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Since you've "only" got a 200MHz you probably shouldn't go for a TNT-based card such as Viper 550 since they are at their best in combination with a powerful P2. I guess a Banshee would be a rather good choice (I'm thinking of one myself). Also, the TNT is better as AGP, the Banshee doesn't take so much advantage of the AGP-bus.
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I had an impressive performance jump with the voodoo banshee on my 166MMX. I'm only running with 40Mg of EDO ram. I think the video board is faster than my CPU can handle but, from all the studying I've done it's not as taxing on your CPU as the others. I've heard both the S3 and the TNT are cpu hungry. Like the Milkman says though, there's no notable performance boost in AGP
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Question for ya Tron. You said you're running
a 166 with a Banshee board. Should I assume that you've got a motherboard with a 100Mhz bus or do I not know what I'm talking about? Reason I ask is because up until about 3 days ago I was thinking about a Pheonix Banshee, 'til I "realized" that I may not be able to use ANY decent grahphics card with my 66Mhz PCI bus. Lemme know if I'm in left field with my logic. I'd love to be wrong and find out that I can use something with a Banshee chipset, even if it will be at peak performance. Thx. for suggestions/opinions.
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a 166 with a Banshee board. Should I assume that you've got a motherboard with a 100Mhz bus or do I not know what I'm talking about? Reason I ask is because up until about 3 days ago I was thinking about a Pheonix Banshee, 'til I "realized" that I may not be able to use ANY decent grahphics card with my 66Mhz PCI bus. Lemme know if I'm in left field with my logic. I'd love to be wrong and find out that I can use something with a Banshee chipset, even if it will be at peak performance. Thx. for suggestions/opinions.
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Don't really know what you meant by that last sentence about a 166+ Mhz system. Maybe restate? What I meant to say when I posted that question (which BTW made me sound like a complete incompetent) was that I had a 32-bit PCI bus expansion slot. As I understand it that is not what boards such as Banshee run on/off of, ie 128 bit now, am I correct? How I got that concept so mixed up I don't know. Anyway that is what I meant to ask. Any opinions/suggestions appreciated.
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Thx for the reply Esq. Let's see I have a 6x86 P-200+ processor running at 150Mhz. Like I said I have plenty of open PCI slots but they are 32 bit bus (love for someone to explain what the diff. is between that and 128 bit, speed I'm guessing). I have only 32 megs of EDO RAM, probably upgrade that sometime soon, add some SDRAM. That's about all the useful information I can think of. Unfortuately my rapidly thinning wallet tends to inhibit that purchase of the PII 400+Mhz system.;-). Thx. Adios.
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Yes, I know ABITBH6 mb, celeron 300a processor made in Malyasia, fan made for overclocking set jumpers and BLAM! 450+Mhz. Only prob. is I like the price tag of $90 for a Banshee alot more than ~$450. I agree though, great way to end up with a killer system. From what I understand my Cyrix processor runs at 150Mhz and performs at a Pentium 200 level. Was that the type of answer to the ??? you asked? Never have looked into oc'ing the processor I have now. Hmmmmmmmm.....
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Whatever you get, PCI or AGP, is 32 bit, AGP just lets the video use system memory for textures and such The faster AGP enables this to happen, so the more memory you have on MB, the faster it should be, theoretically.
Although some PCI cards allow this too. AGP sounds great, but in practice, I've seen little improvement over PCI. THE agp bus is great, but very few cards actually use it to full advantage. THe advantage of agp would be a kick ass card with only 2 or 4 mb onboard(supercheap) and use system memory for textures and such. I have a dual pentium pro180Mhz(which in 98 runs as a single) and just bought a Velocity 4400 TnT PCI.
It is faaaast. I think it is the best single slot card. The 2d is great, and the 3d is more than fast enough, and clean tv/out.
I kee preading that if you don't have a super fast P2 , then get the Banshee, but i tested it and the TnT beat it on three lowe end systems we tried.
Although some PCI cards allow this too. AGP sounds great, but in practice, I've seen little improvement over PCI. THE agp bus is great, but very few cards actually use it to full advantage. THe advantage of agp would be a kick ass card with only 2 or 4 mb onboard(supercheap) and use system memory for textures and such. I have a dual pentium pro180Mhz(which in 98 runs as a single) and just bought a Velocity 4400 TnT PCI.
It is faaaast. I think it is the best single slot card. The 2d is great, and the 3d is more than fast enough, and clean tv/out.
I kee preading that if you don't have a super fast P2 , then get the Banshee, but i tested it and the TnT beat it on three lowe end systems we tried.
P
Not really a reply, but I'm in the same "low end blues" boat, so here I am.
I've got a P75 (ewwww), 32M EDO, s3d virge. And OY my ulcers.
Needless to say, my framerates in Quake II are order 10^0 (single baby, single). The machine gun sounds like a Harley that's missing a cylinder - Put put put...
I have a P200 (non-mmx) on the way for $82.50, and am looking at the vboard opts.
The whole 2D/3D weirdness confuses me. If I get a 3D voodoo2 card to replace the s3d dog, I don't need to shell out the cash for a 2D card too, do I?
Then there's the question of banshee vs voodoo2 vs voodoo (I don't know jack about the other chipsets I might wanna check out).
Lastly, the question of video memory. 12M OK?
Thanks for letting me hop onto your thread, Marko. No need to be embarassed about a "lowly" 200mmx, my friend. Everybody's PII 450s will be used for skeet shooting in 3 years. OK OK sour grapes.
I've got a P75 (ewwww), 32M EDO, s3d virge. And OY my ulcers.
Needless to say, my framerates in Quake II are order 10^0 (single baby, single). The machine gun sounds like a Harley that's missing a cylinder - Put put put...
I have a P200 (non-mmx) on the way for $82.50, and am looking at the vboard opts.
The whole 2D/3D weirdness confuses me. If I get a 3D voodoo2 card to replace the s3d dog, I don't need to shell out the cash for a 2D card too, do I?
Then there's the question of banshee vs voodoo2 vs voodoo (I don't know jack about the other chipsets I might wanna check out).
Lastly, the question of video memory. 12M OK?
Thanks for letting me hop onto your thread, Marko. No need to be embarassed about a "lowly" 200mmx, my friend. Everybody's PII 450s will be used for skeet shooting in 3 years. OK OK sour grapes.
M
Well, here is a thing.
Voodoo and Voodoo 2 DO NEED a 2D card because they only have 3dfx chipset. Your choice might be Banshee, because it's the firsth 3dfx card that has a 2D functions, and has a pretty good 2D performance.
So that is the firsth big difference between Voodoo, Voodoo 2 and Banshee. Second one is that Banshe doesnt support multi-texture so Voodoo 2 will still do a better job in 3D with games which do support multi-texture. So I think you should go with Banshee card and spend around $150 for Diamond Banshee.
Voodoo and Voodoo 2 DO NEED a 2D card because they only have 3dfx chipset. Your choice might be Banshee, because it's the firsth 3dfx card that has a 2D functions, and has a pretty good 2D performance.
So that is the firsth big difference between Voodoo, Voodoo 2 and Banshee. Second one is that Banshe doesnt support multi-texture so Voodoo 2 will still do a better job in 3D with games which do support multi-texture. So I think you should go with Banshee card and spend around $150 for Diamond Banshee.
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So can I just leave my s3D virge in and add a voodoo2 or TnT 3D card? I guess I didn't know that I had a 2D card. Me not so bright.
What about all this banter about low end sytems not taking advantage of these hot vcards? Am I wasting my time maxing out my current PCI mobo with a P200 and adding the 3D card?
Sheesh, I just gotta bite the bullet and get a new case, moboard, CPU, and RAM. Damnit Jim, I need more framerates!
Doesn't anyone make a mobo that will run a dozen or so 486DX66s? They go for like $7 a pop, now.
What about all this banter about low end sytems not taking advantage of these hot vcards? Am I wasting my time maxing out my current PCI mobo with a P200 and adding the 3D card?
Sheesh, I just gotta bite the bullet and get a new case, moboard, CPU, and RAM. Damnit Jim, I need more framerates!
Doesn't anyone make a mobo that will run a dozen or so 486DX66s? They go for like $7 a pop, now.
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If you want to add a voodoo card to your system, you should probably just look into a voodoo1 card not a voodoo2 card. You will not see alot of performance increase on a p200 with a voodoo2 over a voodoo1. The voodoo2 really needs a pentium II to start to show off its muscle. I got 20fps on a p-166 with a voodoo1 card running quake II.
And no, you cant keep your s3 virge card it you get a tnt riva card. This card is a 2d/3d combo card. It is way faster than the s3 virge in both 2d and 3d. (yes the virge is a 3d card, but a poor one). If you got a riva tnt card, you would get better frame rates in games than a voodoo1, and you would be able to run games at higher resolutions.
The voodoo1 is limited to 640x480 resolution in glide and open gl. Id direct 3d, the voodoo 1 card can goto 800x600 without a z-buffer, so the speed and quality are not as good. Another thing is the riva tnt really needs to be in an agp port to do its dirty work. that is why canopus is not offering the spectra 2500 in a pci version. You could look into it, but a banshee 2d/3d combo card would probably fair better in a pci version for a p-200, but you wont get the image quality or high resolutions the Riva TNT cards can do. Just imagine Quake II at 1120x864 resolution.... makes one think...
Collinj
And no, you cant keep your s3 virge card it you get a tnt riva card. This card is a 2d/3d combo card. It is way faster than the s3 virge in both 2d and 3d. (yes the virge is a 3d card, but a poor one). If you got a riva tnt card, you would get better frame rates in games than a voodoo1, and you would be able to run games at higher resolutions.
The voodoo1 is limited to 640x480 resolution in glide and open gl. Id direct 3d, the voodoo 1 card can goto 800x600 without a z-buffer, so the speed and quality are not as good. Another thing is the riva tnt really needs to be in an agp port to do its dirty work. that is why canopus is not offering the spectra 2500 in a pci version. You could look into it, but a banshee 2d/3d combo card would probably fair better in a pci version for a p-200, but you wont get the image quality or high resolutions the Riva TNT cards can do. Just imagine Quake II at 1120x864 resolution.... makes one think...
Collinj
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