Installed fine but would not run on my (less than a year old) Toshiba laptop with Intel Mobile 4 Series Express chipset with 830MB shared graphics memory and DX10. Blocky, jagged images led to merely colored screens at a max of 3fps, no matter what settings I chose, all the way down to 640x480/16. Crashed every time after less than a minute.

AG should make clear that this needs a true 3D video card with 32MB of dedicated graphics memory and some serious horsepower to display properly - I think many of you with laptops will have the same disappointing results.

Not a keeper for me.

JL  –  14 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+14)

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I am not over impressed with this software.
On a 1.6 Ghz machine the audio is broken up and the video is jerky.
On a 2.8 Ghz twin core machine it works okay but the computer has to work at around 60% CPU load.
In fact the screen saver makes the computer work harder than many computer games.
So how the heck they think it will work on a Windows 98 or anything less than 1.6 Ghz, perhaps they just made up the spec.
Also to be so heavy on CPU use, means it's is not economical on your electricity bill.
Also the cars are "single speed gearbox".
MOST IMPORTANT - the first fraction of sound that comes out is VERY LOUD (even with the volume turned down) the reason for this being important is that quite a few birds when woken by a sudden sound can literally die (I know personally of a young parrot that went that way - and was diagnosed by the vet and reconfirmed by another independent vet).
So I consider this to be poor quality software and have uninstalled it.

Terry  –  14 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+13)

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Areas of Excellence:
* Smooth download, installation, activation on Vista x32 OS.
* Shows as registered within PC Screen-saver Settings Menu/Panel.
* Very realistic animations - cars, grass, roads - all look real.
* Beautiful, bright, pleasant-looking, real-life colors.
* Supports Video-selection options: Use desktop settings, use Vsync, whereby user may change/edit resolution choices.
* Supports edits/changes to other settings, such as: Show FPS, Exit on mouse movement, Show time in 12-hour or 24-hour format.
* Supports Gamma Control settings.
* Supports Volume-control settings to: Enable Music, Enable SFX.
* Supports restoring selections to default settings.

Ideas for Improvement: - no deficiencies to note at the moment.

Summary - Screensaver functions smoothly, is realistic, and very entertaining - so a big thumbs up for today's giveaway - thanks, GOTD & Astro Gemini.

Freeware Alternative
MotorRacing Screensaver

Inas  –  14 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+12)

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Review of "3D Formula 1 Screensaver"

Installed and Registered successfully on a VMware Image of Windows XP x32 with 1GB RAM, running on a Precision M2400 with an Intel T9900, 3GB DDR2, 5400RPB HDD.

Installation was simple, with very little options. It installs two icons on the desktop (link to website for more & link to start the screensaver immediately. It also installs the program in the Start Menu but under the "3D Formula 1 Screensaver" instead of Screensavers or Astro (so that all the Screensavers would be under it). I suspect if you purchase 20 different screensavers the Start Menu is going to get crowded (unless you manage it manually).

This is a screensaver that kept my attention. The graphics are nice and realistic enough to see some significant detail (Co. Logos, trees, bridges, etc.) Some of the graphics and effects, such as the tire walls, seem to be lacking.

Sound includes FX (car engine revving) and music file. These can't be changed, but can be turned off (thank goodness). In my testing, there was always a burst of sound as it started. A bit startling if you don't expect it.

Frame rates were between 26 and 120.

This program is very CPU intensive. The VMware core was near 100%. The System core (a dual core T9900 at 3.06GHz) ran at between 58%-95% processing. Immediately upon starting the screen save the GPU/CPU fan when on high mode.

Overall, this was entertaining, but not something I would want to run all the time. The amount of processing power required on both GPU and CPU is going to cause serious issues with you system long term. Great for short runs, demos, and Burn-in testing.

YMMV

Luis P  –  14 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+11)

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Turn the volume down -- may be peculiar to my system, but at the default 70% volume after install, I could hear the sound FX, & I wasn't wearing the earbuds at the time! 1st, & hopefully last time that's ever happened, as they're a rather expensive set.

That warning out of the way, 3D Formula 1 Screensaver isn't a one-file [.scr] screensaver, but relies on a program folder with 9 files at just under 15MB. As the docs show, it dates back to 2005, with system requirements [in the docs] going up to XP. OpenGL graphics are also listed. On an AMD quad it pretty much maxed 1 core, & did use the hardware graphics acceleration on my ATI 4870 [a once higher end last generation card]. While it's not at the level of the latest games, this screensaver will probably stress systems with lower power graphics &/or CPUs. I did see some video glitches [different ones with/without vsync] that likely could be minimized or gotten rid of entirely if I bothered to play with the ATI settings. Using the mouse to stop the screensaver was iffy [using latest Logitech Setpoint drivers], & afterwards software screen calibration was off.

The visual quality is a matter of expectations... not terrible by any means, but if you're a gamer who frets when you don't see 100% of what the latest games have to offer, frankly you'll probably laugh. The road surface is 1 repeating [tiled] texture, while the scenery is made up of relatively simple, static images. There's some attention to detail -- the driver's head moves a bit side-to-side -- but by & large the focus is on the cars themselves & their reflective surfaces. The audio isn't terrible either, at least for the first couple of minutes, but it repetitive nature gets on your nerves sooner rather than later -- inside the 14.5MB data.rar file are 4 .ogg files you might try swapping out if you wanted.

Personally I'm not a huge screensaver fan, & am inclined to give today's GOTD a C+/B- grade... If I wanted something similar with more realism, I'd probably look at using actual race video, since there are several screensaver apps that'll use it, & they wouldn't require my PC to work so hard.

mike  –  14 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+10)

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