I can see clearly now, Creative's drivers are gone
Written: Aug 11 '00 (Updated Aug 16 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cheapest GeForce 2 card, produces amazing visuals
Cons: Creative's drivers and software are terrible, as usual
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| Pavlovs_Fish's Full Review: Creative Technology 3D Blaster Annihilator2, (32 M... |
As an avid gamer, the video card is about the most important component in my computer. The Annihilator 2 is the third 3D accelerator I’ve used in the past two years. It is also the most expensive 3D accelerator I have used. In fact, the Annihilator 2 was the second most expensive component I had to buy for my new computer. After two months of heavy use, I consider the somewhat hefty price tag of this card totally justified.
My PC gaming habit started on a Riva 128 based card, and about a year ago I upgraded to one based on the Riva TNT2 Ultra chipset. Another year and another upgrade later, I am still amazed at how much 3D hardware can advance in the space of 12 months. On my TNT2 Ultra based card (a Diamond Viper V770 Ultra), there were a couple games that I could play at 1024x768 with 32 bit color, but in most games, the best I could do was 800x600 with 32 bit color, and either way I couldn’t set most of the detail settings too high without sacrificing my framerate. Since I started using the Creative Labs Annihilator 2, I’ve played hefty amounts of Half-Life: Opposing Force, Vampire: The Masquerade: Redemption, Unreal Tournament, Quake III: Arena, and Deus Ex (among others). The lowest resolution I have to play anything at is 1024x768 with 32 bit color, but in most games, I can play at 1280x960 with 32 bit color, which is truly a wonderful thing. Even better, in all of the 3D accelerated games I’ve thrown at my Annihilator 2, I’ve been able to set most (if not all) of the detail settings as high as they go. If you think Unreal Tournament looks good on a TNT2 Ultra (and I know I did), prepare to be amazed when you see it on a GeForce 2 based card like the Annihilator 2.
This is the only GeForce 2 based card with which I have any direct experience, but based on the research I did before I bought an Annihilator 2, I think it’s the best way to go if you want a GeForce 2 GTS. The main advantage is that it’s the cheapest way to go if you want a GeForce 2 GTS. The reason it’s so cheap compared to the other GeForce 2 cards is that Creative didn’t bother including any extras. Most of the competing products are more expensive because of a software bundle and/or a big, powerful heatsink/fan. The Annihilator 2, on the other hand, is just the nVidia reference board for the GeForce 2 GTS, made with very high quality parts. I certainly don’t miss the software bundle, and the GeForce 2 GTS really doesn’t produce very much heat compared to the original GeForce or the TNT2 Ultra, so a powerful heatsink/fan really isn’t necessary. If I were shopping for a GeForce 2 card now, the only other one I would even consider would be the version of the Hercules 3D Prophet II that has 64 MB of DDR RAM. Of course, all that extra video RAM is expensive, and I’ve been getting wonderful results with the 32 MB of DDR RAM on this board, so I still think that the Annihilator 2 is the way to go.
My one complaint with this card is the same complaint I have about my Creative Soundblaster Live! Value – the hardware is great, but the software is terrible. At the time I got the card, Creative had a version of the Annihilator 2 drivers and Blaster Control software for Windows 2000 that were current with nVidia’s latest reference drivers. I installed them, foolishly thinking that I was better off with drivers and software provided by the card’s manufacturer. Although my 3D performance was quite good, I had very odd problems in 2D applications. The worst was that when I was poking around on the net in Internet Explorer, if I made the mistake of moving my mouse across any text in the browser, my screen got all jittery, with entire rows of pixels skewing off to the left or right at arbitrary intervals. It did similar (but much stranger) things when I had to open a document in Adobe Acrobat Reader. I had to turn down the ‘hardware acceleration’ slider in the control panel’s Display applet to fix it. I found it rather disconcerting that I had to turn down the acceleration on a brand new, $265 video card before I could use Internet Explorer. I have since uninstalled Creative’s drivers and their Blaster Control software and started using nVidia’s latest Detonator 2 drivers and everything’s been just fine since then. If you have an Annihilator 2, I highly recommend getting the latest reference drivers from www.nvidia.com.
All in all, this is a very solid card. It’s not exactly cheap at $265, but it’s a bargain compared to the other GeForce 2 GTS cards on the market, and you really won’t be missing anything important by going with the least expensive option. If you’ve got some money to spend and you’re looking for an upgrade, grab an Annihilator 2, install the nVidia reference drivers, crank up the resolution and detail settings in your favorite 3D accelerated game, and enjoy the show.
Update (8/16/00): I just want to add that having switched to a new version of nVidia's detonator drivers for Windows 2000, I can now play all of my games at 1280x960x32. Unreal Tournament gets noticable framerate drops every now and then if there's too much happening on-screen, but for the most part it's very smooth. This confirms my existing suspicion that the Annihilator 2 is a very good card, but more than anything, it shows how much of a difference a new batch of drivers can make.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Pavlovs_Fish
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Location: Herndon, VA
Reviews written: 15
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
Technology addict, movie buff, and above all, a gamer.
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