SimonD

Having loaded MS Flight Sim 2002 over Xmas, I found that it does not seem to like my 3dfx Voodoo3 card. It will run for a minute or two but then hangs - I need to switch the machine off to get out of this.

As there is/are no more support/patches for 3dfx stuff I have resigned myself to buying a new card. Any suggestions (without too much jargon! - I'm a little out of touch with these things) for a replacement?

It is important that whatever I get works well with the MS Flight sims, GP3 and of course most importantly GPL.

Cheers for any help

Simon

orbv

Nvidia seem to be the best video card company around at the moment. They release updated drivers very often and there current drivers work on all there cards they have released for the last 4 years or so. The X-box is based on the chip set.

Top two chipsets are......but there are also GeForce 2 cards around depending on budget etc.

Nvidia Geforce 3 Ti500
Nvidia Geforce 3 Ti200

Just buy a card using one of there chipsets and download the latest drivers from www.nvidia.com.

InvisibleMan

Any of the Nvidia based chips are cool - just depends on which little extras your after, what you want to do with it, TV out that sort of stuff...

SimonD

No TV Out needed - just the games I mentioned. The Voodoo3 doesn't work too well with GP3 either - lots of black triangles across the track at certain parts of each circuit.

Nvidia Geforce it is then unless anyone has any better suggestions.

Thanks for the replies.

Simon

WREXY

I have the MS Flight Sim 2002 Pro edition and use the Winfast 3D S320 II TNT2 Pro Graphics card with no problem. I'm sure the Nvidia cards are tops, but maybe the card I'm using is cheaper and it works well too.

Cheers,

Wrexy.

ScoobyJawa

Aren't the new ATi cards supposed to be a smidgen better than the nvidia? Eg the ATi 8500 is a bit faster than a Ti500 and has a few extra features which programmers are beginning to make use of? Also the ATi 7500 is supposed to be quite good.
The driver and support is not yet up to the nvidia standard but from what I've heard they're working on it and soon be latest and better drivers for them.........
Haven't got one mind, but just from the reviews I've read including comparisons between the two.

Just throwing in a choice aside from Nvidia

orbv

Think the lastest ATI card is the same or just beats the Nvidia GeForce 3 Ti500 but drivers are not backwards compatible and do not ship anything like the number of cards as Nvidia do.

Must new games are written using nvidia cards as the reference!

InvisibleMan

Yes ATI are good cards, they always have been but driver support is abit limited & that is what is important & support from software houses.

I believe TNT cards are based on the nvidia chip so nothing wrong with them at all.

Anything with the nvidia chipset is the way to go. Driver support will only get stronger what with (THAT console ) onboard.

Sith

The ATI 8500 series are good cards. BUT, Nvidia do whoop'em in certain areas where ATI beat Nvidia on certain Bench marks. Horses for corses really. Check Tomshardware.com for good comparisons.
I'm still using a Geforce 2 GTS. Return to castle Wolfenstein flies specialy after upgrading the PC CPU.

P.

DazV

Go for NVidia for reasons of compatibility - all the deveopers who write the games seem to use them. Driver support is pretty good.

I was really pi$$ed off with the pricing on the GeForce3 and went for a lesser card and regretted it.

-DV

ScoobyJawa

Some good answers there so worth my post As I said, didn't have one just read they were pretty good, nice to see some reasoned opinions between the two

BTW - I'm and Nvidia chappie at the mo (albeit and old 32Mb TNT2 )

ChristianR

iTrader: (1)

depending on your budget, i would go for a geforce3 i500 64meg ddr ram - lovely card.

apparantly the i200 is not as good as the geforce2

Steve Perriam

it should be....thats the £300 aint it ?

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

Christian, the GF3 Ti200 is actually a very strong performer, not far off the the standard GF3 at all. I think that what you have come across is the comparison between a GF2 Ultra&GF3 and the fact that the old Ultra's engine is actually stronger(slightly) than the GF3's in 16-bit colour. The Ultra gets pretty well battered when switching to 32-bit Colour.

GF2 ti's/Ultra's are still stonking cards.
The Hercules GF2 Ti(GF2 Pro) is a cracking little card. Good cooling onboard, strong performance for £100 and built well within core/RAM tolerences. 1 of my colleagues runs the core@260Mhz/RAM@440Mhz. This is getting close to Ultra territory.

I probably would not get a Ti200, unless you cannot find a fully fledged GF3 for similar money. I have seen a couple floating aroud the web with £20-30 of the 200's

The current Radeons are great and very competetive with some of the Nvidia range, but as mentioned above somewhere, no better than the Ti500 cards. All of the benchmarks are indeed swings and roundabouts.
Personally I will probably never go for an ATI card again. They have got much better nowadays, but I have been assimilated now....
(Have gone through a GF2GTS, GF3 and now on a Ti500 in the last 12 months'muppet')


Cheers,


Nick

Lee

I've done quite a few machines lately using nvidia cards. Great to be able to use a single driver install

according to the madonion site the ati comes up trumps with outright performance but to be honest its all bull anyway..how fast do you need it to go ? Each new generation of cards blows away the last but whats the actual difference to gameplay ?

What *is* important is a card that runs under loadsa different OS's and I think you'll find that nvidia leads the way as their products are lots more popular than ati's and so have greater support.

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

3dMark is a great prog, but by no means the 'be all and end all' of benchmarking programs. I remember reading some mind numbingly boring 30-odd page comparison between the 8500 and ti500 and it was so even results-wise after using practically every form of graphics benchmark known to man.

Swings and roundabouts folks.......

Cheers,


Nick

P.S. 3dfx ruled! RIP [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

[Edited by Mr Footlong - 12/28/2001 3:00:40 PM]

Shaun

Some good points about the Ti500 Vs the 8500!!!!!

I have a Radeon 8500 and it is an awesome card. I would not expect it to *really* be any better than a Ti500 in REAL LIFE situations. But then you should find out the price of a Radeon and Ti500...............and your question will be answered!!!!!!!!

No WAY is the Ti500 worth £100 more!!!!

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

I wasn't bringing price into it with the 2 cards. Sure the Ti500 is more expensive, but I personally have had far better experiences with my Nvidia cards than with any of my ATI cards. Just my experience.
the ATI is a great choice nowadays, a genuine top-end card with (THANK GOD!) something starting to resemble driver suport and updates. As most know and have already said, this was the achilles' heel to owning an ATI previously.

Get either of these 2 cards and you will be happy.


Cheers,


Nick

P.S There is nothing like £100 difference between a Ti500 and a 8500, unless you are going for some fancy-schmancy Asus one that's all prety gold and has all of the tvinandout malarkey that 90% don't touch! I paid £250 all in for My Herc Ti500 and the current different in price between the 8500 and Herc is pretty well spot on 50 (for a OEM version, uncrippled, unlike ATI's OEM versions!)

Shaun, you talk out of your @rse!

AndiThompson

The ATi Radeon is reported to perform better in some 3DM tests and is quite a bit cheaper too! Everyone I've spoke to that has one are very happy, then again, so are the GF3 owners. Personally, if I had the cash to spare it'd be the GF3 (dont know why really, but nvidia are supposed to make better cards and I've always fancied a GeForce since the original came out, just never had the cash ), but as I dont, I'd have to go for the Radeon.

Shaun

Nick,

You probably need any miniscule advantage you can get with the G3, when running a spec of PC you have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I could run a 3dFX Banshee and still whip ya ***!!!!

Regards,
Shaun.

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

Keep dreaming, escort boy!I'm not going to ruin your day mate and tell you what I have been acquiring over christmas! XP18/1900? BAH! pish-posh......


Cheers,


Nick

DazV

Between the ATI and NVidia products, I'd choose NVidia everytime for driver reliability.