3DFX cards and autocad
Greg Hubers
Just wondering if anyone has ever tried using one of these 8-16MB 3dfx
voodoo banshee type graphics acceleraters with autoCAD. I never seem to
hear of anyone reviewing them for use with autoCAD. Any comments
anyone??
Thanks,
Greg Hubers
Architectural Designer
AutoCAD r14.01
Regis Corp.
Cabot Eudaley
I picked the Banshee because it was a tad faster than the Riva TNT
and I was gonna have a lot of trouble finding a PCI version. We
got a 21" monitor and the old video card wouldn't do very high res.
The card is lightning fast. The difference in redraw / regen is
significant, from a card purchased less than 18 months ago.
Autocad doesn't use 3D hardware, so the voodoo2 part of the banshee
is kind of wasted (except for QuakeII). 3D Studio can use it,
though.
Cabot Eudaley
--
Mark Eudaley Engineers, Inc.
me...@ionet.net
Gordon Price
Greg Hubers wrote in message <36D1DE1E...@worldnet.att.net>...
>Hi,
>Just wondering if anyone has ever tried using one of these 8-16MB 3dfx
>voodoo banshee type graphics acceleraters with autoCAD. I never seem to
>hear of anyone reviewing them for use with autoCAD. Any comments
>anyone??
I also dumped my Dell provided STB junker for the Diamond Monster Fusion
(16MB AGP). Thus far I really like it. It is a very fast 2d card, and when
work is done, it is a great game card. I think the reviews are missing
because the card is actively marketed as a gaming card, so it doesn't show
up on the mag's radar. Perhaps they should do a review of work/play devices,
including 2d/3d cards and 3d input devices (I think Max will take input from
the 3d ball controllers).
Regards,
Gordon Price
Matt Stachoni
>Autocad doesn't use 3D hardware, so the voodoo2 part of the banshee
>is kind of wasted (except for QuakeII). 3D Studio can use it,
>though.
Neither 3D Studio MAX nor VIS can use the Voodoo2 at all. Voodoo chips only
accelerate full-screen 3D written in the GLIDE API, which is basically a
wrapper for OpenGL calls, or DirectX. Max and VIS (and all other 3D
modeling / rendering apps) are windowed, not full screen, and need "true"
OpenGL implementations for acceleration.
Also, "game" cards are fast because they are optimized for the 3D game
environment (low polygon count, small textures) and offload the geometry
calculations on to the CPU. This is why the Voodoo2 cards scale well with
faster processors - the faster CPU does a better job at accelerating the
geometry triangle setup portion of rendering. True high-end $1,000+ cards
have dedicated geometry acceleration on board that let the CPU do other
things; thus they work better for large polygon models like human faces,
spaceships, the Titanic, etc.
Actually, AutoCAD 2ooo will use 3D geometry acceleration in the form of
OpenGL, through the Heidi graphics pipeline, so those mega-bux graphics
cards will show some promise. Still won't work with any Voodoo stuff,
however :)
Matt
stac...@bellatlantic.net
msta...@architectsde.com
www.architectsde.com
Cabot Eudaley
I could justify paying that kind of money for a video
card. Years ago we demo'd a $1000 NumberNine card and
couldn't tell any difference between it and some of
the cheapies ($200) we had around drafting. And it
wouldn't do any SVGA resolutions either. But of course we
live and work in flatland (structural).
You don't think 3Dfx will do a full OpenGL implementation
eventually? Of course by then the Voodoo3 will be out...
Cabot
Matt Stachoni
>You don't think 3Dfx will do a full OpenGL implementation
>eventually? Of course by then the Voodoo3 will be out...
I'm not a video card expert, so I'm not sure what's even considered in doing
"full OpenGL implementation" - I think it's because 3Dfx does not supply an
OpenGL ICD (Installable Client Driver). 3Dfx has always supplied "MiniGL"
drivers, and of course GLIDE drivers for games written to that API.
Once the ICD is done then I think you'll see 3Dfx used in MAX, VIZ, etc. How
well it would work is speculation, because 3Dfx's main strength is in texture
handling, not triangle setup. Here is where the $1,000+ cards excel.
And yeah, you only see differences in high end cards when doing Maximum 3D.
Voodoo3 Info:
http://www4.tomshardware.com/releases/99q1/990222/index.html
http://www2.sharkyextreme.com/hardware/voodoo3_r/
Matt
stac...@bellatlantic.net
msta...@architectsde.com
www.architectsde.com
John Burrill
I'm using one for AutoCAD 2000. I'm getting a lot of crashes.
Greg Hubers wrote:
> Hi,
> Just wondering if anyone has ever tried using one of these 8-16MB 3dfx
> voodoo banshee type graphics acceleraters with autoCAD. I never seem to
> hear of anyone reviewing them for use with autoCAD. Any comments
> anyone??