TNT2 Ultra gone MIA
Written: Aug 31 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good perfornce for a cheap price
Cons: Not produced anymore
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| thepanther's Full Review: Creative Technology 3D Blaster Riva TNT2 Ultra, (3... |
When I eventually found a TNT Ultra based card it was at a computer fair, the cards had disapeared for ages and I saw one for $130 but only with Nvidia reference drivers. I had been searching for this card for a couple of months after the release of the Geforce. I was at the opinion that with the release of the Geforce the price of the TNT2 based cards would drop. This infact was the case, but infact they had stopped producing the TNT2 Ultra chipset. I believe that Nvidia have used the same tactic as AMD did with their Athlon. When the Athlon was produced the stopped producing the K6-III chips because they beleived it would eat into the profits of the Athlon. I believe that the TNT2 Ultra would eat into the profits of the Geforce.
The TNT has now gone to the TNT2 M64 which is essentially a cut down version of the TNT2. This offers a budget offering with still some raw speed behind it. Would ever of thought that the TNT2 would go budget. well I suppose you would if you know the industry.
At the time of Purchase I had a K6-2 machine and a Savage 4 video card. When I installed the card I noticed a slight improvement in games fps but not as much as I thought. I thought I had wasted my money on this card until I bought an Athlon processor, this seemed to let the card do its job properly and the frame rates went well above double what I had before. The K6-2 was the bottle neck and now the card performs brilliantly, I can play game in hi resolution and high colour depth with no problems.
If you can find one though they are probably alot cheaper now because they are no longer produced, so if you cant afford the geforce, the TNT2 Ultra is a slight compramise and possibly a big saving on your pocket.
I recomend you use the Nvidia Detonator 3 drivers aswell as they seem very stable indeed. The also offer a big performance gain compared with the other drivers available. In D3D games the detonator 3 drivers can offer upto 50% performance gain in the perfect conditions and 20% is far from uncommon.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
thepanther
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Member: Stevie Orgill
Location: Burton-on-Trent, DerbyShire, UK
Reviews written: 65
Trusted by: 13 members
About Me:
Passing on my own experience from my business in Computer Hardware.
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