Got a question.....

[1776]

How much detail could HTC put into the sim if the minimum system requirements were upgraded to todays video cards and puter speeds?  Would there be that ability to increase detail or has even software fallen behind the hardware development?  Just how soon will there be a leap in image quality in the puter world?

I became interested in puters in 1997 and have seen a huge advance in that short time.  Was  just wondering what others think of the puter advances they have seen and would like to hear where they think this is all going.

[This message has been edited by 1776 (edited 02-07-2001).]

[Skuzzy]

It would be quite easy for HTC to overwhelm a GeForce Ultra if they wanted to.

To do this would require a whole new set of graphics objects though.  For instance, instead of using 300 polygons to define an object, they could define the object with 3000 polygons.

Until everyone can afford and have video cards that can push several million Texels/sec, it is just not possible to raise the bar on the quality of graphics.

I would estimate that by 2004, HTC could probably increase the polygon count in objects by about 50% and no one would complain.  Most all the current video cards would choke if they did that today.

However, at a recent consumer electronis show, gamers were polled for what they would like to see in the next generation of video cards.  The answer was rather surprising.  They want lower prices and feel the current video cards are fast enough.  The overall consensous was the price is too high for a GeForce Ultra, for example and if the video cards makers could not do it cheaper, then do not bother increasing the performace of the cards.

On one hand I see thier point, although I beleive it is a short-sighted one.  The current generation of video cards have an enormous number of features which are not being used by any software available today.  This is always a problem with video card technology.  The software to support the new features almost always takes about a year to hit the street (save the benchmark programs, which are making use of the hardware T&L in current video cards).

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Roy "Skuzzy" Neese
President, AppLink Corp.
http://www.applink.net
skuzzy@applink.net

[Ghosth]

Personally, I've seen video cards go through basicly 4 generations since I bought my last one 2.5 years ago.  At the time 8mb AGP cards were new, & king of the heap. Since then we've seen 16mb, 32mb, and now 64mb cards hitting the market. Each one faster with double the memory of the generation before.

Time for things to slow down a bit I think.

[Staga]

LOL still remembering my thoughts after I installed Voodoo 1 (4mt?) to my Brand new p200...

WHOOOOAAH !!!!  

Btw I read new Mercedes-Benz Truck Racing (Demo: http://www.3dfiles.com/games/mercedesbenztruckracing.shtml)  can push cards to their limits and check framerates while doing it.

[This message has been edited by Staga (edited 02-07-2001).]

[1776]

I hope,Skuzzy, that the industry doesn't pay any attention to that survey!!  I would hate to see research into better V-cards come to a halt!!

I think the current price for the ultra is around $600 or so.  I bet the price will be lower in 3 or 4 months.  This is one area of puters that needs to keep improving.

Too bad ya just can't get a second puter to just work the graphics using unlimited memory and GHZ processor!!  

Well, I guess I will have to be satisfied with my g-force 32 bit for awhile  However, with tax cuts in the offing...........  

[Skuzzy]

Unfortunately, it was Nvidia and ATI that were running the poll.

Oh, I ordered a GeForce Ultra 64MB last week for $404.00 U.S.  Funny thing was, the price went up 2 days after I ordered to $449.00 U.S.

I feel for the video card guys.  Thier products have to turn quickly, but they cannot price them to recover the engineering/manufacturing costs due to the competition between themselves.  It was no surprise to me when 3dfx went down the tubes.  Somebody had to go.  I just wonder if ATI can handle the transition from #3 to #2 without falling on thier faces.

What a lot of people do not understand, is the limits for video is now the video itself.  Until the video display can double the bandwidth at any given display resolution, we are now running handicapped by them.
Oh sure, you can turn off synchronization, but for games such as AH, this is bad, thus your video performance is capped by the display itself.
Right now, at 1024x768, all the top video cards are limited by the monitors ability to display the images fast enough, if you have v-sync enabled.
Without some serious push in display technology, we may not be able to get anymore performance than we have right now.

Just a thought.

------------------
Roy "Skuzzy" Neese
President, AppLink Corp.
http://www.applink.net
skuzzy@applink.net