VOGONS


PowerVR Fun Thread

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Reply 301 of 1096, by vetz

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Putas wrote:
vetz wrote:

So no Apocalypse unfortunately.

I feel other way around, Midas 3 is more of rarity.

I just want a card that actually works in games. Do anyone know how this card performs? Does it work like any other PowerVR card or are the drivers full of compatibility problems?

3D Accelerated Games List (Proprietary APIs - No 3DFX/Direct3D)
3D Acceleration Comparison Episodes

Reply 303 of 1096, by swaaye

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It's a tough call because it can play games from Mechwarrior 2 to Unreal and the CPU demands vary a lot. I usually use a P3 box.

I think a Pentium II ~300 would max out most of the games you'd want to play on a PCX2.

Reply 304 of 1096, by leileilol

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Polygon count oddly doesn't bog a PCX2 down, surprisingly. I tested a OA level that had a high rspeeds on a PCX2 (0.8.5 oasago2.bsp) and there's no framerate difference between the optimized one (0.8.8 oasago2.bsp). However, I tested this on a P4 system - a P2 300 w/ Voodoo3 got much lower framerates on the same unoptimized level, so I imagine the PCX2 max-out would be more like P2 450/P3 500

Don't forget the case of getting very high framerates at 320 modes, and even higher framerates in 24/32bit color. MDK2 runs like 27fps at that and that's roughly some-300mhz-with-a-Voodoo3 speeds.

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Reply 306 of 1096, by Putas

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There is a DirectX 3 driver for Midas3, would be nice if somebody could share it.
http://members.driverguide.com/driver/detail. … ?driverid=18994

Just when I found this and decided to buy one from the auction they sold out 🤐

Reply 307 of 1096, by sliderider

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Putas wrote:

There is a DirectX 3 driver for Midas3, would be nice if somebody could share it.
http://members.driverguide.com/driver/detail. … ?driverid=18994

Just when I found this and decided to buy one from the auction they sold out 🤐

I just picked up a PCX2 a couple of weeks ago, maybe I got it. 😜 😁

Reply 308 of 1096, by leileilol

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Putas wrote:

I would not analyze PCX under OpenGL, as Carmack said PowerVR did some heroic work to make it compatible.

That's Carmack talking about PowerVR's own MiniGL wrapper they wrote for GLQuake.

I'm not using that particular driver, but a different, more "raw" one that feels more like a direct API translation (with more gl caps filled in the other couldn't) instead of a ton of blendfunc workarounds .

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Reply 312 of 1096, by idspispopd

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retrofool wrote:

hi all, just bought another M3d on Ebay. He has 4 left, item #330787064409. Enjoy.

US $45.00? That's more than I paid for my M3d when it was new.
And 2 MB SDRAM is wrong of course.
But if there is no other way to get one, fine.
BTW, there is one on German ebay, item #400312016955, 29.95 €.
The funny thing is that the seller claims to have the card tested in Windows XP - I wonder how he did that? 😉

I think PCX2 (especially M3d) is not that rare. Maybe the sellers want to cash in on the perceived Matrox premium.

Reply 313 of 1096, by sliderider

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I paid $10 or some ridiculously low amount for one in the last year and I have another bookmarked that is $15. There was someone on here who got a mess load of them for 25 cents each a while back so it's probably that person selling them for $45 each.

Reply 314 of 1096, by retrofool

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The first M3d I bought 2 years ago for $15 which wasn't too bad, but I've been looking for another for a couple months now. When I saw that one, I offered him $40 and he accepted. I'm happy with that, I get to complete the system I was waiting on that card for. Now I can play Tombraider 1 and Mechwarrior 2 3d enhanced versions on a fast system again. (this system is 133Mhz bus, my Voodoo 1 won't work on it).

can't seem to throw anything out...

Reply 315 of 1096, by elianda

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I recently aquired a Kyro I and Kyro II. Which bench / game shows the advantage of tile based rendering? I thought about capturing some footage...

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Reply 316 of 1096, by swaaye

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Overdraw tests like Villagemark will show how very efficient TBDR is.

I'm not sure of a game that makes Kyro look good. The game surely needs to have lots of overdraw that ruins the efficiency of the traditional GPUs. Games with lots of overlapping geometry and draw distance I guess.

Reply 317 of 1096, by leileilol

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GTA3 was infamously slow at the time because of overdraw (thankfully mostly resolved in GTAVC). I never tried a Kyro II with it, though

Games that make good use of HW T&L will undoubtedly suck, compared to a Geforce2. NOLF2 and Call of Duty run worse by far. Forget Battlesmurf 1942 (you'll understand why)

A Kyro2 isn't as curiosity filled as a PCX2, the SGL and SGL2 api is all dropped in favor for focusing on pure OpenGL and Direct3D, since their previous cards were crazy HAL's and MiniGL ICDs to get those to work in some things. It's more like a "What if PowerVR made the Savage 2000" card.

That's not to say it's a bad card - it still has PCX2's excellent 16-bit dithering 😀

An essential utility to use with the Kyro II? Tommti-Systems' 3D Analyze! (exclamation point is part of the name).

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Reply 318 of 1096, by vetz

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retrofool wrote:

Now I can play Tombraider 1 and Mechwarrior 2 3d enhanced versions on a fast system again. (this system is 133Mhz bus, my Voodoo 1 won't work on it).

Gz on playing those games 😀 The PowerVR version of Tomb Raider is probably the best (along with the ATI one), Mechwarrior 2 is deffo best. PowerVR is one of my favorites.

Voodoo 1 won't work on 133mhz bus systems? I can't remember any problems with my Voodoo 1 when I run it on my 440bx system with a 1400mhz tualatin at that bus.

3D Accelerated Games List (Proprietary APIs - No 3DFX/Direct3D)
3D Acceleration Comparison Episodes

Reply 319 of 1096, by retrofool

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I've tried running both of my Voodoo 1 cards (Monster 3d and a Techworks) on 66,100, and 133 mhz systems I have and they work fine on 66 and 100, but all I get on 133 is a screen full of weird color blocks. Thats on my Athlon and Athlon XP and Tualatin systems. I remember reading something here on VOGONS about that but I can't find the thread. At least I think it was here... The one difference I liked about the Voodoo 1 was I could run enhanced Mechwarrior 2 at 800x600. What brand of Voodoo 1 do you have vetz?

can't seem to throw anything out...