next video card

[yellowjacket]

Ok, I know this sounds dumb, coming from a previous G200 owner, but I'd like to hear some "real world" experiences regarding the G400 with D3D games at 1024x768 and above, especially Halflife and WWII Fighters.

I now have an Abit BE6 and a Celeron 366 running at 550. I had a G200 (which I've kept for building a second computer), but wanted more speed; at a friend's suggestion, picked up a V770.

The V770 is extremely fast and generally runs ok, although I can't get it to look very well in 1152 (flickers), and I have to admit the 2D isn't quite as nice as the G200 (though a lot better than the TNT I considered 4 months ago). When running Windows 98 in 1152, and then running a 3D game, the machine's actually crashed a few times.

If I can get nearly the same speed (in D3D games, I don't care about OpenGL) and reliability with the G400 (or the Max), but better display, I think I'll take the V770 back (I have up to three more weeks to decide).

Anyone with a system similar to mine (Abit BE6, celeron 366 at 550), can you tell me what kind of performance you're getting with your G400 (regular and Max)? Do you play D3D games? Play halflife, by any chance?

thanks!

[Kruzin_K]

The G400 kicks butt in D3D

I play HL/TFC quite a bit. It's actually an OGL game (though it does have a built in OGL-D3D wrapper as well). For me, the game has performed great on my card, and looks awesome at 1152x864 in OGL.

On the D3D games, I don't have WWII fighters, but I picked up Mechwarrior3 and played a bunch this past weekend. At 1024x768(games max res), with all options on full, the game is freekin amazing . Smooth as silk, and by far, one of the best looking (and coolest) games I've played yet. Not a graphics glitch in that game so far.

And if you liked the 2D of the G200, you will love the G400's 2D. I didn't think 2D was gonna get much better after the G200, but I noticed the difference right away. Lights up my 21"er with the best picture it's ever seen.

Take that TnT back, and rejoin the wonderful world of M


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PII-450(@112*4.5=504), Asus P2B(1009), 128meg PC100, MillenniumG400 32meg DH(5.??.???/1.?), 3Com 905B-TX, CL SB Live!value, (2)USR internal 56k v.90 Sportsters (multilinked), WD 8.4&6.4gig HDD, CL PC-DVD, Mitscrewme CD-RW, combo floppy, an old conner tape drive, and a lot of fans

[yellowjacket]

Kruzin,

Thanks for the reponse, especially your experiences with the games. Since my post this evening, I went and read Sharky's 6-way 3D shootout.

Based on that shootout, and your comments, the G400 Max sounds like a killer.

One concern remains, and I'm not sure I understood it. In the conclusion of the article, the only "issues" raised about the G400 Max were its performance in OpenGL and "some multitexturing" games.

Ok, color me dumb, but what's it talking about? Is that why the Halflife performance falls behind that of the TNT2 Ultra? If so, could that be a concern with newer games (I imagine) going with more and more multitexturing?

Speaking of textures, no mention was made of texture sizes, and I've read that texture sizes will be important on newer games as well, but that the G400 handles large textures just fine.

I'm not really a big FPS player, but do want the power, for instance, to play Q3Arena occasionally (if and when I ever get the game).

thanks again!

[yellowjacket]

Oh, sheesh, I forgot to follow up with one other question -- namely, is the difference between a G400 DH and a G400 Max really worth the price difference?

It appears you have a G400?

thanks again...

[Kruzin_K]

OGL speeds have been the one thing reviewers and FPS counters have harped on with the G400. But the drivers are still being optimised, and a recent beta was released to a few sites, which showed significant improvement in OGL (and I beta test the drivers myself, so I know they will only get faster ).

Texture sizes are not a problem. G400 handles 2048x2048 textures, and it has the best AGP implimentation around.

I have also played Q3test a bit (but not too much), and have been quite impressed. It plays smoothly, and looks great.

For the Standard/MAX question...I don't personally think it's worth the extra cash, since I don't count FPS all day long. Besides, the standard cards overclock very well. Mine is currently running at MAX speeds

[Quantum2]

Ok, I have a 16MB, single head OEM card, I am very happy with it, it OC's to 190, though I run it at 186 just to be safe. I upgraded to a P3 450, which runs happily at 560, although again, I run it at 500, just to be safe. (I am not a max-fps freek!) Unreal timedemo gives me a respectable 29.8 fps, which is shite loads better then my old V550, which also had crappy 2D image quality!
Q3test at 1024X768, on High-Quality runs at ~21 fps, and Q2 at 1024 32Bit desktop (Optimised for a TNT, I can't remember what I did, so it stays, some file hack from Glide Underground) gives me 56.5 fps in demo1 (don't have crusher)
Half-Life didn't run too good for me in OGl, I kept getting strange texture issues, like pretty rainbows everywhere, or vertices drawn at odd intervals, bur D3D ran fine. If it is a wrapper, it a damn good one!
MW3 is awesome! My fave game at the moment, though I am crap at it, I'll get better!
Supposedly supports Bump-Mapping, I can't be certain of that, the mechs sure look good though.

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Life is a ride, Like days on a train,
Cities rush by, like ghosts in the night.