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Best moderate priced card for Infinity games and 3D games?

T

techwanabe

Diamond Member
In the past I've played some 3D games and will in the future expecting Never Winter Nights down the line. (past 3D titles include Unreal, Star Wars Rogue Squadron and Xwing Alliance, etc...)

But presently I've got a Voodoo3 3000 in my PentiumIII 550E system and I like to play Baldurs Gate 2 and Icewind Dale alot lately (Infinity Engine games). Some parts of the games with spell effects bring my computer to an agonizing crawl.

Alledgedly, I would be able to improve performance if I could use OpenGL 3D acceleration for those spell effects in the game. I've tried turning on 3D acceleration in these games using my Voodoo3 3000, but the graphics look all washed out and terrible. 3DFX supposedly uses a wacky version of OpenGL called MiniGL which won't work well with the Infinity Engine games I have. So I have to turn off any 3D acceleration in these games. Normally, they play fine, but during occurance of these special spell effects, the framerate drops to unplayble levels. It appears that 3DFX cards don't to anything to improve performance in Baldurs Gate or Icewind Dale. This seems to be true for many others to. These games DO offer 3D performance enhancing options for some of the graphics (these are largely 2D games) but not with 3DFX cards.

So I'm considering replacing that Voodoo3 3000 card with something which will do OpenGL 3D acceleration well, and also IMPORTANTLY offer me many 3D improvements over my current card. I'd like to do this on a budget, like under $150. What cards would offer me enhanced performence on my BG2 and IWD games, plus set me up for good 3D games for a while? Geforce2 MX? Radeon LE DDR32mb? Specific recommendations and brief summmary why. Thanx!
 
Well chief, I'd say go for the Radeon 32DDR LE for 82 bucks.

You'll find plenty of reasons why in the MX vs LE threads scattered about. I personally think it's a damn good card spec wise and from what people have said. I'll find out tonight how it stands up to my v3 3000 as well.
 
Shudder, You just got a Radeon 32DDR LE for $82. That sounds great. I saw the link in one of the related threads which I have prerused somewhat. That is a great price and I'd be interested to hear your thoughts once you've replace the old V3 and have a chance to test it out! It would be interesting to here it compared with the V3 too! Lot of people still using them.

Other comments? Details?
 
I imagine I can't go wrong with it.

FIrst of all, no games will be using glide. I'm kinda into Alice lately, but it sucks so bad on my system, and I'm guessing mainly from the v3. I have a duron 650 and 192M ram, I doubt it's the system.

Even though I use Win2k primarily I still wanted to go with the Radeon. If you plan on going 32 bit it seems the only way to go.. Though I don't know what kind of performance hit you'd get on an MX running games like BG/ID in 32 bit, but anyway.. I'll update 🙂

And a good thing is I can sell the v3 for about 60 bucks, so I'm really only out 20 something, not bad at all.
 
Shudder, Are you putting your V3 up on Fleabay? or selling it locally?

Also, do you have BG2 or IWD? I wouldn't expect them to take a performance hit... but rather see some speed enhancing benefits when the 3D portions of the graphics are accelerated.

I'll be continuing on with my Win98 OS, and maybe bump it up to 98SE since I have a copy now.

I'll be looking forward to any comparison of the Radeon LE 32DDR over the V3. And any other info people wish to offer. Thanks.
 
KYRO!!!

AVOID THE MEMORY BOTTLENECK!!!
$130 will allow you to get 90+ fps at 1024 X 768 X 32 with all the eye candy turned on. (I get this) Competes with the Geforce 2 and beats the Geforce MX.
You can find reviews at Anandtech and just about all 3D sites. Btw the Dreamcast uses a Kyro chip 😉
 
probably egay. I need to fund my purchases by selling some stuff 🙂

I have Planescape and BG2, but my friend's the only one who plays BG2 and would notice the difference. He's not big into computers so he probably wouldn't even notice I had a new card to begin with.
 
"Btw the Dreamcast uses a Kyro chip"

No, it doesn't. The DC uses a PowerVR2 while the Kyro is a PowerVR3, the Kyro is a generation beyond the chip used in the DC🙂
 
Ben go away😉 He's right I lost my head for a second😛
By the way my 64MB Kyro ($130) screams in UT. Have it to 120 fps now. Of course not in 32bit.
 
Right now, I'm keeping my eye on the prices on the Voodoo5 and the GeForce2 GTS. The Voodoo5's price is dropping constantly (down to $114 + shipping on pricewatch), and if it dips below $100, I'm nabbing one. Of course, if the GTS drops low enough, I'll be getting that.

I am currently running a Voodoo3 3000 AGP on:

PIII-650 @806
256 MB PC133
Windows 2k
DSL 1500/368
 
Not sure if any of you guys are playing BG1, BG2, IWD or Planescape. These infinity engine games don't seem to gain 3D acceleration from Voodoo video cards. That was the whole point of this thread. I've got a V3 and a V5 won't cure the problem I'm 99% sure.

Voodoos use some weird version of OpenGL called miniGL. miniGL doesn't work with infinity engine games. You have to make sure 3D acceleration is not selected. If you do select it, you get washed out crappy looking graphics. Games like Baldurs Gate 2 were developed using the GF2 cards so I know the 3D enhancements work with that card and I'm hoping also with the Radeon cards too.
 


<< Voodoos use some weird version of OpenGL called miniGL. >>



I think this was true of the Voodoo2 and early Voodoo3, but I don't think it is true anymore. It is possible that the Voodoo cards don't have as good performance in OpenGL as other cards, but it is there...
 
Whatever the cause, my Voodoo3 doesn't accelerate of enhance the 3D portions of my Icewind Dale game. The game itself runs fine, but when certain spell effects are present, my computer drops to an uplayable crawl. Supposedly the game includes 3D support to help boost performance when used. But I choose 3D acceleration option and the graphics look horrible. This is reportedly due to the way 3DFX impliments its OpenGL. Thus, because it looks so bad, I turned it off thereby gaining no speed enhancement. This is why I am looking into ugrading my Video Card, probably to the Radeon LE 32 DDR
 
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