Would a combo of a Canopus Pure3d II and a Matrox Millenium 4mb be a decent combo for an occasional gamer?

[glenn1]

Title pretty much sums it up.... reasonable pairing for someone who doesn't do much gaming, or just go with a low-end Voodoo/ATI card?

 

[jobberd]

well, that all depends on what your definition of "much gaming" is

 

[Joyride]

how old are those 2 cards?

Unless I am mistaken you can get much better card(s) then that for very little green if you look.

Why would you need 2?

What games do you play to?

 

[Rankor]

Depends on the games you intend to "occasionally" play.

Millenium is strictly Windows 2D whereas the Pure3D II is based on the Voodoo 2 chipset. I would say games up to Quake 2 and Unreal will play alright. It also depends on the speed of your proc.

If (you're) willing to shell out under a $100 US, you can grab video boards that'll surpass performance on your current system specs and a couple of generations above that (ie. GF2 MX/MX 200/MX 400, Radeon LE/VE).

 

[Trashman]

I'd say for the most part that would an acceptable setup, that Canopus card being probably your better of the Voodoo2 cards....I've got an old Gateway P-Pro 200 with a Voodoo2 and an ATI card and granted its not the fastest but could still play some of your older games on it no problem, good enough for my nephew at least, I wouldn't be throwing Tribes2 on it or any newer titles.... but if your processor was at least 300-400mhz and maybe 128mb of memory....I'd say sure, but depends on what games really.

 

[glenn1]

<< well, that all depends on what your definition of &quot;much gaming&quot; is >>



It's for my g/f's system, i say 'occassional gaming' because i'm not going to do much fragging while i'm over there (which is like a couple times a week), just maybe the occassional few minutes of Quake while i'm waiting for her to finish getting ready to go out, etc., and happen to have these cards available so i wouldn't have to actually spend fresh money

 

[gilkenator]

I had a Canopus Pure3dII and a Matrox Millenium 2, and had
to give up on them about 1.5 years ago.

Matrox quit updating the drivers for the Millenium 2
after directx6. The continuing series dx6, dx7, and now dx8a
combined with game patches would cause my computer to
crash. The most frustating thing was that the game
would crash during in a 2d grafix setup screen, not during the
game.

You will be able to play CounterStrike, which is based on
a 2.5 year old game (HalfLife)

 

[Rankor]

If it's (just) Quake, the Millenium will do fine. If it's GLQuake, the Canopus Pure3D II will do fine.

How fast is the g/f's proc?

 

[Atropos]

If she's not gonna use it for gaming, and you'll only use it a little, I wouldn't bother getting a new card. Assuming they run well in whatever OS you're using. And hey, with the money you'll save you can afford like, one more date

 

[glenn1]

i have her set up with little 600 Athlon classic rig now... decent but not extravagant

 

[nj]

I set up my GF's PIII 700 compaq with integrated intel 2d and two voodoo II's (helios I think). I'm pretty suprised that I'm able to play most games out there on it. It's not blazing fast, or good looking, or even 800x600 half the time, but all the unreal based games play like a dream and most others approach 30fps (I said approach, ok?). It's a helluva step up from the crapfest integrated video card in there already.

It's a nice cheap solution. I'm still trying to convince her to pickup a decent PCI card, but she's unwilling to fork out even 60 bucks. So this will have to do. She simply doesn't understand how bad that integrated video is. I tried updating the drivers yesterday and was met with a BSOD. Never again. I can hardly wait for the day I can disable that POS and use a real card.