[NTLUG:Discuss] Video Card Question

[Steve Baker]

Cameron wrote:

> Even though the Voodoo cards are "old" technology, they have the best
> drivers and support from the vendor, 3Dfx.  Learn more about that
> support at http://linux.3dfx.com.

Yep.  Today, the best *fully* usable card is undoubtedly the Voodoo-3.

Older Voodoo-1 or -2 cards are NOT recommended because they can only
do full-screen 3D and that's rapidly becoming obsolete because it's
a pain for games writers to support.
 
> The Utah-GLX project is doing very well and support for several
> chipsets.  See http://utah-glx.sourceforge.net for more info.

Well, the guys over there are working hard - but it's not really
usable IMHO.  When it does run, it's pretty slow, also missing
functionality and still somewhat flakey...at least for nVidia
hardware.  If you have Matrox G200 or G400, the Utah-GLX code
is a little better - but it still has a way to go yet.

There is going to be an announcement from nVidia about their
own drivers sometime in the next week or so.  If you are not
fanatical about having to have source code for everything,
these may be the best choice in the longer term.

There was an early beta of the nVidia code - but it was utterly
un-usable.

> The DRI project has working drivers for the Voodoo3/Banshee line of
> cards, and I think they are working on Rage128 support.  Note that with
> the DRI solution, you cannot play many games (although Quake3 works).
> If you are still interested, goto http://dri.sourceforge.net for more
> info.
> 
> nVidia is supposed to have a driver out for it's GeForce boards, but
> since they operate behind closed doors, it's hard to tell when that will
> happen.  http://www.nvidia.com

I would offer this conclusion:

  * If you want something immediately - or if you are on
    a tight budget, get a Voodoo-3.

  * If you are patient then get a GeForce-256 board and
    use the Utah-GLX drivers for now - expecting to get
    nVidia drivers when they appear.   Once the driver
    issues are resolved, the GeForce will be head and
    shoulders over the competition because it's the only
    'consumer' card out there with hardware transforms
    and lighting.

Voodoo-4 and -5 have been announced - they'll probably work with the
Voodoo-3 drivers - but I don't think they are worth waiting for - they
aren't going to be *that* much better than the Voodoo-3.

I have a Voodoo-1, a Voodoo-2 and a Voodoo-3, and also a G200, a Rage-128
*and* a shiny new GeForce-256.  Hence, if you need help, I should be
able to offer some words of comfort!  My son's machine has the Voodoo-3
and mine has the GeForce, the other cards are used for testing only.

-- 
Steve Baker                  http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
sjbaker1 at airmail.net (home)  http://www.woodsoup.org/~sbaker
sjbaker at hti.com      (work)