Opinions Wanted: Voodoo3 2k vs. TNT2Ultra

[Kano]

Hello,

Been running a Voodoo3 2000 in a server (W2k Server sp2) now for quite some time without any issues. Only game ever played on the Server is CS. Picked up a TNT2Ultra (32meg) for next to nothing. I installed the card and didn't really notice any improvement, and as for Opengl in CS it seemed better with the Voodoo (kinda makes sense). I saw 100 extra 3Dmarks with the TnT2U.

Does this jive? Or should I have seen bigger improvements? Server runs dual 400's and half gig of ram. Am I better off dumping the TNT2 in something more powerful and leaving the v3?

Any opinions? Also, perhaps there is some cleaner utility for the Voodoo3 drivers? I removed everything from add/remove and registry references to 3dfx.

Thanks!

Jose

 

[pikasub]

Just keep the one with the lower resale value and sell the one that is worth more. The two cards are VERY close in performance but I believe the v3 has sharper 2d.

 

[Kano]

Yeah I always was partial to 3dfx OpenGL quality, nice and bright. But the TNT2U is 32meg so thats what made me put it in the system.

Dunno...

 

[LXi]

Personally I wouldnt switch a V3 for a TNT2, and vice versa. V3s are very capable video cards for older games, it gets the job done even today.

 

[Leon]

Old argument TNT2 was considered to be the better card by majority of reviewers (and Anandtech members).

If you only play CS, it shouldn't matter.

Leon

 

[cx32m4]

if CS is your life, keep V3.
like you said, V3 is brighter.
plus it's easy to tweak gamma with V3 , to make it even more brighter just in CS.
tnt2u is too dark in CS and if you increase gamma, your desktop will also light up and blind your eyes.
Ofcourse you would know brighter is better in CS cuz you gotta be able to spot those campers right?

 

[Kano]

Yeah exactly right! Spot those campers hehehe!

Yeah I was excited for the TNT2U with the Dual procs on Quake3Arena in SMP mode but really it only bumped it up 7-10fps and it was already doing quite well before. Not bad though...

Thanks for the input!

*EDIT* Which I never play anyway...Q3A that is.

 

[shathal]

Remember - if you want to benchmark CPU's for Quakre 3 run the following:

* 640 x 480
* 16-bit colours
* All details low/off
* OpenGL extensions ON (otherwise you'll never get more than 90 FPS due to Vsync on Timedemo).

Anything beyond that really makes the GFX-card the bottleneck, the CPU's have hardly anything to do with that. Benchmarking is an art in itself ... so I thought I'd clarify just in case .

 

[sirholio]

<< Hello,

Been running a Voodoo3 2000 in a server (W2k Server sp2) now for quite some time without any issues. Only game ever played on the Server is CS. Picked up a TNT2Ultra (32meg) for next to nothing. I installed the card and didn't really notice any improvement, and as for Opengl in CS it seemed better with the Voodoo (kinda makes sense). I saw 100 extra 3Dmarks with the TnT2U.

Does this jive? Or should I have seen bigger improvements? Server runs dual 400's and half gig of ram. Am I better off dumping the TNT2 in something more powerful and leaving the v3?

Any opinions? Also, perhaps there is some cleaner utility for the Voodoo3 drivers? I removed everything from add/remove and registry references to 3dfx.

Thanks!

Jose >>



i did the same thing w/ my home system. voodoo in quake 3 got around 40fps while the tnt 2ultra got about 30, but the 3d mark scores were as different as you said. so you would be correct in saying that.
if you were gonna go for something more powerfull just get a radeon LE, they're wicked cheap, you could probably sell off both the tnt and the voodoo and raise most of the money for it that way.