Video cards are meaningless.

[Dputiger]

At the moment (until a new game engine comes out) I really haven't seen a video card that genuinely brings something new to the table in MONTHS.

Look at the Radeon, GeForce's from the GTS to the present, and even the Voodoo5 5500 (definitely the slowest of the lot).

Even the V5 5500 can crank out Q3 at over 90 frames a second with a decent picture. The GeForce's, granted, can do this better, but other than bragging rights is there really a difference in running Q3A in 1600x1200 or 1280x1024?

Now I understand that larger monitors need larger resolutions to look good, but here's my point:

When the original Voodoo came in it was jaw dropping. No one who saw GLQuake EVER confused it for plain old Quake. Even the TNT2 brought good 32-bit color and higher texture support.

But today, all we see are the same cards in faster versions. The GeForce Ultra, as impressive as it is speed-wise, is fundamentally a souped-up GeForce 256.

I guess I just want to see something new. 64-bit color, 256-bit data channels, SOMETHING.

[OuTpaTienT]

When the original Voodoo came in it was jaw dropping.

er, really? I thought it looked like ****. But at least it was very fast ****.

My jaw was dropped before any Voodoo card ever hit the market. Rendition V1000 and a little thing called VQuake.

The Voodoo 1 was a step BACKWARDS in visual quality. Even the Voodoo 2 didn't quite have the visual quality us Rendition users were spoiled by.

And this isn't meant in an argumentative way or anything Dputiger. I'm just tired of seeing 3dfx get credit when it truly belongs to Rendition.

[acid_burn~187]

Well Outpatient, I see what your saying, I didn't know that, I always thought that 3Dfx pioneered the graphics industry.

But to get back to Dputiger's statement. I totally agree. I currently have a Viper II and it does exactly what i want it to do. I was going to dump hundreds and hundreds into the new GeForce, but what's the point?? I can play Quake 3 @ 1024 X 768 full detail with no lag... so why spend the extra $$$?? Until video card makers release something inovative that really catches my eye, my Viper II will performe just fine.

~Paul

[OuTpaTienT]

but in Quake II, my V2 murdered the Stealth

Nope. Not even. You must of had something setup improperly with the Stealth. It's visual quality was identical to that of a TNT(2).

But I do agree with you about the state of affairs in the current video card marketplace...stagnet.

[sns]

Your right about the game engine. Look at the 'game' section at sysopt. Its been a bit quiet for a long while. Maybe when some new heavy games come out we will see the benefits of the later cards. Q3A,UT are a bit old and I think they were out around the time of TNT1 & 2 and voodoo3 cards.

[Dputiger]

OutPatient--I've actually owned a Rendition--the Diamond Stealth S220. I also owned a Voodoo2. I can't speak for Quake, but in Quake II, my V2 murdered the Stealth. And that, as I recall, was based on a more advanced chip than the original Verite.

But that really isn't my point. I guess I have to say the one new hardware feature that genuinely interests me was FSAA. The Voodoo5 has the best implementation of FSAA, but wasn't a powerful enough card to use it to best advantage. IF what's left of 3dfx can get their HSR drivers out that could change, but I doubt it'll happen.

Maybe Nvidia will use some form of the T-buffer for hardware FSAA--I hope they do. It's a great feature.

[Dputiger]

OutPatient--

When I said 'murdered' I meant speed, not image quality. To be honest, I never noticed an image quality difference between the two. However, I could only run at maybe 15-20 frames a second on the Stealth, while my V2 pushed 60.

Granted, I prefer image quality to speed, but I prefer smooth gameplay to image quality. 20 fps really doesn't cut it in most games.

[OuTpaTienT]

Oh. Well yeah. Rendition sucked in terms of speed. I'll admit that. I too had a Stealth II and it was about the same speed as a Voodoo 1. But I was speaking stictly of image quality.

[falcompsx]

you know you guys are pretty right on, my first 3d accelerator was a Stealth II G460(the i740 card) and to be honest, the ONLY NEW FEATURE my geforce2 GTS has is 32 bit color and a hell of a lot more speed... Granted the 740 chipset was getting too slow, it lasted me for 2 or so years until i upgraded my p2 system to my celeron system and eventually got my GTS... I have no reason or need to upgrade my video card...what more could they possibly add except more polygon processing power which most games do NOT take advantage of at all except to get nosebleed framerates. Nice, just nothing inovative...american muscle car theory, add more horsepower and go faster...What we need is a porsche, add the speed with style, presision, and technology that is truely better then then just faster.

[LemonHead]

Im afraid i missed the Voodoo1 revolution, the first 3d card i had was the ATI Allinwonder Pro. Now THAT was a beast of a card. I liked it, and have fond memories of it in action. Its funny it is more advanced than my Voodoo3 come to think of it. It has exactly the same features (the v3 was just a v2 on acid, after all) AND 32bit colour. It worked a treat and i only bought the voodoo3 after i bought quake3 and the rage pro chip couldnt handle it. HEY WAIT A MO Voodoo1, quake 1. Voodoo2, quake2. Voodoo3, quake3. Voodoo4, uhhh quake3: team arena. Okay, just ignore me, i'll get me coat.

[freem]

i started with a voodoo1 on a diamond monster1 and quake. i used it untill i saw a gforce 1 play unreal tourny and i noticed i was missing a lot of eye candy. nothing against the old monster i just had some extra bucks lying around and i still have it just in case the gforce bites the dust.

[Konan555]

You must remember that outpatient is a dedicated anti-3dfx boy

[OuTpaTienT]

Through 'n' through.

[LemonHead]

Anti-3dfx, eh? Read the notice about Nvidias buyout of 3fdx. Doesn't it just make you cry? Its like a suicide note. It sounds like they are saying "GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD."
Now are you so "anti-3dfx?"
No?
Ah, i tried...

[LemonHead]

im so stupid. i cannot think of something funny to say about the guy being anti-3dfx, while 3dfx hold the trophy for the nicest Full scene anti-aliasing. Oh god, i don't ask much from you, but please help me.