Re: Help whit ati agp cards ;)

Posted on 2017-02-16, 07:13

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

I simulated the other Voodoo 3 cards, apparently there is more to it with memory timings I was told. It's possible the Velocity has tight memory timings, and maybe the real 2000 as well. Also not that I wasn't aware of the "convert 32 bit textures to 16 bit" performance option that's set by default. …

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Re: Which XP?

Posted on 2017-02-15, 16:44

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Are there video or sound card drivers that require XP SP1 or later? That might affect what you choose for sound and video cards. I know Creative state SP2 in the requirements, however I've never tested if this is actually true. Worst case, you can just find old installation CDs and you should be …

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Re: Tomb Raider 1 - Voodoo 2

Posted on 2017-02-15, 14:41

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

I don't know why you got so many issues. Tomb Raider is straight forward to get going. 3dfx patch for V1, rush patch for V2 and newer. It should just work. Though I've never tried SLI with DOS games because a single V1 is enough to run Tomb Raider perfectly.

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Re: Which XP?

Posted on 2017-02-15, 13:58

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Just follow the time-period. If you got a machine that is from the early days of XP, running a game from that era, I see vanilla XP as a great choice. Stay offline, stick with GOG and disc based games and you shouldn't have any issues 😀

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Re: VGA Capture Thread

Posted on 2017-02-14, 23:02

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

I've tested the StarTech VGA2HDPRO2, and it's really a good product but it has one big flaw... No support for 720x400@70 so no VGA text modes, BIOS or old games (tested only with DOOM). With that resolution the scaler shows an "unsupported" message, but anything above or equal to 640x480 is perfect …

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Re: System to play the widest range of 90s games?

Posted on 2017-02-13, 21:38

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

90s games? Super Socket 7 machine hands down. Something like a K6-2, 2+ or III+ with a Voodoo 3. Using cache tricks you can play anything from Monkey Island to GLQuake or Unreal.

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Re: ATI cards from 2004-2008, anything good?

Posted on 2017-02-13, 08:05

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

GeForce 6 and 7 have rather poor / speed-optimized texture filtering and ugly anti-aliasing. I always wonder why people tend to obsess over them instead of ATI counterparts. True that. I am still to explore all this eye candy stuff, but what I find mind-boggling is that in the threads it's usually …

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Re: Screamer 2 advice needed

Posted on 2017-02-13, 03:09

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

🤣 The only game I documented on my website: http://www.philscomputerlab.com/screamer-2--bleifuss.html 😊

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Re: Screamer 2 advice needed

Posted on 2017-02-13, 01:05

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

If I remember correctly the setup is speed sensitive. CPU could be too fast. You can disable caches in the BIOS, run setup and then enable them again.

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Re: AMD drops the mic

Posted on 2017-02-12, 11:07

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Milliways

in Milliways

Azarien wrote: I like how old-school this new Socket AM4 looks like. Did you see the coolers? Oh my 😊

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Re: ATI cards from 2004-2008, anything good?

Posted on 2017-02-12, 03:43

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

ATI cards are indeed easily overlooked. I'm guilty of this also. Though I do not see good prices in my area, the markets are flooded with Nvidia stuff, ATI is rarer for me, and all the good stuff isn't cheap. This is on a core2dua@3ghz on an asrock board. I think this is key when discussing these …

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Re: 1999 PC and the mystery of the Geforce 2 MX

Posted on 2017-02-12, 01:27

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

AFAIK you want to use 3DMark 2000 for TnL tests. Just go into the options and change it from D3D Software TnL to D3D Hardware optimisation or something like that. GeForce 256 with a fast CPU you get better scores than with the GPU TnL.

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Re: 1999 PC and the mystery of the Geforce 2 MX

Posted on 2017-02-11, 23:20

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Can you takea nice photo of the card you received? As said already, poor performing budget cards usually have a weak memory system.

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2017-02-11, 06:46

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Elsa GeForce 256 DDR got a new cooler 😀

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Re: Which XP?

Posted on 2017-02-10, 21:58

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Yea that's it :) And for most of us, it's not that we didn't try. A lot of us are unique individuals and as odd as it seems, I can usually build a XP machine, at least on my test bench, quicker than sitting down and figurung out a compatibility issue with some old game. And have a better time doing …

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Re: GeForce 4 MX-440 or GeForce 4 Ti 4200?

Posted on 2017-02-10, 21:46

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

As a general blanked statement I feel that I would use neither of those cards for old games. But it does depend a lot on other variables like what game and what machine is being used and the OP has a habbit of not providing much information, which doesn't help answer this properly.

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Re: Which XP?

Posted on 2017-02-10, 21:33

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Yea Far Cry, the land mass reflections. And other games have issues as well, but might not affect anyone, so everyone should do their own tests. The bottom line for me is that I don't have much time, and while you can fix many games to run under 7 and newer, I don't have the time so I just go with a …

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Re: Downclocking intel cpu help?

Posted on 2017-02-10, 13:13

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

All of the Klamath chips I tried for my recent reviews were unlocked. Will try some Deschutes soon, but not holding my breath 😀

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Re: Pci ata133 worth it?

Posted on 2017-02-10, 04:42

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hmmm.... Sounds like a title for a Youtube video: "ATA-133 vs. ATA-100, is it worth it?" The boards from that era are 33, at most 66. I don't think I have any gear that can saturate ATA 100 or 133, even my low capacity stuff is all SATA. Fast / large IDE drives seem expensive, so at that level I …

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Re: Pci ata133 worth it?

Posted on 2017-02-10, 01:15

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by PhilsComputerLab

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Not worth it IMO. These slow CPUs cannot process the data fast enough. Just compare how a fast Pentium III boots Windows 98 or loads Quake III levels compared to a Socket 7 PC. Sure for plain file copying, there is a benefit. Going through a PCI controller might actually introduce latency? I'd focus …

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