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Rec.Autos.Simulators Archive

Thinking about Canopus Total 3D

9 posts by 6 people · 10 Feb 1997 - 16 Feb 1997

dhayd 10 Feb 1997#355639
I was thinking about getting a Canopus Total 3D card.Does anyone out there have any experience with this card?As of now I am running a Dynamite 128 2meg card,on a pentium 133.How is the 2D performance of the Canopus.Is it worth the extra $80.00?Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
SimRaci 11 Feb 1997#355730
$80 bucks?...If you've already got the 128, then I would opt for the Orchid Righteous...The performance is significantly better than the Rendition stuff, and won't cost much more than the Canopus. The Orchid will plug-in right next to the 128, and you can have the best of both worlds. :) BTW, I have ALL the Rendition-based cards (Intergraph, Canopus, Sierra, and Blaster). ;) Best Regards, Marc Marc J. Nelson Sim Racing News - USA Rendition Developers Group
Mr Bill 12 Feb 1997#355823
1- The Canopus is said to be the best of the rendition cards. No dispute. 2- Sierra and Creative in the middle. Sierra is somewhat faster, but has yet to prove themselves in the hardware market. And Creative has no ICR3D. But a Icr3D patch is said to be finished but Sierra is holding it up. 3- Reactor last. This is because it was buggy and had some slighty slower drivers, which is why they sold it for 149.00, then later changed its name to the Intense 3D. Then the price went back up. -Right out of next Generation magazine- Rendition cards blow in 2D as far as Im concerned, That fact is well known. In 2D your Dynamite is much better than any rendition card. For that kind of cash You might consider a 3DFX card or the new card by Videologic. But if you want a Rendition, HEY its only money. Go for the Canopus. But Im Betting All the current rendition cards will be Dead, History, Old News by Fall. Do your Research. Mr Bill
SimRaci 12 Feb 1997#355824
Next-Gen should perhaps check their facts... 1) True, the Canopus card is the better of the 4, partly because of the drivers, and partly because of the v-100L chip (newer version). 2) Sierra doesn't need to prove anything with the card, since it was developed by Rendition and Canopus. Sierra isn't holding-up any patch AFAIK...If you use the Cyrix patch for ICR3D (and the rend- files from the game CD), then you'll have a 3D version of the game (albiet without the enhanced tracks). 3) The Reactor's price had nothing to do with whether the card was buggy - it's how you start a price-war before Christmas. As far as the name change, this could have very well been the reason (bugs and reputation). Rendition cards don't "blow" in 2D...While they don't have the blinding performance that you might expect from a $200+ card, they do fairly well IMO. They seem to do pretty well in Win95 too (Winmarks 50+). If I had a choice (and price was not an issue), then I would purchase a Herc card, and place it along-side an Orchid Righteous. From what I understand, you can do this as well with a Rendition (w/ a 2D card). This can be done in Win95 by resetting the IRQ's. How much? ;) I did. ;) Best Regards, Marc Marc J. Nelson Sim Racing News - USA http://members.aol.com/simracing
Eric Busch 12 Feb 1997#355825
Yes they will be, but so will every other card out there right now including the 3Dfx cards. The Rendition V2000 based cards will be out perhaps by summer along with the Voodoo Rush cards, but some point you just have to suck it up and jump in. Personally, I can't see spending over $100 extra on the Canopus when its performance isn't that much better. Sure its faster, but is it $100 faster? Knowing that these cards are only a temporary soltion, I'd like to cut my losses and buy the card that is the best value. Based on the bundle the Sierra card clearly wins, and based solely on price the Intergraph card wins. I hate to keep pointing this out to you, but Creative has the slowest drivers (as far as Direct3D is concerned) and arguably the worst bundle. -- The IWCCCARS Project: Q & A Representative http://www.theuspits.com/iwcccars/index.html http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/
: 3) The Reactor's price had nothing to do with whether the card was : buggy - it's how you start a price-war before Christmas. As far as : the name change, this could have very well been the reason (bugs : and reputation). The name change is more in line with Intergraph's newline of 3d accelerators from top of the line CAD cards to the video card formally known as the Reactor 3d. -- **************************** Michael E. Carver ************************* Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./. [- < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Mr Bill 14 Feb 1997#356068
Hi Marc J.Nelson.. When I said that Rendition cards "Blow" in 2D I am comparing them to the Matrox Mill I had before. I also enjoy Graphical and photo work on my PC and with the Millennium I was Getting 32 bit Color and up with a 1280x1024 desktop. As well It was Quite Fast. (scrolling, Rendering, etc). When I got the Reactor I did not get close to this :( But I can See that for the average user Renditions are very acceptable. But Because I really DIG N2 and other games I kept the Reactor. To me I gained more than I lost. So I can wait until more powerful cards come along that (hopefully) do it all. Hello Eric T. Busch.. I do not care which card is faster than the other, they are so close in comparison it is a useless subject to me. Like comparing a Camaro to a Trans AM. I was just quoting what I read in Next Generation Mag, to help the guy out in his decision. Which is why I wrote in my post -Right out of Next Generation Mag-. As well a few other Mags and sites I have read. PC Gamer come to mind. All have wrote or rated basically what I said. You do not have to keep telling me anything, Tell the sources of these Mags. And because the new Rendition cards and others are Very close to being on the market now I think it might be best to wait a bit more if someone has not got a 3D Card yet. Anyway, what do you know about the new V2000 cards? I would love to hear some news on them. Thanks. Mr Bill
esetse 16 Feb 1997#356251
Quoted text (22 lines)> > I was thinking about getting a Canopus Total 3D card.Does anyone out > > there have any experience with this card?As of now I am running a > > Dynamite 128 2meg card,on a pentium 133.How is the 2D performance of > > the Canopus.Is it worth the extra $80.00?Any advice would be greatly > > appreciated. > $80 bucks?...If you've already got the 128, then I would opt for > the Orchid Righteous...The performance is significantly better > than the Rendition stuff, and won't cost much more than the > Canopus. The Orchid will plug-in right next to the 128, and you > can have the best of both worlds. :) > BTW, I have ALL the Rendition-based cards (Intergraph, Canopus, > Sierra, and Blaster). ;) > Best Regards, > Marc > Marc J. Nelson > Sim Racing News - USA > Rendition Developers Group
Hmmm, this is rec.autos.simulators, so I guess I'm confused on why the Righteous would be a good choice. I understand from a general 3D viewpoint that the Voodoo cards are considered the best, BUT they will sit idle while you run N2, N1, ICR2, GP2, etc. Not much help for a sim race fan, at least not right now. The Rendition cards will accelerate both N2 and ICR2, and for sim racing enthusiasts, seem to be the "only game in town". If you run various software, be sure and do a title comparison for the cards you are considering. Depending on what you run, your ideal card will probably vary. Sometime in the future, we MAY have common software that is supported on all 3D cards, and the real screamers will be an easy choice. In the meantime, software support is probably the biggest factor that should be considered in choosing a card.

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