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- Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games
- Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!agate!dog.ee.lbl.gov!hellgate.utah.edu!lanl!beta.lanl.gov!masten
- From: masten@beta.lanl.gov (David A. Masten)
- Subject: On local bus, VGA cards, and games
- Message-ID: <1993Jan1.021315.13461@newshost.lanl.gov>
- Sender: news@newshost.lanl.gov
- Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1993 02:13:15 GMT
- Lines: 45
-
- I've been thinking about upgrading from my 386/33 to a 486 (hey, it's a year
- old!). The hot bus architecture is "local bus", and now it's safer (but
- more expensive) to buy into with the advent of the VESA standard (VLB).
- We've all seen the claims for the tremendous improvements that local bus
- and/or "accelerator boards" provide. Of course usually they refer to
- Windows performance. The real question is how does it impact the only
- software that really matters...VGA games! More specifically 320x200x256
- color sims, my particular vice.
-
- So I decided to do some comparisons using three games that give a readout
- of either framerate (Falcon3, F15III) or "processor occupancy" (World
- Circuit).
-
- I used a Gateway 486/33 VLB system with the following boards:
-
- ATI Graphics Ultra Pro VESA Local Bus (very new, very expensive)
- Diamond Speedstar Plus (ET4000 based ISA)
- Trident (Trident based ISA)
-
- I also compared these to an Altec 486/33 (non-Vesa) local bus computer
- with a no-name ET4000 based local bus card. Lastly, I compared these
- results with my 386/33 with the above Speedstar Plus.
-
- Bottom line: the local bus mattered very little. At best, it gives about
- a 10% (~1 fps) improvement over the ISA Speedstar. However, the ATI VLB
- did outperform the Trident by about 25%. No big surprise as the Trident
- has a reputation for being slow. The Gateway/ATI just marginally
- outperformed (within error) the no-name 486/33 LB system, so I would
- conclude that the ~$500 ATI isn't worth it for games only.
-
- The 486/33's did stomp on my 386/33. Falcon3 ran at about a 67% higher
- framerate (I tested in particulary crowded areas), F15 about 50%. World
- Circuit showed a processor occupancy just about half, which matches the 2x
- performance I've seen on other software. Note that doesn't necessarily
- translate into 2x the framerate. WC runs plenty smooth when I defeat the
- texturing.
-
- I'm not saying don't get a local bus. Just saying it won't make a
- significant difference with your 320x200x256 games, which still dominate
- the market for many reasons (framerate considerations being a major one).
- It's probably still worth it for future compatibility sake, provided you
- get the VLB.
-
- Dave Masten
- masten@beta.lanl.gov
-