Effective, fast and doesn't drain your wallet resources
Written: Dec 25 '00 (Updated Dec 29 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Speed, resolution, price
Cons: Its not "the latest version"
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| krashlite2's Full Review: Creative Labs Creative 3D Blaster RIVA TNT2 |
Shopping for a 3D-Accelerator card because well, being "slow" kills? I for one was certainly sick of the slow frames when playing some of my favorite computer games (Star Wars Pod Racer comes to mind).
I finally did something about it for Christmas, and I settled on the Creative Labs 3D Blaster which operates via the NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 M64 graphics processor. There's a few reasons why I "settled" for this one, and it really is "settling" because there are better 3D graphics cards out there. Here's the first clue. A 3D graphics card will not necessarily make your graphics faster. A good way to think of a 3D card is to remember that the CPU controls the minimum speed at which frames load, while your graphics card controls the maximum. Thus, for me it really made no sense to dole out $350 for the latest 1 zillion-megapixel fill rate card when the difference might be a few milliseconds if anything at all. I have a Pentium3 800MHz and I would think that unless you get to the 2Gz processors coming out next year, the CPUs will remain mostly the limiting factor.
The NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 M64 graphics processor is no slouch though. Based on the CPU speeds of todays processors ranging from 300Mhz to 1.5 (if you bought the over-rated Pentium IV), this 3D blaster is practically equal to the task when it comes to making a difference. Graphics Architecture runs at 64bitx2 and Onboard Memory is equal to 32MB SGRAM. Peak Fill Rate is at 250 million pixels/second. and Triangles Per Second (Peak Rate) is 8.3 million. Now obviously these aren't awe-inspiring numbers if you consider the latest cards out there, but once again, for purposes of practicality, I can honestly state that the games I've played have had no demonstrable differences between my system and my friend's (who has a Creative Annihilator).
It also features single pass multi-texturing support, which was first introduced by the Voodoo2. Want 2D power? Try screen resolutions of upto 1900x1200 (as compared to the 800x600 most of you might be having right now). Important Note: No conventional monitor is capable of 1900x1200 but the essential information to obtain from this is that frame shifts at higher resolutions are minimized at conventional monitor resolution capacities. The graphics engine is of course powered by the NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 graphics engine, an impressive piece of machinery.
At this point, if you are not a computer geek, you must be asking me, "what does all that do for me?" Well, for one, the visual display quality. That will increase at higher resolutions as long as the image is designed for higher resolution. Oversampling will not increase the look of the image, but may distort it. It also equates into more screen space (less scrolling), higher quality images and loading time for those web-pages featuring tons of images will be somewhat reduced (don't expect to see much of a difference except on an immensely complex picture though).
Want examples? I can personally attest to a few. Playing the Star Wars Pod Racer in the past can sometimes be tiresome because as frames change or when more characters are introduced into the frame I feel a "sliding effect" as if the frame moved like it was a slide show instead of a movie which ideally is how we'd like to play our games right? With the 3D Blaster RIVA TNT2, this effect is minimized to an extent such that my naked eye does not notice a change in frame sequence.
Another example? Have you ever tried loading up a few webcam photos all at once? Did your screen freeze up? Although this could be due to other reasons (see the comment by Turin in the comments section), your worries as to that happening again will clearly be reduced because of the enhanced resolution capacities as well as your much needed speed and performance wants if you perform webpage design or picture editing on a regular basis.
Bottom Line: If you don't play games, hardly take webcam photos and image resolution is perfectly acceptable to you, don't even think about buying a 3D accelerator card. On the other hand, if you are an astro-physics engineer at NASA and you need to load high resolution graphics that my mind cannot even begin to comprehend, you should probably buy the latest 3D accelerator card. Another good reason to buy that would be to really impress your friends. I would go with the 3D Blaster Annihilator2 because its the latest and I'm a big fan of Creative Technology products and their technical support.
However, if you are like me and you play games sometimes, do some "web-camming" and you don't want to spend extra if you don't have to, the 3D Blaster RIVA TNT2 is the perfect choice. You can buy it for around $80-$100 and as I said before, you simply don't need anything greater. Your CPU, monitor and to an extent SDRAM, control many of the main capabilities of 3D and 2D pictures so if you are unhappy with your graphic capabilities, keep that in mind. Even if you plan on buying the 3D Blaster TNT2, remember that your limiting factor is more often your CPU and monitor resolution capacity rather than your graphics card so don't blame 3D if quality, speed and resolution is not fully to your satisfaction.
In almost all cases, there is a limit to what a 3D accelerator card can do, and anything at the level of a TNT2 or greater has pretty much reached that level although you will find disagreements about this. When I say, "reached that level", I mean that noticeable differences are simply not observed except perhaps with THE very latest in technology coupled with playing the most special effects requiring game out there. I have yet to see that though. You are not settling for less. As far as I'm concerned, you are simply buying what's needed for the next couple years, unless technology expands beyond my imagination before then. If you already have an accelerator card and you're contemplating upgrading to this one, I think you should save a little and go higher end or wait. However, if you are buying your first graphics card, you will not be disappointed. Save a couple hundred bucks and use it towards upgrading your CPU. The back of the box reads, "The Power You Need at a Price You Can Afford" and amazingly, its actually true! Nothing more, nothing less.
**Edited: October 27th** Turin offers a dissenting comment in the comments section which I think is worthwhile considering, although again, as an avid gamer I can assure you that your RIVA TNT2 technology will not be out of date for conventional video games for quite some time to come.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 92.99
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Epinions.com ID:
krashlite2
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Location: Tampa, FL
Reviews written: 31
Trusted by: 64 members
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Opinions are best served when put into actual practice.
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