Will a faster video card make DOOM run faster ???
Scott Stephen
a math co-processor would make doom run faster. The answer was
a resounding no, because doom does not execute any floating point
calculations.
But how about a faster video card:
1) Will a faster video card make doom (or for that matter, any vga
game) run faster? This days it seems like the bottle neck is on the
display refresh...???
2) I was told that if you get a video card with Windows Accelerator,
the performance of Windows would increase a lot, because the Windows
Accelerator card will take charge of the actual display of the screen.
Thus, freeing up the cpu to do other this. Is this also true with doom?
Will a windows accelerator video card improve the performance of
this game? or is it just for Windows?
3) So, as a final analysis, would you recommend getting a video card
like a Diamond Stealth-32 or Viper for a vga game like doom?
4) How about for a super-vga games? Would your recommendation be
different?
Thanks in advance,
Scott
Steven Gershenfeld
Basically a windows accelerator (for an extreme example, check out
the Matrox MGA) will not speed up DOS applications and games. You
have to have a fast chip in dos. The fastest DOS chip I have seen
is the ET4000 chip. With the ET4000/w32 (and w32i or w32p), you have
the best of both worlds since it accelerates windows and dos (there
are faster windows accelerators though than the ET4000/w32 series).
Another decent chip in terms of dos speed is the cirrus logic chip. It
is decent in windows as well, and because it is usually cheaper than other
video cards, it may be the way to go.
ATI Tech chips are also usually decent in dos.
The diamond stealth 32 or 64 should be great for dos games. I don't
know about the viper.
A VLB or PCI video board also increases the speed of doom.
So the answer basically is yes, a better video card WILL increase
the speed in DOOM.
Oh yeah, if you like to play dos games, avoid the MATROX card. It is the
slowest dos card in existence.
Steven
Peter Naus
: A while back someone asked the question as to whether or not adding
: a math co-processor would make doom run faster. The answer was
: a resounding no, because doom does not execute any floating point
: calculations.
: But how about a faster video card:
: 1) Will a faster video card make doom (or for that matter, any vga
: game) run faster? This days it seems like the bottle neck is on the
: display refresh...???
Sometimes.
: 2) I was told that if you get a video card with Windows Accelerator,
: the performance of Windows would increase a lot, because the Windows
: Accelerator card will take charge of the actual display of the screen.
: Thus, freeing up the cpu to do other this. Is this also true with doom?
: Will a windows accelerator video card improve the performance of
: this game? or is it just for Windows?
Only for Windows.
: 3) So, as a final analysis, would you recommend getting a video card
: like a Diamond Stealth-32 or Viper for a vga game like doom?
Only if you can afford it.
: 4) How about for a super-vga games? Would your recommendation be
: different?
No.
Seriously, a Windows accellerator will only speed up the drawing of
straight lines, etc. Some also have polygonal shading and so on, but they
don't free _any_ CPU time in Windows. (In NT, they may - there's always
an idle thread to execute - but in Windows 3.0/3.1/Warehouses, they
don't). The display may update faster.
There is absolutely bo difference between "DOS" and "Windows" video cards.
Both are accessed the same way by their drivers. But. If you don't have the
appropriate drivers for every operating system, then no, you won't get the
maximum benefit out of the cards.
PCI and VLB cards are inherently faster, because they transfer data to the
video card 32 bits at a time. The actual chipset on the card will still
define the drawing capability of the card.
So far, there's no such thing as a "DOS" optimised card. Most DOS mode
games talk directly to the VGA "standard" registers, which all compatible
cards have. Thus, they lose the ability to exploit the card's tricks.
DOOM (I believe, someone correct me if I'm wrong) does know about some
cards, but generally uses the VGA interface. There's no way a card can
speed drawing a complex 3D image in DOOM without being specifically enhanced.
Most VGA games use only a tiny subset of the chip's functionality, so the
games will work on the largest number of machines.
I've heard good things about Matrox cards both in and out of Windows,
but I hear the best bang-for-the-buck is the Stealth card. I know I use
S3 (928) chips in both my machines, and I _never_ have problems.
: Thanks in advance,
: Scott
You're welcome.
Peter
--
Peter Naus HP ESG | The rebel digs his heels firmly into the earth.
pet...@hparc0.aus.hp.com | And where is the earth going?
| - Kerro Panille, Collected Poems
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ADW...@qucdn.queensu.ca
A friend of mine upgraded his card from an old trident to one of those ATI
MACH 32s. Wow was there ever a big diff. I would, however, only recommend
getting a new card if you don't already have 486dx/33 or better, because if you
got a 386 and instead of new graphics card get new 486 chip, DOOM will run much
faster. (Then you can start upgrading graphics) $$$$ = :(
Cya, Maciek
Rohan Peter Beckett
: Oh yeah, if you like to play dos games, avoid the MATROX card. It is the
: slowest dos card in existence.
Worse than a Trident 512k card???????
Chris McLay
(Rohan Peter Beckett) wrote:
Me thinks the Trident 1024k card is slower than the 512k :(
Some games (get Raptor (full screen scrolling)) are _faster_ on my friends
486sx25 with 512k Trident than they are on my 486dx33 with 1024k Trident.
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Chris McLay Byron Jones
mc...@cleo.murdoch.edu.au jon...@cs.curtin.edu.au
Phone: +61-9-310-1020 6 Fox Court, Leeming, Western Australia 6149
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Wesley L. Haynes
: In article <30vc4e$1...@aggedor.rmit.EDU.AU>, s940...@minyos.xx.rmit.EDU.AU
: (Rohan Peter Beckett) wrote:
: > Steven Gershenfeld (sger...@merle.acns.nwu.edu) wrote:
: >
: > : Oh yeah, if you like to play dos games, avoid the MATROX card. It is the
: > : slowest dos card in existence.
: >
: > Worse than a Trident 512k card???????
: Me thinks the Trident 1024k card is slower than the 512k :(
: Some games (get Raptor (full screen scrolling)) are _faster_ on my friends
: 486sx25 with 512k Trident than they are on my 486dx33 with 1024k Trident.
My computer came with a Cirrus Logic 512k card already installed.
How does it stack up? Should I consider an upgrade? (Besides VRAM)
Thanks for the info,
--
Wesley L. Haynes |
Box 30770 Ga Tech Station | What is the answer
Atlanta Georgia, 30332 | to this question?
Internet: gt0...@prism.gatech.edu |
Brian P. Nelson
While we're on the subject, how about the #9GXE 64-bit card? The system I'll
be buying next month comes with this (w/ 1MB) and I was wondering what
people thought of it? The other option is an ATI Ultra 64-bit card (I think)
Thanks,
-Bri
Daryl Krzewinski X3960
I recently upgraded my Pentium system to an ATI Ultra Mach 64 with 2 Mb
of VRAM. And yes, there is a DRAMATIC difference in Doom! The colors
are so much clearer and more saturated, the details crisper, and all the
motion is so fluid that it feels like a new game. I see details I didn't
notice before, the fast-moving items are crystal-clear which in turn
makes firefights and targeting easier. The only downside is that for the
first time I am beginning to suffer the "Doom motion sickness" that has
been mentioned, and I never got that with previous cards (my most
previous was a Matrox PCI accelerator).
-Daryl