TNT vs Voodoo

TNT2 is, supposedly, the better card - I haven't seen side by side comparisons so can't speak from experience. What I do know is that after 'tossing up' like you did I'm going V3 3000. I can't imaging there's going to be -that- much difference, and by the time games come out that -really- need the sort of horsepower that pushes these things there'll be something even better on sale. For now, the most important sim for me is GPL - and that has native Glide. Decision made. People can brag that their TNT2 is better than my V3, but I buy to play the software that matters to me (Papy sims), not to score fantastical frames/sec scores in Q2/Q3A. Mark Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Share what you know. Learn what you don't.

As far as I can see, they both have huge frame rates, but if your games are running smoothly, why does it have to be faster? TNT2 has support for 32 bit textures. Great if you have a 32 bit game. The screens do look slightly better. 3dfx will play all 3d games. 3dfx games are their own stuff, and not supported by other cards. I just kept my Voodoo 2, and left it at that. cp2

The TNT is alot faster, but the voodoo is more compatible

That's never been the argument - generally the Voodoo3 is the one that's faster AND more compatible, and the TNT2 supports stuff like 32-bit color that isn't generally used yet, but may be in the future. I haven't seen ANY benchmarks that show the TNT2 to be a *LOT* faster ( to me a lot would be like 25%+) in anything, and in most both cards are fairly even or the V3 comes out ahead. For flight and racing sims, anyone who plays many of these will probably have better luck with the Voodoo3 and their older (pre-1999) games. If they don't have many old games and are interested in newer stuff, the cards are pretty even. Best thing to do is check which games you like to play, see what they support, and make sure you get a card that actually RUNS them. If you like GPL for example, you're more likely to enjoy the V3, as it is directly supported by GPL. Some people get it running acceptable to them on a TNT/ TNT2, etc, using a beta OpenGL patch, but some don't have much luck with it. -- Ken's Sig 3.0 "Who is the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?" - Obi-Wan Kenobi Go #43 and #44! volksy (at) geocities (dot) com volksy (at) yahoo (dot) com >The TNT is alot faster, but the voodoo is more compatible >> I'm tossing up between a Diamond TNT 2 or a Voodoo III. >> What would be a better card. I am more concerned with support and the >> availability of patches to support most car sim's. >> Any comments appreciated. >> Regards >> Andrew

On Sat, 19 Jun 1999 21:55:51 GMT, "Stuff Productions"

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>The TNT is alot faster, but the voodoo is more compatible >> I'm tossing up between a Diamond TNT 2 or a Voodoo III. >> What would be a better card. I am more concerned with support and the >> availability of patches to support most car sim's. >> Any comments appreciated. >> Regards >> Andrew

Total hog wash, the V3 is the fastest card out right now, and that has been proven again and again. Toms Vaporware Review http://www.tomsvaporware.com or http://tomsvaporware.com Home of the "UNBIASED" review!

Well I own both, The TNT2 is great, looks better, runs faster then the V3 (well the games I owned and benchmarked it did). I use the TNT2 on all my games Like, falcon4,halflife, Q3, TOca2,fighter squadron etc. But........... If your playing games that are mainly Glide supported (GPL) then go with the the V3. You'll need to patch the V3 for GPL, as there are a few problems with the graphics. I use the V3 for GPL,Nascar99,indycar and anyother game that looks like crap, or has running in OpenGL, or Direct3d. If your really into GPL, I would go with the V3....less hassles and the GPL 1.1 patch doesn't look like it's going to have better support for OpenGL/Direct3d. that's my 2cents worth.

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> On Sat, 19 Jun 1999 21:55:51 GMT, "Stuff Productions" > >The TNT is alot faster, but the voodoo is more compatible > >> I'm tossing up between a Diamond TNT 2 or a Voodoo III. > >> What would be a better card. I am more concerned with support and the > >> availability of patches to support most car sim's. > >> Any comments appreciated. > >> Regards > >> Andrew > Total hog wash, the V3 is the fastest card out right now, and that has > been proven again and again. > Toms Vaporware Review > http://www.tomsvaporware.com or http://tomsvaporware.com > Home of the "UNBIASED" review!

More compatible with current games but will be a liability with the newer ones as it doesn;t support 32 bit colour or AGP 4x or the large textures or several other advanced features that the TNT 2 does.

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> The TNT is alot faster, but the voodoo is more compatible > > I'm tossing up between a Diamond TNT 2 or a Voodoo III. > > What would be a better card. I am more concerned with support and the > > availability of patches to support most car sim's. > > Any comments appreciated. > > Regards > > Andrew

The only games the TNT2 is NOT compatible with is those games that use proprietary 3D APIs such as Rendition or Glide. Its fully compatible with D3D and OpenGL titles (definitely in OpenGL...3dfx has still yet to release a full OpenGL ICD). So I have no idea what "Stuff Productions" is ranting about. As some further info..I just got my Hercules Dynamite TNT2 Ultra over the weekend and installed it. Didn't do much benchmarking simply because I had a LAN session going on, but I'll give you my impressions. For reference, the machine is a P2-400 with 192megs of RAM on an Abit BH6 BX chipset motherboard with a MX300 soundcard, the TNT2 Ultra and 2 Voodoo2 12 megs in SLI. Oh, running all the latest drivers on hardware from their respective companies (i.e. Diamond for the Voodoo2s and MX300), but running Detonator drivers 1.88 from Nvidia for the TNT2 Onto the games I've had it running on so far: Quake3:Arena - What can I say? Absolutely brilliant, period. 1024x768 resolution, 32bit color depth, 32bit textures, highest texture resolution, etc....and it plays flawlessly without a hitch. The texture mapping is absolutely breathtaking, the embossing is quite good, though not quite up to what the G400 can do with true hardware bumpmapping. Played excellently.... MechWarrior3 - Slight problems. Ran fine with Hercules drivers (dated 5/21), but it would not shift out of 640x480 mode. Use it with the reference Detonator drivers (which loses the ability to "overclock" the TNT2...oh well, its still running at 175/200 speeds anyways) and the 640x480 clears up and runs just fine at 1024x768. Not quite as breathtaking as Quake3, but the game's depth of play is a bit deeper. Midtown Madness - Same problem as MW3. However, Detonator 1.88 drivers don't correct the 640x480 bug.....but it does look better than with the Voodoo2s. High Heat 2000 - Runs just fine, however it doesn't appear to look quite as good under the TNT2 as the 2 Voodoo2s. However, they both run at 1024x768 so I can get by. And of course...what you have all really been waiting for, GPL. Ok, OpenGL beta patch, Detonator 1.88 NVidia reference drivers. Mipmapping turned on to level 4, mirrors set to ever 2 frames. All options turned on (except in mirrors) and detail slider a bit over 1/2. Whats the experience? At 1024x768 it flat out runs with 36fps in both in-car and F10 views with a field of 10. Didn't try it with more because I didn't have a chance. Colors seem to be a bit less drab with the TNT2 than with the 2 Voodoo2s. However, the fps are quite good, obviously, at least offline. Will be interesting to see how it preforms online though. The only hitch I ran into was getting the game to not recognize the 3dfx rasterizer. At first I had disconnected the Voodoo2s, but when trying to run it with software mode all I got was a blank screen. So the easiest solution was to hook the Voodoo2s back into the mix through the pass-through cable, and then boot up GPL and switch from 3dfx to OpenGl, shut down GPL and undo the Voodoo2s and start GPL back up and ran flawlessly. > More compatible with current games but will be a liability with the newer > ones as it doesn;t support 32 bit colour or AGP 4x or the large textures or

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> several other advanced features that the TNT 2 does. > > The TNT is alot faster, but the voodoo is more compatible > > > I'm tossing up between a Diamond TNT 2 or a Voodoo III. > > > What would be a better card. I am more concerned with support and the > > > availability of patches to support most car sim's. > > > Any comments appreciated. > > > Regards > > > Andrew

Have you tried overclocking the Hercules witht he factory provided tools? There seems to be a huge variation on what the Hercules card maximum is. Not really required when you are already getting max FPS but I am gathering some data for curiosities sake. I haven't tried over clocking mine yet becuse I am having too much fun going ooh and ahh at the improved graphics over my old TNT and Voodoo 2 SLI.

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> The only games the TNT2 is NOT compatible with is those games that use > proprietary 3D APIs such as Rendition or Glide. Its fully compatible with > D3D and OpenGL titles (definitely in OpenGL...3dfx has still yet to release > a full OpenGL ICD). So I have no idea what "Stuff Productions" is ranting > about. > As some further info..I just got my Hercules Dynamite TNT2 Ultra over the > weekend and installed it. Didn't do much benchmarking simply because I had > a LAN session going on, but I'll give you my impressions. For reference, the > machine is a P2-400 with 192megs of RAM on an Abit BH6 BX chipset > motherboard with a MX300 soundcard, the TNT2 Ultra and 2 Voodoo2 12 megs in > SLI. Oh, running all the latest drivers on hardware from their respective > companies (i.e. Diamond for the Voodoo2s and MX300), but running Detonator > drivers 1.88 from Nvidia for the TNT2 > Onto the games I've had it running on so far: > Quake3:Arena - What can I say? Absolutely brilliant, period. 1024x768 > resolution, 32bit color depth, 32bit textures, highest texture resolution, > etc....and it plays flawlessly without a hitch. The texture mapping is > absolutely breathtaking, the embossing is quite good, though not quite up to > what the G400 can do with true hardware bumpmapping. Played excellently.... > MechWarrior3 - Slight problems. Ran fine with Hercules drivers (dated > 5/21), but it would not shift out of 640x480 mode. Use it with the > reference Detonator drivers (which loses the ability to "overclock" the > TNT2...oh well, its still running at 175/200 speeds anyways) and the 640x480 > clears up and runs just fine at 1024x768. Not quite as breathtaking as > Quake3, but the game's depth of play is a bit deeper. > Midtown Madness - Same problem as MW3. However, Detonator 1.88 drivers > don't correct the 640x480 bug.....but it does look better than with the > Voodoo2s. > High Heat 2000 - Runs just fine, however it doesn't appear to look quite as > good under the TNT2 as the 2 Voodoo2s. However, they both run at 1024x768 > so I can get by. > And of course...what you have all really been waiting for, GPL. > Ok, OpenGL beta patch, Detonator 1.88 NVidia reference drivers. Mipmapping > turned on to level 4, mirrors set to ever 2 frames. All options turned on > (except in mirrors) and detail slider a bit over 1/2. Whats the experience? > At 1024x768 it flat out runs with 36fps in both in-car and F10 views with a > field of 10. Didn't try it with more because I didn't have a chance. > Colors seem to be a bit less drab with the TNT2 than with the 2 Voodoo2s. > However, the fps are quite good, obviously, at least offline. Will be > interesting to see how it preforms online though. The only hitch I ran into > was getting the game to not recognize the 3dfx rasterizer. At first I had > disconnected the Voodoo2s, but when trying to run it with software mode all > I got was a blank screen. So the easiest solution was to hook the Voodoo2s > back into the mix through the pass-through cable, and then boot up GPL and > switch from 3dfx to OpenGl, shut down GPL and undo the Voodoo2s and start > GPL back up and ran flawlessly. > > More compatible with current games but will be a liability with the newer > > ones as it doesn;t support 32 bit colour or AGP 4x or the large textures > or > > several other advanced features that the TNT 2 does. > > > The TNT is alot faster, but the voodoo is more compatible > > > > I'm tossing up between a Diamond TNT 2 or a Voodoo III. > > > > What would be a better card. I am more concerned with support and the > > > > availability of patches to support most car sim's. > > > > Any comments appreciated. > > > > Regards > > > > Andrew