Packard Bell Victim Seeks Help

I bought a computer right when the Pentium chip first debuted, and all I could afford was a 60 mhz Packard Bell (enter your laughter here). I now have 24 megs of RAM but no video card help. The damn thing runs N1 pretty well: I turn on all detail except grass and asphalt, and can race smoothly with all cars drawn ahead and two behind. People don't believe me, but I swear its true. I have the following 60 mhz 24 Meg NR2 questions: 1. From what I hear, the Reactor is the 3D card I need. Can my system handle it? I already have a game card installed, and I think there is only one expansion slot left. Do I need more RAM or anything? 2. If I had to choose between getting the Reactor and buying a Pentium overdrive chip that would up my processor speed to 133, what would you recommend doing? 3. Can TEN only be accessed through Windows 95? I am scared to death about what running N2 under Windows will do to my framerates. I hope the NRO is not out of the question. Thanks everybody. Jeff Young "PBone" on Hawaii

:>I bought a computer right when the Pentium chip first debuted, and all I :>could afford was a 60 mhz Packard Bell (enter your laughter here). I now :>have 24 megs of RAM but no video card help. The damn thing runs N1 pretty :>well: I turn on all detail except grass and asphalt, and can race :>smoothly with all cars drawn ahead and two behind. People don't believe :>me, but I swear its true. I have the following 60 mhz 24 Meg NR2 :>questions: :> :>1. From what I hear, the Reactor is the 3D card I need. Can my system :>handle it? I already have a game card installed, and I think there is :>only one expansion slot left. Do I need more RAM or anything? Yes, the Reactor is the card to buy, but you need a PCI 2.1 compliant slot. If you bought your Backward Hell that long ago, I can almost guarntee your PC isn't up to the challenge. As far as memory requirements go, you need 16mb if you'll be running the sim from the DOS prompt, and 24mb if you'll be running from Win95. :>2. If I had to choose between getting the Reactor and buying a Pentium :>overdrive chip that would up my processor speed to 133, what would you :>recommend doing? Well, I guess since the choice is no longer a choice, if it were me, I'd just build myself a completely new system. :>3. Can TEN only be accessed through Windows 95? I am scared to death :>about what running N2 under Windows will do to my framerates. I hope the :>NRO is not out of the question. I can't answer this one. It doesn't appear that TEN is that good of a deal, anyway. /*===================================================*/ There are three types of lies... lies, damn lies, and press releases. John Simmons (Redneck Techno-Biker) http://www2.connectnet.com/~jms/ /*===================================================*/

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> I bought a computer right when the Pentium chip first debuted, and all I > could afford was a 60 mhz Packard Bell (enter your laughter here). I now > have 24 megs of RAM but no video card help. The damn thing runs N1 pretty > well: I turn on all detail except grass and asphalt, and can race > smoothly with all cars drawn ahead and two behind. People don't believe > me, but I swear its true. I have the following 60 mhz 24 Meg NR2 > questions: > 1. From what I hear, the Reactor is the 3D card I need. Can my system > handle it? I already have a game card installed, and I think there is > only one expansion slot left. Do I need more RAM or anything? > 2. If I had to choose between getting the Reactor and buying a Pentium > overdrive chip that would up my processor speed to 133, what would you > recommend doing? > 3. Can TEN only be accessed through Windows 95? I am scared to death > about what running N2 under Windows will do to my framerates. I hope the > NRO is not out of the question. > Thanks everybody. > Jeff Young > "PBone" on Hawaii

On 3, my understanding is YES, NRO will use the WIN95 TCP/IP stack for communcations (as does TEN I think). However, the hit for W95 probably isn't what you're expecting, some loss probably, but shouldn't be major. (Based on running Kali95 with N2)

According to the readme.txt from the Rendition Ready version of IndyCar II included with the Reactor, there are no 60MHz Pentium systems that properly support DMA. You would probably have to run all Rendition Ready programs (ICR II, NCR 2, etc.) in "safe" FIFO mode, which is much slower than DMA. Hopefully, those aren't your only two options.. If you can wait until you can afford to get a new motherboard and a 133, that would probably be the best option. The bus support chips from your machine's era are generally rather slow. I replaced my (very early) ZEOS P90 motherboard with a Super Micro motherboard about a year ago, and got about a 50% speed increase using the same processor chip. I don't think you can do that with your 60MHz chip since it runs at a higher voltage than the current crop of Pentium's. Randy

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>I bought a computer right when the Pentium chip first debuted, and all I >could afford was a 60 mhz Packard Bell (enter your laughter here). I now >have 24 megs of RAM but no video card help. The damn thing runs N1 pretty >well: I turn on all detail except grass and asphalt, and can race >smoothly with all cars drawn ahead and two behind. People don't believe >me, but I swear its true. I have the following 60 mhz 24 Meg NR2 >questions: >1. From what I hear, the Reactor is the 3D card I need. Can my system >handle it? I already have a game card installed, and I think there is >only one expansion slot left. Do I need more RAM or anything? >2. If I had to choose between getting the Reactor and buying a Pentium >overdrive chip that would up my processor speed to 133, what would you >recommend doing? >3. Can TEN only be accessed through Windows 95? I am scared to death >about what running N2 under Windows will do to my framerates. I hope the >NRO is not out of the question. >Thanks everybody. >Jeff Young >"PBone" on Hawaii

You should definitely consider a new motherboard and a 133mhz processor. That should set you back about $325 or less and will get you what you need. Complicating the issue is the PB mobo's onboard video card. You will have to get a new card for your new mobo and the Verite cards are pretty good. I prefer 3dfx but for the price the Verite's are pretty tough to beat. I had a PB Legend something or other that was a p60 and it was a total dog, the system is simply not worth upgrading because it will bring any component you put into it to its knees. You could even upgrade to a p-100 with a new mobo that had an onboard video card for around $300 and get a large performance increase. If your PB is like mine was though you will unfortunately lose the 8megs of rams soldered to the board as well. Sometimes it is best to spend alittle more now as save in the long run. Good luck either way.

I have the same system that you have, a Crappy P60 Packard bell.( i`ll never make the same mistake again) I don`t think you`ll be able to put another video card in it, cause 3 times i`ve tryed, with 3 different brands of vidio cards and it never worked. The video board on this Damn Packard Hell is part of the Motherboard so you can`t take it out, so what was supposed to happen was, you put a new card and the old one in the computer would turn itself off automatically, but it didn`t happened that way every time i`ve tryed i woud get a black screen, i spent hours with Packard Hell on the fone, but those clowns are clueless, i had to return the new cards every time i bought one. So if you want a new video card, you better get a new computer. I`ve bougth the overdrive, on a P60 it`s supposed to go to 120, but i`ve overclocked it so it`s running 133. I`m pretty pleased with it`s performance now, the overdrive is not such a bad idea for you. Go for it. Xeeko

If your motherboard is three years old (as you are describing), I'm highly skeptical that it can handle the DMA data transfer mode of the Rendition cards. In my experience, the card isn't a worthwhile purchase if it can't be run in DMA mode (it will look prettier, but run slower). OTOH, the SVGA VESA mode will probably run faster than your current video card (assuming its similar vintage), so its not a total lost cause. Pick one or more: Model Rockets (competition-NERCB) / PCs (even Atari!) / Papyrus ICR-ICR2-NCR / Who needs a life when you have multiple non-lives?

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>Subject: Re: Packard Bell Victim Seeks Help >Date: 26 Dec 1996 19:29:58 GMT >I have the same system that you have, a Crappy P60 Packard bell.( i`ll >never make the same mistake again) >I don`t think you`ll be able to put another video card in it, cause 3 times >i`ve tryed, with 3 different brands of vidio cards and it never worked. The >video board on this Damn Packard Hell is part of the Motherboard so you >can`t take it out, so what was supposed to happen was, you put a new card >and the old one in the computer would turn itself off automatically, but it >didn`t happened that way every time i`ve tryed i woud get a black screen, >i spent hours with Packard Hell on the fone, but those clowns are clueless, >i had to return the new cards every time i bought one. >So if you want a new video card, you better get a new computer. >I`ve bougth the overdrive, on a P60 it`s supposed to go to 120, but i`ve >overclocked it so it`s running 133. I`m pretty pleased with it`s >performance now, the overdrive is not such a bad idea for you. >Go for it. >Xeeko >> I bought a computer right when the Pentium chip first debuted, and all I >> could afford was a 60 mhz Packard Bell (enter your laughter here). I now >> have 24 megs of RAM but no video card help. The damn thing runs N1 >pretty >> well: I turn on all detail except grass and asphalt, and can race >> smoothly with all cars drawn ahead and two behind. People don't believe >> me, but I swear its true. I have the following 60 mhz 24 Meg NR2 >> questions:

In my experience with my fathers 486PB (he also didn't make that mistake again - he has a Micron P100 now) there was a jumper on the motherboard to disable the on board video. Also, we tried different video cards, some worked some didn't. Sadly the ones that worked were usually the older (slower) cards.