We are pleased to present our review of the 3D Blaster 5 FX5900 Ultra from Creative Labs. The 3D Blaster 5 FX5900 Ultra is Creative's top performing graphics card and is based on NVIDIA's NV35 graphics processing unit (GPU). A few years ago, I owned a Creative 32MB GeForce2 GTS, which was marketed under the Annihilator 2 brand name. At that time major computer retailers acress the United States carried the Annihilator brand. But today, the 3D Blaster product line is limited to the European market.

Creative 3D Blaster 5 FX5900 Ultra

This being my first review, I concentrated on what the 3D Blaster 5 FX5900 Ultra can provide those of you considering an upgrade to a top of the line graphics card. Graphics products at the high-end of the GeForce FX spectrum have become increasingly expensive and are a major expense for most of us. The price of the 3D Blaster 5 FX5900 Ultra alone could provide the funds to upgrade many of the components in my system. However, the 3D Blaster 5 FX5900 Ultra is competitively priced and is among the least expensive brands of the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra in Europe.

The 3D Blaster 5 FX5900 Ultra is the showcase product in Creative's 3D Blaster family as it leverages the maximum potential of NVIDIA's GeForce FX platform. Based on the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra, the 0.13-micron GPU operates at a frequency of 450MHz and is matched with 256MB of DDR memory running at effective speed of 850MHz that communicates over a 256-bit memory bus. The 3D Blaster 5 FX 5900 Ultra utilizes the AGP 8X interface and features NVIDIA's CineFX 2.0 engine.

• 256MB DDR Memory
• 256-Bit Graphics Core
• 256-Bit Memory Interface
• 27.2 GB/sec. Memory Bandwidth
• 3.6 Billion Texels/sec. Fill Rate
• 338 Million Vertices/sec.
• 850MHz Memory Data Rate
• 400MHz RAMDACs

• 450MHz Core Frequency
• NVIDIA CineFX 2.0 Engine
• NVIDIA nView Multi-Display Technology
• Intellisample HCT (High Compression Technology)
• UltraShadow Technology
• Supports AGP 8X, 4X, And 2X
• NVIDIA Digital Vibrance Control 3.0
• Supports Microsoft DirectX 9.0
• 128-Bit Precision Color
• Integrated TV Encoder
• Hardware MPEG-2 Support
• 64-Phase Video Scaler

• 8-Pixels Per Clock (4x2 Configuration)
• 128-Bit Floating Point Precision Graphics Pipeline
• 128-Bit Floating Point, 64-Bit Floating Point, and 32-Bit Integer Rendering Modes
• Up to 16 Textures Per Pixel

• 2 Year Limited Hardware Warranty

The following is a list of my system specifications along with the games tested.

• AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton @ 2.2GHz
• Soltek SL-75-FRN2-L nForce2 Motherboard With DualDDR Memory
• TwinMos PC3200 DDR SDRAM - (2) 256MB DIMMs - 512MB Total in Dual Channel
• Western Digital WD800JB(SE) 80GB 7200RPM ATA-133 Hard Disk Drive
• 3D Blaster 5 FX 5900 Ultra - 256MB @ 450MHz/850MHz and 515MHz/950MHz (where specifically stated)
• NVIDIA Detonator 2000/XP WHQL Driver Version 45.23
• Quality Image Setting / 32-Bit Color / Vsync Disabled / 85Hz Refresh Rate @ 1024x768
• Windows 2000 Professional with Service Pack 2 / DirectX 9.0b

• Expert System Performance
• 200MHz Front Side Bus
• Memory Timing 7-2-2
• CAS Latency 2.0

• Battlefield 1942 - v1.31
• Unreal Tournament 2003 - v2225

• Neverwinter Nights (Demo)
• The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind - v.1.5.0.1629

• Gameplay tests were conducted with sound enabled.