Creative Labs Graphics Blaster EXXTREME
by Anand Lal Shimpi on December 22, 1997 8:29 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Test Configuration
| Processor(s): | Intel Pentium II
300 (512KB ECC) Intel Pentium MMX - 233 AMD K6/233 Cyrix 6x86MX-PR2/200+ |
| Motherboard: | AOpen AX6L LX
Based Pentium II Motherboard FIC PA-2012 VP3 Based Socket-7 Motherboard |
| RAM: | 1 x 64MB Corsair SDRAM DIMM (w/ SPD) |
| Hard Drive(s): | Western Digital Caviar AC21600H |
| Video Card(s): | Creative Labs Graphics Blaster EXXTREME (4MB SGRAM) |
| WinBench 98 Direct Draw Results in Million Pixels/Sec | |
| Test | Creative Labs Graphics Blaster EXXTREME (PCI) |
| DirectDraw/Animate Screen Size, 640 x 480 | 100 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Screen Size, 800 x 600 | 98 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Screen Size, 1024 x 768 | 102 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Screen Size, 1152 x 864 | No Result |
| DirectDraw/Animate Screen Size, 1280 x 1024 | 99.9 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Screen Size, 1600 x 1200 | 101 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Color Depth, 8 bit | 100 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Color Depth, 16 bit | 80.4 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Color Depth, 24 bit | No Result |
| DirectDraw/Animate Color Depth, 32 bit | 48.1 |
| DirectDraw/Animate BltFast | 100 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Blt | 100 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Solid | 139 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Transparent | 76.4 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Full Screen | 77.6 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Windowed | 58.1 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Clipped | 60.8 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Memory, Source in video, Work area in video | 100 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Memory, Source in system, Work area in video | 70.3 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Memory, Source in video, Work area in system | 79.1 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Memory, Source in system, Work area in system | 76.6 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Blt size, 256 pixels | 33.4 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Blt size, 1024 pixels | 91.3 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Blt size, 4096 pixels | 99.3 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Stretch, Solid, 2.0x, 8 bit | 78.2 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Stretch, Solid, 1.7x, 8 bit | 77.6 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Stretch, Solid, Transparent, 1.7x, 8 bit | 78 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Stretch, Solid, 1.7x, 16 bit | 71.1 |
| DirectDraw/Animate Stretch, Solid, 1.7x, 24 bit | No Result |
| DirectDraw/Animate Stretch, Solid, 1.7x, 32 bit | 48 |
| DirectDraw/Fill Color Depth, 8 bit color | 1050 |
| DirectDraw/Fill Color Depth, 16 bit color | 873 |
| DirectDraw/Fill Color Depth, 24 bit color | No Result |
| DirectDraw/Fill Color Depth, 32 bit color | 341 |
The Riva 128 chipset still holds its ground in most of the DirectDraw performance tests, excluding the DirectDraw/Animate tests in which the Permedia 2 chipset from 3DLabs truly excels. Memory intensive tasks also perform quite well on the Graphics Blaster EXXTREME due to its 83MHz clocked SGRAM.
| WinBench 98 Graphics Winmark Results | ||
| Video Card | Creative Labs Graphics Blaster EXXTREME (PCI) | |
| Resolution | Business Graphics Winmark 98 | High End Graphics Winmark 98 |
| 800 x 600 x 8 bit Color (256 Colors) | 147 | No Result |
| 800 x 600 x 16 bit Color (65K Colors) | 139 | No Result |
| 800 x 600 x 24 bit Color (16.7M Colors) | Not Supported | Not Supported |
| 800 x 600 x 32 bit Color (4B Colors) | 114 | No Result |
| 1024 x 768 x 8 bit Color (256 Colors) | 144 | 173 |
| 1024 x 768 x 16 bit Color (65K Colors) | 133 | 164 |
| 1024 x 768 x 24 bit Color (16.7M Colors) | Not Supported | Not Supported |
2D performance of the Permedia 2 chipset used in the Graphics Blaster EXXTREME? Not too bad at all, considering this card is aimed mostly at competing with 3D only solutions
| Winstone 97 Results | ||
| Video Card | Graphics Blaster EXXTREME (PCI) | |
| Processor | Business Winstone 97 | High End Winstone 97 |
| Intel Pentium II - 300 | 66.8 | 30.8 |
| Intel Pentium MMX - 233 | 49.9 | 21.0 |
| AMD K6/233 | 54.0 | 22.0 |
| Cyrix 6x86MX-PR2/200+ (166/66) | 53.0 | 20.4 |
Again we see the processor scalability of the Graphics Blaster EXXTREME...as the speed of the processor increases so does the performance of the Graphics Blaster EXXTREME. This is accented by its excellent 2D performance shown here by the Business and High End Winstone 97 scores.
| Supported 3D Features | |
| Feature | Graphics Blaster EXXTREME (PCI) |
| 3D Quality/Fog Vertex | Capable |
| 3D Quality/Fog Table | Capable |
| 3D Quality/Specular Highlights | Capable |
| 3D Quality/Color Key Transparency | Capable |
| 3D Quality/Alpha Transparency | Incapable |
| 3D Quality/Linear | Capable |
| 3D Quality/Mipmap Linear | Capable |
| 3D Quality/Dithering | Capable |
| 3D Quality/Perspective Correction | Capable |
| 3D Quality/Fog Vertex and Color Key | Capable |
| 3D Quality/Fog Vertex and Alpha | Capable |
| Accelerated Quake 2 Frame Rates | ||
| Processor | TIMEDEMO Frame Rate (higher is better) | |
| DEMO1 @ 640 x 480 | DEMO2 @ 640 x 480 | |
| Intel Pentium II - 300 | 13.0 fps | 12.0 fps |
| Intel Pentium MMX - 233 | Failed | Failed |
| AMD K6/233 | Failed | Failed |
| Cyrix 6x86MX-PR2/200 (166/66) | Failed | Failed |
Hopefully the next revision of Creative Labs' Graphics Blaster EXXTREME drivers will function properly with Socket-7 AGP systems and Quake 2...we'll just have to wait and see.
Approaching a level of image quality almost unheard of by the current level of 3D accelerators, the Permedia 2 based Graphics Blaster EXXTREME offers the user quality over quantity...in this case, quality over performance. With its DirectDraw performance lagging behind most Riva 128 accelerators, and its Quake "gaming" performance falling behind that of Voodoo accelerators you must make the final decision...quality, or performance?
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