New OGL ICD! Q2=70.7fps !!

[OrangeJulius]

http://www.maximumpcmag.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/000219.html

(read the whole thread)

[Micko]

Yeah, Quake2 scores, but Half-Life still sucks according to Sean Downey.

Here:
"Unfortunately Half-Life performance didn't get as much as a boost. The G400 just doesn't do Half-Life very well mainly because the game uses so many textures."

Comments?!

Micko

[MikeMyers]

Hi,

Yeah I would also like to know how this is going to affect the G400 in the future, what makes the G400 bad at handling a high number of textures?

Worrying..

Mike

[Jammrock]

I don't see how large amounts of texures can be the problem. The G400 has 32 MB of local memory (which is more than any game out uses, even Half-Life). It uses a dual bus configuration that increases the over all local bandwidth, which should equal quicker texture swaps than anyone else. The only way I can see the G400 have troubles with large amounts of textures is if the texture processing unit in the actual G400 chip sucks. But I doubt that since the G400 has the most advanced set of texturing options and abilities on the consumer market.

Personally I think it is just the way the game is made. The Valve people has tweaked and hacked John Carmacks original code so much that they must have screwed up something that the G400 doesn't like. Come on people, Half-Life runs well on my brothers TNT, Celeron computer and I know that the G400 can whoop up on any TNT board.

Jammrock

------------------
PIII 504 (112 MHz x 4.5 - 504), 256 MB PC133 SDRAM, 18 GB WD Expert HDD, Encore 6x DVD w/ Dxr3 decoder, (TEMPORARY!!!) Voodoo 3 2000 @ 175 MHz which will be replaced by a Matrox G400 MAX, Sound Blaster Live! full retail, MAG DX715T 17". A nice little toy don't ya think?

[This message has been edited by Jammrock (edited 07-16-99).]

[Gurm]

But Half-Life _didn't_ run well on the TNT. I have been a member of other forums for the other cards I own (i740, ATI, TNT, V3), and Half-Life is/has been a dog clear across the board. Just because Matrox is the last to finally tweak out their drivers specifically for half-life is no reason to get upset...

Unreal is just the same way - sucks no matter what card you use (except Voodoo).

- Gurm

[Genom]

Half-life, for the most part for some reason isnt the fastest game around. However I will say that originally when I was running it on my TNT it was pretty smooth at lower res, and at 1024x768 it was very good. it wasnt until I did a new install and forced AGP2X on the g400 that I was able to get similar framerates at about the same res. I mean the game IS playable, but it should be a hell of a lot smoother on a brand new card that isnt exactly the cheap sucker. I am NOT raging on the board, I know mine isnt a MAX, etc etc etc. I know the G400 is great value (as I mentioned in another post, just decent boaprds for dual monitors is prolly more than a single g400) But still. The drivers have a lot of room to grow into. And of course I am always pissy about my favorite game beeing the one that runs the worst

[Kalzus]

OpenGL driver implementations generally aren't designed to manage large amounts of textures really fast. I think the spec calls for hooks that allow you to do some texture management yourself but few if any OGL games use those hooks.

This would be why Unreal in GLide works well. GLide apps must manage textures themselves so there will be an effort made to do so in a manner specific to the game.

[madmax05]

Sheesh - this is what I am afraid of - Buy a $250 graphics card that won't handle some of the current crop of games - I LOVE Half-Life and Unreal. They play well with my voodoo2 SLI, but I keep hearing about better colors and better quality images - My framerates are fine - I have no idea what they are, only that these games play silky-smooth now. Luckily, I can keep my voodoo2 SLI along with the G400Max, but if I am having to choose the voodoos too much of the time, I am going to be PISSED!

P3-450; Abit bx6rev2; ATI Rage Pro; voodoo2 8mb SLI; sbLive; Monster Sound; 128mb CAS3 PC100 Ram

[BrainPlastic]

Which drivers is Maximum referring to? The unreleased 5.20? or the available 5.13? The 5.20 are rumored to offer upto 40% better OPENGL, I think 20% would still be impressive...

His texture comment makes no sense to me.