The Annihilator2 is the first board built around nVidia's GeForce 2 Ultra chipset, a modest upgrade of the GeForce 2 GTS delivering stunning performance improvements for a few key reasons. First, nVidia boosted the chip's clock speed from 200MHz to 250MHz.
Second, nVidia designed in 4 ns DDR memory (as opposed to 6 ns on GeForce 2 GTS boards), enabling a boost in memory clock speed from 333MHz to 460MHz, dramatically increasing pixel throughput. The obvious downside of faster memory is higher cost, so expect 64MB boards from soon-to-be-competitors Hercules and Elsa also to cost around AU$1,000.
Combined with nVidia's new Detonator 3 drivers, the Annihilator2 Ultra hardware produced outstanding benchmarks across the board. For example, in 1,024 x 768 32-bit Winbench tests, the board scored 143, compared to a previous best of 102 for the ATI Radeon. In the same configuration playing Quake III, Annihilator2 Ultra pushed 98.5 frames per second, compared to 76.3 fps for the Radeon. Both scores were far ahead of the 3dfx Voodoo5 5500, as well.
The board itself is unremarkable, lacking niceties like video inputs or NTSC output to view your games on TV. However, there are software controls allowing extensive tweaking of Open GL and Direct 3D controls like filtering and anti-aliasing to achieve the optimum speed/quality tradeoff.
Despite the nonpareil performance and cushy software ride, consider several items before pulling out your credit card. First, recognise that the Annihilator2 Ultra works best in a high-performance setting -- if you don't have a Pentium III or Athlon at 500 MHz or above, and a 20in or larger monitor capable of 1600 x 1200 resolution for game play, noticeable speed improvements may be less than expected.
For example, in Descent III, 1024 x 768 x 16-bit benchmarks, the GeForce 2 Ultra's scores were consistent with its peers, indicating that game speed was limited by our 800MHz Pentium III testbed, not the 3D graphics card. Similarly, don't expect noticeable improvements in non-3D applications, as WinMark 99 scores were unremarkable.
The most serious concern, however, is that nVidia has pursued an aggressive and very public 6-month chip-release schedule, and it's clear that the GeForce2 Ultra, basically a faster version of the GeForce2, is not a major release. Most analysts expect their next chip, dubbed the NV20, by early 2001, anticipating speed similar to or faster than the GeForce2 Ultra and new hardware support for Microsoft's DirectX 8, like the vertex skinning found in ATI's Radeon.
3D Blaster GeForce 2 Ultra 64MB
Company: Creative Labs
Ph: 02 9666 6100; Fax: 02 9666 6900
Price: AU$999.
Rating: 4 Star
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