to wait 'till they pop up in Switzerland.

BTW, how o/c'ed your 500 to 560?

Kirin out

[gatt]

Jinx,
sorry, the GeForce was not mine, after a try I had to bring it back. I didnt try 32bit.
Mine is a Matrox G400Max. At 1240x1024 @32bit I get the same fps (i.e.:40).

Kirin, buddy,
I have a MS6163 motherboard. I can overclock the P3-500 simply setting 5x112 instead of 5x100 in the bios. Let me know if you need further infos.

[Jinx]

Thanx anyway Gatt,
My G400 is the el cheapo version with only 16Mb, I like it and the graphics quality is great. I just wish for a bit higer res with the looks of 32bit color. I guess the G400Max would be an alternative but the GeForce is tempting.. <G>

  -Jinx

[eagl]

Consider the 200mhz voodoo3 3500 from falcon northwest.  They have a special edition voodoo3 3500 that uses 5ns SDRAM and is clocked at 200mhz.  It costs an awful lot, over $300, but if you're considering a DDR GeForce, this wouldn't be too much more money.


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eagl <squealing Pigs> BYA
Oink Oink To War!!!

[Jinx]

I was looking at the Voodoo3500, but I feel it's a generation behind now. I have gotten used to the 32bit color and the high visual quality of the G400. No 3Dfx card I have seen yet comes close, even if they have the raw power to keep the frame rate up. The next generation 3Dfx looks very interesting though, if I can hold off, that is what I’m waiting for.

  -Jinx

[aliwood]

I had a chance to test the 3D Blaster Annihilator.  If you go to our site you can listen to last weeks show which I covered it.

Go to www.jackedin.com   under Radio show then under archive.  The show date is 12/13/1999.

But Here is the quick note.  The Gforce based cards are nice for $250.  Since you have a PIII/500  I would say get the TNT2 card for the price of $100 or so the drivers, and the speed of this card are good.  I ran into some driver problems with the Gforce 256 card. The card was %30 faster in benchmark's then the TNT2 Card. In 2D I could notice the speed in windows desktop performance.  Under 3D I didn't notice very much speed improvement. Also since your motherboard doesn't support 4X AGP, you won't get performance improvement that it add's.

So for about 100 bux or so the TNT2 card with the speed, and solid drivers that it has, is a very nice performer.  I have the  Diamond Viper 770 Ultra (BTW I took the Gforce back and put this card back in).

Now once the dust settle's down on the new Intel i820 boards, and the price of RDRAM drops, and its time to upgrade to AGP 4X compliant motherboard's, then I would say its time for major upgrade, and by that time 2nd Generation GPU's should be out!    

 
On another note, Asus makes a version of the Gforce 256 card called V6600, and they have a version which add's video capture, and video output which could come handy. This would allow you to hookup your video camera and to get 30FPS video capture. Also you can hookup your VCR, and recoard your flight onto a video tape!    


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Ali "AliWooD" Bokaiyan
President/Radio Host for Jackedin.com
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AKA StäRmäN
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I don't want all of the world just your half  

[This message has been edited by aliwood (edited 12-18-1999).]

[-lynx-]

gatt:

I tried 112MHz - it refused to boot (PIII450 here). I'm running BX6 ver.2 and it'll go up to 153MHz (board) and I have 128MB of 133MHz memory. I thought Intel was playing silly games again?

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-lynx-
13 Sqn RAF

[Uncle Enzo]

For those of you looking to save a few bucks ....

Voodoo2 1000's are going for about $40 after $30 rebate. Grab 2 and run SLI. I'm using this setup with a PII 450, 128megs running 1024 resolution and getting 40-50fps. You're not gonna beat that at $80 ;-)

Yall have a Merry X-Mas!

[gatt]

Lynx,
it all depends on the Mobo and bios you have.
The first Mobo I had was a MS6163 with the silly VIA chipset. No overclock was allowed and I had a lot of troubles with TNT boards.
Then I bought the MS6163 with BX chipset. My PIII-500 is now about 15% faster (even without o/c) and I can overclock it to 560MHz.
AFAIK the PIII-450 with the right MoBo is o/c'able indeed, even better than the 500MHz.

[JimBear]

Lynx,

I have the same board you have and have a p2-450 running at 527 stable as a rock.
Make sure in the CPU selection that u have "error hold on startup" off.


JimBear
=VMF111= Devil Dogs