Typedef Enum
12-01-02, 04:13 AM
Not sure if anybody cares...but...
I asked a friend if I could borrow his 9700 for a little bit, just to get a feel for the board. I've only had it in my system for a day, and these are my impressions thus far. Stability: Not too bad. I have seen a few "back to the desktop" scenarios, but they have been fairly isolated. On the other hand, I think this board does run pretty hot. There have been times when I will see a series of dots collect around an object...something that's similar to what happens when you overclock the crap out of a card (be it the memory or core).
Drivers: So far, pretty good. Actually, I can't say that I've seen any glaring erros thus far. On a few occasions, I have noticed the "stuttering" that's been talked about over @ Rage3D.
Multimonitor: I had to go with the native XP multimonitor capability...though this could very well be something that I didn't do correctly on this board. I wasn't able to get the 2nd LCD to configure itself correctly. As soon as I configured it via display panel (not through ATI panel), everything worked OK.
2D Quality: 2nd monitor is definitely better than the GF4. My main display looks pretty good, though the Matrox board still yields a better looking picture.
Antialiasing: In short, it's utterly fantastic. There's no doubt about it, ATI's implementation rocks. In the end, I think this is where NV30 is going to have to shine in order to really put some separation between it and the R300. I'm looking forward to seeing what NV30 brings to the table. Flight Sim guys would really like the quality this thing affords, I can assure you of that.
Anisotropic: No more pseudo-filter action happening with R300. My biggest complaint, with regards to the R200, is no longer. Performance is awesome.If I were to sum up my impressions in one paragraph, it would definitely be something like...ATI "gets it" now. They have addressed the vast majority of those things that have plagued them in the past, and have delivered a product that clearly has a lot going for it. I would be willing to bet that by the time NV30 hits the streets, these things will be < $300...unless, of course, NV30 is no better than R300, in terms of performance (which I do not really expect to happen).
ATI has also addressed the Linux issue (though I haven't given those drivers a test drive yet), which is definitely something that means a lot to some folks. Up until now, if you wanted 3D in Linux, you were basically left but one choice...and it looks like there is one more.
Anyhow, the thing I will be placing most of my emphasis on will be in the area of Antialiasing. When you combine this feature with high-resolutions, it's really a sight to behold. I can only hope that NV30 comes close to the quality of the AA implementation found on the R300.
I asked a friend if I could borrow his 9700 for a little bit, just to get a feel for the board. I've only had it in my system for a day, and these are my impressions thus far. Stability: Not too bad. I have seen a few "back to the desktop" scenarios, but they have been fairly isolated. On the other hand, I think this board does run pretty hot. There have been times when I will see a series of dots collect around an object...something that's similar to what happens when you overclock the crap out of a card (be it the memory or core).
Drivers: So far, pretty good. Actually, I can't say that I've seen any glaring erros thus far. On a few occasions, I have noticed the "stuttering" that's been talked about over @ Rage3D.
Multimonitor: I had to go with the native XP multimonitor capability...though this could very well be something that I didn't do correctly on this board. I wasn't able to get the 2nd LCD to configure itself correctly. As soon as I configured it via display panel (not through ATI panel), everything worked OK.
2D Quality: 2nd monitor is definitely better than the GF4. My main display looks pretty good, though the Matrox board still yields a better looking picture.
Antialiasing: In short, it's utterly fantastic. There's no doubt about it, ATI's implementation rocks. In the end, I think this is where NV30 is going to have to shine in order to really put some separation between it and the R300. I'm looking forward to seeing what NV30 brings to the table. Flight Sim guys would really like the quality this thing affords, I can assure you of that.
Anisotropic: No more pseudo-filter action happening with R300. My biggest complaint, with regards to the R200, is no longer. Performance is awesome.If I were to sum up my impressions in one paragraph, it would definitely be something like...ATI "gets it" now. They have addressed the vast majority of those things that have plagued them in the past, and have delivered a product that clearly has a lot going for it. I would be willing to bet that by the time NV30 hits the streets, these things will be < $300...unless, of course, NV30 is no better than R300, in terms of performance (which I do not really expect to happen).
ATI has also addressed the Linux issue (though I haven't given those drivers a test drive yet), which is definitely something that means a lot to some folks. Up until now, if you wanted 3D in Linux, you were basically left but one choice...and it looks like there is one more.
Anyhow, the thing I will be placing most of my emphasis on will be in the area of Antialiasing. When you combine this feature with high-resolutions, it's really a sight to behold. I can only hope that NV30 comes close to the quality of the AA implementation found on the R300.