DX5 Compatibility Mode for the TNT - 8:15 PM CST A.W.O.L.
This is old news, back from last Monday, but I didn't notice it picked up on anyplace else, so I thought I'd better repost it. I found this over on Redwood's of all places. He found an updated .plan from this Remedy Entertainment guy with this info regarding the TNT, 3DMark, and that DirectX 5 Compatibility check box in the Win9x driver's Display Properties:
For all you "worried" TNT owners asking about DirectX 5 compatibility mode driver setting and higher performance in 3DMark 99. Some results on a P2-400:
Default | Dx5 comp mode
Race 34.6 42.6
First Person 36.7 32.0
Fill Single 76.6 143.2
Fill Multi 140.1 144.6
Whoa! What's happening here?
It's really simple if you think about it for a while. Short explanation: Their current driver can't mix single and multi-texturing and fetch always two texels per clock. It's either two texels/clock multitexturing (default, DX6) or two texels/clock single-texturing (dx5 compatibility mode on!)
The reduced frame rate in the first person test with DX5 comp mode is due to the fact that although the fill rate is the same, the screen is rendered two times (instead of one when multi-texturing), meaning that all triangles are processed two times.
Happy? Now go get your TNT. Turn on DX5 compatibility mode for ultimate Incoming / Forsaken speed and use the defaults for Quake & Unreal fragging!
And don't be too amazed if NVIDIA gets 400 or so 3DMarks better score with a later driver update.
I remember the GameSpot V4400 review mentioning this and that using the switch caused a big gain in fps in Motorhead.
