Creative 3D Blaster GeForce 2 MX (3/10)

Now it's time for the obligatory tour of my testbed system. There has been a slight change since my last test, however. Besides having flashed my ASUS CUSL2's bios to a newer version, I also exchanged the 128MB PC-133 CL3 module for two 128MB PC-133 CL2 modules. I felt that with memory prices as low as they are, this is probably closer to what a standard gamer's setup would be. CL2 makes a big difference to system performance. Instead of the usual 133fps in Quake3 at 800x600-16, the system now reaches 141fps with a GF2 GTS.

Pentium III System:

The system is built around ASUS' CUSL2 mainboard , which uses Intel's i815 chipset. It runs an Intel Pentium III 866E (6,5x133) and is equipped with 256MB PC-133 CL2 RAM. Each card was tested on a fresh installation of Windows 98SE. There is no soundcard in this system.

Antec PP303X

The system is powered by the Antec PP303X, a reliable 300W PSU.

Driverversion used during testing

• Creative 3D Blaster GeForce 2 MX - Creative v6.34
• NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX - NVIDIA Referencedrivers v6.31
• NVIDIA GeForce 2 GTS - NVIDIA Referencedrivers v6.31

All tests were run under Windows 98SE with DirectX 7a installed. The cards tested for comparison are the ASUS AGP V-7100 (representing a standard GeForce 2 MX - 128bit SDRAM) and the Creative GeForce 2 GTS 32MB.

Copyright: 04.02.2001 -   RIVA Station 2001 - Lars Weinand
No Copy without Permission!

Translation by Benjamin Kraft

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