[benbaur]

I m going to buy a ATI Xpert 2000 32MB AGP Card ,and i dont know if is good for the games like Q3,Battle Zone 2 and the app like Photoshop, Bryce, 3dsmax3,and Maya ?

and Thanks for the Help

[LeChuck]

Do they have a 64meg card? That might be better

[sfr]

If you want to do 3dsmax or Maya work, get a Geforce instead (or even a plain TNT2 rather than that ATI card). Geforce's OpenGL performance is much better thanks to its geometry engine and NVidia's better drivers, which also improve stability and compatibility.

But for pure 2d stuff (Photoshop, and Bryce as well if I remember correctly), the ATI is probably pretty much as good - at least I can't tell any difference in 2d performance between modern video cards.

Saffron / Sunflower

[Francis]

I'm using a TNT2 (Nvidia). In Max3.0 I sometimes get weird redraw errors if I use opengl for the display driver - it looks like surfaces in back are being drawn in front (if that makes sense). Does anyone else get that?

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TeamGT Studios

[voyager7]

Oi,

benbaur: don't buy any ATI's card right now, GeForce2 GTS is the current performance king in the gaming/casual user field.

If you want 3D apps performance, take a look at nVidia Quadro based cards, but expect to see stuff priced around $500-$1000. A cheaper choice is 3DLabs' Permedia3, should be around $175 (it's $250 here in Europe) but performance is lower than GeForce 256 but you get proper OpenGL support.

Francis: actually, it makes sense since what you have is a gamer oriented card and its OpenGL drivers have thorough support for some functions which are used mostly by games. If you want a card with full scale OpenGL support a good choice is the cheap Permedia3 by 3DLabs. Quadro based cards' reference drivers by nVidia are a totally different story, much better than GeForce/TNT/TNT2 drivers.

I currently also have a TNT2u and let me assure you Francis, you're not the only one experiencing various rendering funkyness in max

Fare thee well,
voyager7

[29A]

Geforce has the same OpenGL problem as TNT2, it's still a gamer card.
Get a FireGL 1000 PRO, $100 here in Sweden, decent 3D and 2D performance.
If you are into spending more money than that, I'd check out 3dlabs website and look at the VX1 and it's cousins.

In my world, 3dfx and nVidia should keep doing pure gaming cards, optimize them for that and keep them cheap...

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I'm not defect!

[sfr]

Come on, the FireGL 1000 Pro is based on the Permedia 2, which is a 1996 chip design! Recommending it as "decent 3D performance" these days is a joke, it wasn't a good performer even in 1997 - the only thing Permedia 2 had on its side was 3Dlabs' drivers.

I think this driver issue has been blown out of proportion. Sure, NVidia's OpenGL used to suck really bad (three years ago). They've done some hard work since. With the Quadro, they're now competing in the workstation accelerator business, and that's trickling down to their gaming cards too (they share the same hardware and driver code base after all). On-chip geometry engines used to be restricted to high-end cards from the likes of 3Dlabs, but NVidia put a powerful and fully-featured one on their $200 gaming card.

I don't particularly like being the official NVidia apologist here, but I feel some people are a bit too stuck in the old "3d games and high-end OpenGL have nothing in common" world, or are taking 3Dlabs' propaganda at face value. I've heard lots of good things about the Geforce with Maya for instance. Maybe I'm a risk taker, but when I'm paying for the video card myself and I have the choice between a Geforce and Oxygen VX1, I'll take the Geforce because it just performs so much better than the VX1 (aka Permedia 3) which has worse fillrate and no geometry unit (the GVX1 does have one, but it's much more expensive and still has a hard time keeping up with the Geforce).

About the NVidia drivers... As you're aware, there are a lot of different versions out there because the drivers are evolving so rapidly. If you're having trouble, you don't lose anything by trying some other driver versions - I'm happy with v5.16 (Win2000), but your software might work better on a 3.xx driver.

(whew, that was long... I already made a Wacom FAQ, I hope I don't have to make a video card FAQ next )

Saffron / Sunflower

[Visigoth]

If you want something that is going to be the fecking bomb for 2D, but isn't worth shit for 3D (I highly recommend this card btw) -- Go for a #9 Revolution IV 32mb AGP... The 2D image quality is second to none, and it supports ungodly high refresh rates and resolutions...If you can find a monitor that can keep up with this card (hah!) and aren't interested in games/3D apps...Go for it.

~{V}~

P.S. Even thought it's 2 years old, it'll still run you around $299 - $329


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Oh god my eyes!

[This message has been edited by Visigoth (edited May 30, 2000).]

[Sieb]

Im all for Nvidia. I swear by my TNT2u (Herc TNT2 Ultra, beat that! they went bankrupt a month after I got it, special order from Alienware...)I wouldnt mind upgrading to a Gforce (Gforce 2 is the same just overclocked). But for a "real" graphics card, I would go for one of the 3dLabs Oxygens or an Intense 3d Wildcat(Integraph rigs with Wildcats waste just about everything else). Not like it matters now, 3dLabs just aquired Intense 3d.. So.... Matrox G400/Max is pretty good too although its on its way out the door as Gforce starts taking over.

If you want to do serious stuff, look for a serious graphics card. Gaming cards are coded mostly for games and usually dont come with complete OpenGL support built in like most real cards do. Real cards usually come with standard 64-96+ megs of ram. (cards are also around a foot long) Shelf cards (best buy stuff) are gaming cards. But I would agree, best all around card would be a Gforce series. Anything else, including voodoos arent worth it unless you want to get serious. Try to stay away from Creative Labs cards though, they always seem to have something buggy with them.