Digital Foundry Article Technical Discussion [2020]

[BRiT]

When I bought my Gateway PC around July 1998, the Riva128 was the optional onboard GPU upgrade for the system I bought - a PentiumII/400, 96mb RAM, DVD drive

At least it wasn't a PackardBell in the 386 era. I remember the one hallmate had a PB around 1992 and he had issues running nearly everything the rest of us could run, and there were some titles that never ever worked on it regardless of the hackery we tried.

 

[BoardBonobo]

I did Geforce 2MX400 to replace my millenium + power VR setup. And then I swapped to the dark side and went full Radeon (just for the anisotropic filtering man!)

 

[Deleted member 11852]

At least it wasn't a PackardBell in the 386 era. I remember the one hallmate had a PB around 1992 and he had issues running nearly everything the rest of us could run, and there were some titles that never ever worked on it regardless of the hackery we tried.

I had Amigas from about 1987 onwards, Commodore went under in 1994 but there are a few years where it looked like there would be a management buyout, and with the promise of new PowerPC Amigas with PCI graphics cards I think there was quite a few Amiga die-hards that followed that hope. But in 1998, I saw Half-Life and decided I'd brave Windows 98. I'd played Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake and Quake II but it was Half-Life that swung me from just playing the first opening hour. So good.

 

[jlippo]

Oh yeah - didn’t Matrix bring us bump mapping?

Environment bump mapping / Dot2 bump mapping, yes.

Basically allowed an indirect texture read, thus it was used for water shaders and chrome balls.
Later Dot3 or proper perpixel lighting made it obsolete. (EMB didn't work with camera rotations well..)

Matrox actually licensed it from Bit boys. (Finnish company behind Pyramid & Glaze 3D)

 

[BRiT]

Ah yes, the eventual long awaited BitBoys Glaze3D too.
And the Matrox Mistake (Mystique).
And the STB or S3 3D Decelerater.
And the 3dfx Sage.
So many false steps then.

I used a Matrox of some sort for 2D until I think the ATI Radeon 8500, that I overclocked to hell and back. Not many cards could drive hires hifresh dual monitor 1600x1200 setups. I had to work out a reinforced desk for those 2 Mondo 21" CRTs after I upgraded from 17". Easily 150 lbs per.

 

[AzBat]

Ah yes, the eventual long awaited BitBoys Glaze3D too.
And the Matrox Mistake (Mystique).
And the STB or S3 3D Decelerater.
And the 3dfx Sage.
So many false steps then.

I used a Matrox of some sort for 2D until I think the ATI Radeon 8500, that I overclocked to hell and back. Not many cards could drive hires hifresh dual monitor 1600x1200 setups. I had to work out a reinforced desk for those 2 Mondo 21" CRTs after I upgraded from 17". Easily 150 lbs per.

Another defunct company was Raycer Graphics. I got a in person ray-tracing demo of that one in 1998, before Apple bought them in 1999. Guess you could say they got a better deal. LOL Others were Rendition v3300 Redline & GigaPixel Giga3D GP-1.

Tommy McClain

 

[Lalaland]

Matrox lasted for years in the business market long after they stopped even shipping consumer cards on the back of their excellent VGA quality along with their drivers that made Windows Multi-Monitor work properly by keeping apps, etc on the correct screen between reboots, etc.

 

[Globalisateur]

Matrox was my first graphics card. It didn't have transform & lighting though.

 

[goonergaz]

Matrox lasted for years in the business market long after they stopped even shipping consumer cards on the back of their excellent VGA quality along with their drivers that made Windows Multi-Monitor work properly by keeping apps, etc on the correct screen between reboots, etc.

Think they also did capture cards too...pretty sure I still have one from when I ripped the whole Parker Lewis Can’t Lose series from various VHS tapes from around the world onto DVD

Edit - yep, I just found the matrox 400 and editing card lol

 

[PSman1700]

 

[Shortbread]

Even on PC, the artistic style and assets look like they transpired from a cheap Hollywood backlot set. And the gameplay is so lackluster...

 

[techuse]

Even on PC, the artistic style and assets look like they transpired from a cheap Hollywood backlot set. And the gameplay is so lackluster...

Its not going to win any awards but it is an improvement over Rise of the Tomb Raider.

 

[Jupiter]

Graphically it definitely looks better than almost all or maybe all games with static time of day. This is real high end and already a bit next gen. Additionally it has a lot of destruction and many effects on screen. Unfortunately neither Marvel scenario nor the gameplay convince me.

 

[Bickle2]

I had Amigas from about 1987 onwards, Commodore went under in 1994 but there are a few years where it looked like there would be a management buyout, and with the promise of new PowerPC Amigas with PCI graphics cards I think there was quite a few Amiga die-hards that followed that hope. But in 1998, I saw Half-Life and decided I'd brave Windows 98. I'd played Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake and Quake II but it was Half-Life that swung me from just playing the first opening hour. So good.

A senior engineer ended up working IT at my high school. He would somewhat begrudgingly hold court for thr Amiga and c64 nerds. Thank god, the math teacher running it before was a Mac head and absolutely incompetent in everything. He had a 64 node AppleTalk network. To give you an idea, a three page English paper could take up to a minute to load

 

[iroboto]

Guys are fast.

 

[BRiT]

Guys are fast.

That's what she said!

 

[iroboto]

That's what she said!

in response to your other question, it looks like ACTIV is running like Ubisoft, different teams will manage their own engine as opposed to consolidating like we saw with EA

 

[Cyan]

so the game runs at 30fps on consoles? Seriously?

btw, managed to get super low temperatures -42-44º on F1 2020 at best settings for instance- with the CPU running at 4,075GHz and 1,0625V -passed all the stress test and Flight Simulator, which is a stress test itself, using stock cooler -AMD Wraith Prism-. I am super happy tbh.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

A senior engineer ended up working IT at my high school. He would somewhat begrudgingly hold court for thr Amiga and c64 nerds. Thank god, the math teacher running it before was a Mac head and absolutely incompetent in everything. He had a 64 node AppleTalk network. To give you an idea, a three page English paper could take up to a minute to load

Macs were pretty rare in British schools back in the 1980s/90s. I can't remember what we had, but I recall the file server used multiple 8" floppy discs for storage. Much of it early programming material back then was based Logo, BASIC and even some COBOL.

 

[Nisaaru]

Ah yes, the eventual long awaited BitBoys Glaze3D too.

The company I worked for got a sample gfxcard by the Bitboys during the 90s. I don't recall if they ever tested it but I've never seen it running. We were evaluating gfxchips back then for a product.

Reading the Bitboys's Glaze3d wiki I think the mentioned sample was related to their Infineon deal. Most likely far before this Glaze3d announcement. I think somebody mentioned it was developed by some university students back then.