Parhelia..Runs like a Fat kid in Gym Class

[albatorsk]

Originally posted by GNEP
I don't understand quite why this criticism is so strong. On my system (1.2ish Athlon), running with the Parhelia, I get excellent (the best) 2d (this is 70% or more of my time). And I haven't got a game yet where I can't run it with all the settings high at 1024x768 with FAA on. And these games all run v. smoothly - I couldn't really ask for anything quicker, because to be quite honest I wouldn't notice the difference.

Well, the thing is: I have a dual AthlonMP 1800+ setup, and I can hardly get any games running smooth in 800x600 with lowest detail settings. That's what all the criticism is about. One of my former favourite games, GTA3, is unplayable with the Parhelia. FPS in between 5 and 15 were not uncommon. I just got hold of Mafia, and with fraps I can measure an average FPS of 10. That's TEN, folks. That's like, really terrible. And that's running Mafia in 800x600 with lowest detail settings. Going down to 640x480 gives me a few FPS more (tops out at 15, I think), but it is nowhere near playble.

Counter-Strike, which used to be my second favourite game, is not so enjoyable anymore because of the extreme stuttering and sudden drops in FPS whenever lots of things happens on screen (like, 3 people on screen at the same time).

The only thing which runs supersmooth is the Parhelia Fish-demo. But that doesn't really make my situation any better.

[GNEP]

Ahh - OK I understand your frustrations now. Sounds like there are some conflicts or some other problem going on there. And yes, Matrox probably isn't big enough to catch enough of these problems before selling the thing, or to get software developers to tweak their software for the Parhelia. Hell, if I was writing a game I would make damn sure that GF3/4's and R8500s were well looked after (those are what the reviewers will be using), and Parhelia might only get a look in after spending time on the lower end cards (which is where most of the installed base is). This is the major problem with the P I think - it will never sell in big enough numbers to justify it's own codebases.#

I still like it though.

gnep

[GT98]

Originally posted by albatorsk


Well, the thing is: I have a dual AthlonMP 1800+ setup, and I can hardly get any games running smooth in 800x600 with lowest detail settings. That's what all the criticism is about. One of my former favourite games, GTA3, is unplayable with the Parhelia. FPS in between 5 and 15 were not uncommon. I just got hold of Mafia, and with fraps I can measure an average FPS of 10. That's TEN, folks. That's like, really terrible. And that's running Mafia in 800x600 with lowest detail settings. Going down to 640x480 gives me a few FPS more (tops out at 15, I think), but it is nowhere near playble.

Counter-Strike, which used to be my second favourite game, is not so enjoyable anymore because of the extreme stuttering and sudden drops in FPS whenever lots of things happens on screen (like, 3 people on screen at the same time).

The only thing which runs supersmooth is the Parhelia Fish-demo. But that doesn't really make my situation any better.

Hmm wonder if your dual Processor system has anything to do with all the problems your having. I used to be able to run GTA3 on my Parhelia and be in 30 FPS range with no problems (before I put the patch in and now it doesnt want to work)..I've been playing America's Army and Battlefield 1942 in 2400x600 and getting about 20-30FPS, but the games are still very playable.

[DGhost]

Originally posted by GT98


Hmm wonder if your dual Processor system has anything to do with all the problems your having. I used to be able to run GTA3 on my Parhelia and be in 30 FPS range with no problems (before I put the patch in and now it doesnt want to work)..I've been playing America's Army and Battlefield 1942 in 2400x600 and getting about 20-30FPS, but the games are still very playable.

i was gonna say the same thing about GTA3...

i run a dual 1ghz p3 w/ a P and the game is pretty much unplayable. the 8500 and a t-bird 1.33 runs faster at all resolutions.

that being said.... as fun as GTA3 is, it is written like total crap for the PC. it wouldn't suprise me that some strange combination of GTA3 + the current Matrox drivers + SMP causes problems.

[Wombat]

I wouldn't be surprised if it had nothing to do with Matrox. GTA3 was badly ported, and it may just not like SMP boxes.

[albatorsk]

But that doesn't explain why I never, ever, experienced any stuttering or slowdown on the exact same box with my GF3Ti200

[UberLord]

Originally posted by albatorsk
But that doesn't explain why I never, ever, experienced any stuttering or slowdown on the exact same box with my GF3Ti200

Sure it does.

ATI 8500 and Kyro users have exactly the same problems. Basically, its a GeForce only game. Although, I believe ATI users can now actually get playable framerates provided you've got an XP2000 CPU or better

[The PIT]

Don't worry a lot of ATI users have complained about the game. Sounds a load of garbage so I won't consider buying it.

[albatorsk]

I'm not just talking about GTA3. I'm talking about ALL games. There are NO 3D-games I can run acceptable on my Parhelia (no, 640x480, no matter how high the FPS, is not acceptable).

[The PIT]

I would say then theres something wrong somewhere with your setup.
I've got my old G400 at work combined with a C733 (Overclocked 633) and it running UT in opengl at 1024 x 768 32bit colour with no problems.

[albatorsk]

I would love to get this solved as soon as possible. Do you have any general pointers on where I could start looking for "errors"?

[Cobos]

albatorsk: I can't remember but I beleive you are able to turn off the no. 2 CPU in the BIOS and in effect turn it into a single CPU board...try some games with that, and look at the benchmarks and games boards here at MURC to get a ballpark figure to compare to...most of the betatesters says most any game is playable on 1024x768 with everything on.... So it should be on your setup too... I would bring the question to Matrox support too though as looking at your setupthings should fly.

Cobos

[albatorsk]

Damn, that never even occured to me. I'll try it right away!!

[Chucky Cheese]

Dual Processors

albatorsk,

edit your boot.ini file and copy the line that starts NT normally(../fastdetect). change the switch to /numproc=1.

this will boot nt with one processor, then try your games.

here is my boot.ini ;

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windo ws XP Professional - Dual Processors" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windo ws XP Professional - Single Processor" /numproc=1
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Recovery Console" /cmdcons

[K6-III]

Make sure to install the latest bios and the latest AMD AGP driver...