best Mac video card for CM?

[Andrew F]

While I wait for CM to be available I need to prep my PowerMac 8600 (upgraded to a G3/400) to run it in its full glory. Since software mode really won't cut it I'm wondering if anyone can recommend an optimal or even acceptable graphics card--preferably one that is readily available--to run CM? I'm trying to avoid shelling out the big bucks for an overkill Voodoo 5 or Radeon card.

Any suggestions or recommendations would be quite helpful.

Thanks!

[Ben Galanti]

An ATI Orion card (also known as a Rage 128 card, but the name of the retail card was the Orion) should do the trick. They used to be about $100 (US). I don't know what they're running these days with the Radeon's out now, but I would think they would be much less. This was basically the same card that came in the original Blue & White G3's . Some of the newer macs had Rage 128 Pro cards which were somewhat faster, but there was never a retail version of these as far as I know.

You can usually track down cards on eBay that people have pulled out of their machines (make sure it's PCI and not an AGP card though), the Orions are becoming a little sparse these days in retail though.

[Andrew F]

Thanks. That's what I've been trying to find. I may be able to scrounge up a used one from one of my co-workers. The new Voodoo 4 card looks kind of appealing and affordable, but I havn't been able to find one for sale anywhere.

[Ben Galanti]

The Voodoo4 would have been a pretty good card, but with 3DFX going under, it's not such a hot bet. It was supposed to have RAVE support (and the guy who wrote the RAVE drivers hung around here) but I've never heard how well the card worked with CM. With 3DFX going under though, any problems wouldn't get fixed.

Also, the price difference between a Voodoo4 and a Radeon PCI wasn't all that great.. though, I'm sure the Voodoo4 price would have dropped if things had worked out differently. I still think your best bet is that used Rage 128 though.

Ben

[Baboon2]

The Voodoo 4 runs CM very well and provides 2x FSAA. The Voodoo 5 provides 4x FSAA.

Obviously, at this point I don't care which card you buy, but I do want to say that CM is one game that really benefits from FSAA. I understand that the Radeon drivers will eventually provide it.

(I'm the former RAVE guy at 3dfx.)

[Freak]

For me CM is most enjoyable on an ATI card. Mainly because the card was made to be RAVE compatible. Its rave support is excellent. With the voodoo line, I was disapointed in the slowdown of my mouse and the unability to toggle between CM and my desktop. Also, the CM screen itself was a bit misaligned with the actual monitor screen itself. (It was a bit off ) But noticable. And was annoying to my eye. The other thing about 3dfx card was the unability to take screenshots. Well...this is just for rave support and CM, and I only am commenting on those things not the entire card itself. The voodoo is good for some things, especially their own GLIDE sipported games...sometimes I wonder what CM would have looked like in GLIDE. I think glide look really really good.

Anyway, I suggest an ATI radeon, or a used rage (16mg). Or if you can wait, there may be some Nvidia cards available either 3rd party (I hope) or you may find one on e-bay.

Hope this helps.