Fastest Thing out....for now.
Written: Dec 05 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fast! Image Quality. 2d/3d fastest around.
Cons: Price, no Glide, not much of a bundle or features.
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| TheEngine's Full Review: Creative Labs 3D Blaster Annihilator 2 Ultra |
If ever the statement, "Keeping up with the Jones" was true, it’s in the computer hardware buying arena. I've gone through 5 systems in the last year where only the case and floppy drive have stayed the same. Why? Its fun. Some people hot rod cars, I hot rod computers. Between my dual 800 and the 1ghz Athlon, I'm fairly up to date....at least until spring...when all the NEW stuff comes out.
My reviews don't cover all the millions of detailed stats and specs. The Internet is flooded with that stuff and I'm sure you can read up if you want to. What I cover is real life usage. Does it run the games I want? Is it easy to install? Does it look nice? Pretty much in layman's terms.
The last addition to both of my systems has been new video cards. On the Athlon, I installed a VooDoo 5500, which I wrote a Epinion on. View that here --> http://www.epinions.com/cmd-review-33A8-63EFFDF-3A2B11AD-prod1.
In the Pentium 3 dual 800, I installed the Creative Labs Annihilator 2 Ultra. The card I had previous, the Elsa Glaidiac GTS2, had failed...twice. So back to Buy.com it went, not to be replaced. So as I'm poking around...trying to decide what to get, I see the Ultra...in stock and only $417.00. Match that with a $30.00 coupon at the time, and we're under 400 for the latest and greatest video card on the planet. Top that off with a Buy.com shipping mishap, and I'm credited the $10.00 for 2nd day air. $387.00 total.
Installation under Windows 2000.
Painless. The card popped in, I installed the latest Detonator drivers and done. No problems between the Ultra and my Pinnacle Systems DV 500. Adobe Premiere and digital capture run flawless.
Graphic Applications
This is a no frills card. Not much of a software bundle, no video out or flat panel support. That’s OK, I never used the TV out on any of my previous cards. What does come with this card is power. Lots of it. Both 2d and 3d. On my Pentium I run mainly graphic applications. Photoshop and 3D Studio Max. The amount of power and graphic quality this card has in those areas makes it the best value for middle to upper class workstations.
Games
Now most people are going to buy this for games. Since I only have Windows 2000 installed on the Pentium, my game selection is limited. The few games that do run, run very...very fast with excellent graphic quality. I am not a fan of Quake 3, but I can understand it as a benchmark. Running Quake 3 on the Ultra brings an instant smile. The timedemos flashed so fast it almost caused a seizure :)
I don't care to squeeze out every last FPS possible. I'm not overclocking the card. I do understand though that it’s very overclockable. To me the gains are not worth it. Extra heat and graphic glitches. It’s fast enough stock.
To some, the price of this card is an instant turn-off. Its still in the low to mid $400.00 range, which makes it one of the most expensive components in the system. How fast will it be outdated? I think history shows each card from Nvidia tends to be about 20% faster than the last. I'm not even sure if the gains are that high between the Ultra and the GTS2. When the NV20 ships, then of course the Ultra will be old news. At this point, 1024x768x32 in every game I've tried is flawless smooth. I'll probably keep this card well into next year, and I'm sure I'll have the ability to run anything that comes from the game makers, provided it runs under Win2k.
So if price is not a barrier, or you want to invest now in a card that will last awhile, get this. The only drawback to me is no Glide support. Now I know lots of people scoff at Glide, but there are still games I like to play that are Glide only, or better off under Glide. Enter the Voodoo 5500. But if you need a graphic 2d business card that will run every D3D and OpenGL based game faster than everything else, (for now) This is your card.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 387.00
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Epinions.com ID:
TheEngine
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Location: Chicago, IL
Reviews written: 33
Trusted by: 8 members
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