Newbie - Just got a TNT2, What will it do? DX, OGL, T&L....

Brasco_1_99

Just got a TNT2, What will it do ???????? What is its DirectX capabilites? Open Gl? Hardware T&L :uhoh

Matth

The TNT2 is the oldest GPU supported by the current Nvidia drivers - THAT should tell you what to expect!

Some older drivers are rumoured to be faster for it

T&L - don't think so...

If you have a FULL TNT2, and not the M64 with the slow memory bus, then that's not bad for a basic card.
http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=TNT2

The comparison feature will show how much faster the others should be, or this one if not yet fitted, AND faster than what you have.

Like all Nvidia's, "coolbits" (look it up) overclocking should be possible - and some examples of the M64 feature very fast RAM to try to make up for the inherent disadvantage of running 64 bit width instead of 128 - the usual "dirty trick" when they want to make a low end version that won't embarrass the next one up!

Jaxon

I've had a TNT2 m64 for about 3 months now. with the detonator drivers it has played:

SOF2, C&C Renegade, RTCW and GP3 no probs. For 30 quid I am very pleased with it. No probs as yet.

Jeff

Actually TNT is the oldest I think that is supported.

Matth

TNT dropped off the bottom of the 29.42 and higher drivers (but is supported up to 28.32 and possibly kludgeable for the 29's)

The TNT2 is from the same sort of era as the ATI RAGE128-PRO - and would beat the RAGE128 (non-pro) that I've been running up to now.

The TNT2 is still being sold - in the crippled M64 version with half the memory performance.

For 30 quid, I bought a secondhand Geforce2MX from a friendly computer fair trader - and I'm VERY happy with it.

There are also some cheap-ish ATI Radeon's around (saw one for 35 quid) - I assume they're a really basic version like a VE (OEM whiteboxed).

The choice with a TNT2 (or even a GF2), is either to use the very latest drivers - probably best for latest programs - or dig around for an archived driver that might be faster for the older cards - I'm sure I read somewhere that the "Detonator 2" series is faster for TNT2 - driver version 5.xx are Det-2 - or it might have even been 2.xx that they referred to, and not Detonator 2 - it was in the write-up for one of the tweaker programs at guru3d.com

(Edit: went looking!)
http://guru3d.com/rivatuner/
(from the notes)
Extreme System / Direct3D / OpenGL / Color tweaking possibilities for all existing versions of Detonator drivers (including Detonator 2.xx, the fastest drivers for TNT/TNT2 chipsets):

Jaxon

I didnt know the m64 had shitty memory and I didnt get a second hand card because of trouble buying like that in the past. Still, it does the job (for now).

I'm using the 28.32 drivers.

Matth

Found a couple of informative reviews

http://www.thetechzone.com/reviews/video/sniper2/ - They make the point that it is a lower clocked, memory bandwith limited version - wth impressive core overclock limits, but less so for RAM unless better than average RAM was used

http://www.maximum3d.com/reviews/m64.htm - The feature list is not bad - looks like it is essentially a DX6-level card

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1058
With a heatsink and good memory, see the card-maker supported clocking limits (turbo mode).
For the tests, note the typical fade at higher resolutions due to memory bandwith limitations - a double whammy, with more work to do, and more memory bandwith taken up by display refresh.

Running your display at any higher refresh than the minimum for "flicker-free" (75Hz) merely wastes RAM bandwith - so select the mode that your test program (say 3DMark xxxx) will use, and then lower the scan rate (after a previous test) - your scores will go up.

I also find many card/monitor combinations are a little soft if they default to a higher than sensible scan rate.

Impulse

[SIZE=x-small]A GeForce 256 DDR, you could got one or a Radeon 256, if you are REALLY poor... LOL and they perform allright, well as of Q3 performance on a tight buget [/size]