Need Advice Please

[Packrat]

Hello everyone  
I have a question. I have a Compaq Presario 400PII 96 megs of ram and a Rage Pro graphics card but only get 10-14 fps tried ALL the drivers tried overclocking,no joy  
I would like to know what graphics cards you suggest,I Know with a 400 there are limits so I don't need a G force DDR  . THANKS

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 =357 Pony Express=
==Death from Behind==

[This message has been edited by Packrat (edited 06-14-2000).]

[Kirin]

I suggest you go for a TNT2 (Ultra) - they're cheap now and will get you very good performance!!!

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~Kirin~

JG2 "Richthofen"

"Ich bin immer nur die Messerschmitt 109 geflogen, aller Varianten angefangen von der G-6 bis hin zur K-14. Die Gustav war weitaus kraftvoller als die Friedrich, und hinzu kam die weitaus schwerere Bewaffnung. Die G-10 zum Beispiel hatte eine 30 mm Kanone mit absolut zerstörerirscher Wirkung. Sie war auch die schnellste aller G-Serien, mit einer exzellenten Steigrate, und war in sämtlichen Flugbereichen ausgezeichnet zu fliegen. Ich fühlte mich in meiner 'Beule' immer zuhause und Herr über alle Situationen."
Hauptmann Erich Hartmann, Gruppenkommandeur, I./JG 52, Russische Front, 1945

[Skuzzy]

I think the real problem is your AGP bus in that Compaq is only a 1x bus.  If your Rage Pro has 32MB of ram, it has the ability to do 20 to 40 fps, on a AGP 2x bus.

If the card only has 8MB of video ram, you will only get about 10-20 fps.  In this case, you need to make sure your are not running resolutions over 1024x768, and you have selected 16 bit mode in the game.  This will help, but not much.

I do not know what resolution you are running, but try stepping it back one level and see if that improves the fps.  If you only get a marginal improvement, then this would confirm the slower AGP bus being the culprit.


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

[Robert]

how do you know if you have a 1x 2x etc... agp bus..

Gateway
PIII 500
Nvidia 16 meg agp

[Ripsnort]

Concur with Kirin, I have the Ultra TNT2-32 meg. card and am pleased as pie!

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Ripsnort(-rip1-)
~GeschwaderKommodore~I./JG2~Richthofen~[/i]
CLICK>> JG2 INFORMATION
Panzer Group Afrika~15th Panzer Division~[/i]

I spare no class or cult or  creed,
My course is endless through the year.
I bow all heads and break all hearts,
All owe homage-I am Fear.
-------------General Patton

[bloom25]

I used to have an older Rage Pro card (Xpert 98) and had similar problems with FPS.  I'd put in either an Xpert 128 with driver 4.11.6063 or go with a Viper v770 or V770 Ultra (best choices IMO).  If money is a little tight, the v770 (non-ultra) will save you about $30 and you will likely not lose a bit of performance.  You are CPU limited on either of the two cards.

I can tell you this.  My system with a cel 466, 96MB ram, V770 Ultra (Diamond 4.02 drivers) running at 1024 res 32bit is getting 50 - 75 fps continuously.  I'd be surprised if a V770 on your 400 doesn't get you at least 40 fps.



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bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS

[Kirin]

I really don't think AGP width is an issue here... if I am not wrong I got a 1x AGP myself (hey surely I want4x!!) but the amount of data (textures etc.) in AH is still so small that a 1x can handle this at ease...  

[DrSoya]

Make sure you don't buy the "value" version of the TNT2 though, Model 64 (also called "OEM version" I think). Its performance is not that much greater than a plain TNT.

Celeron 466 (not o/c, yet) here on an Abit BX2 R.2 (using a slot1/socket370 adapter) with 160MB RAM and the Creative Labs 3D Blaster Riva TNT2 Value (Model 64). I'm pretty far from Bloom's frame rate. It goes around 25-30 FPS, in 16 bit mode. I tried 32 bit mode and the FPS went dramatically down.

(Haven't tried fine tuning the driver settings though, I'm using NVidia Detonator2 drivers v. 5.22, I had to install them last night because AH stopped working [froze on execution] after three days of use - I had v. 5.14. Yeah, I'm in my 2-weeks free trial.   )

Hey! At least AH does work at 1024x768 resolution for me. I always had to fly WB at 640x480, the views switching was just too damn slow in hi-res.  


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DrSoya
315 (Polish) Squadron "City of Deblin" RAF
Part of Northolt Wing

[This message has been edited by DrSoya (edited 06-15-2000).]

[bloom25]

I agree completely, and I should have mentioned it in my post.  DO NOT buy a model 64 TNT2 card.  Basically what you are doing there is taking a 128 bit chip and cutting the memory bus in half to 64 bit.  Go figure what that does to your framerate.  



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bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS