TNT2 Ultra Common Features

Since all the cards are based on the same nVidia Riva Ultra TNT2 processor wi6th 32MB of RAM, they do have a lot of common features. I’ll go through them now so that I won’t have to keep repeating them in each individual product review, and saving you the bother of reading the same thing five times.

To begin with, the TNT2 Ultra features a 128-bit TwiN Texel engine, offering single cycle multi-texturing on the TNT2 cards. The TNT2 chipset offers (or rather, is infamous for) 32-bit true color rendering. It also includes a 32-bit Z/stencil buffer and has a maximum 3D resolution of up to 1920x1440. The maximum texture support of the TNT2 Ultra cards are up to 2048x2048 pixels. These cards also offer bump mapping (not 100% hardware), anisotropic filtering, and full screen super sampled anti-aliasing. The chips also support the AGP 4x standard. However, one card in this roundup is a AGP 2x unit and I’ll point it out when we get to the relevant individual review.

TNT2 Ultra cards also offer a 300 MHz RAMDAC for improved image quality and higher refresh rates. The maximum 2D resolution is 2048x1536. As for video, the TNT cards support motion compensation with multi-tap X & Y scaling and filtering and color space conversion.

The maximum fill rate of the cards with 150/183MHz clock settings are 300 million pixels/sec with a maximum triangle output of 7 million/sec. In contrast, the cards with a 175/200MHz clock speeds feature a maximum fill rate of 350 million pixels/sec with a maximum triangle output of 9 million/sec.

OK, that basically covers the common features of the various TNT2 Ultra cards. Now, on with the reviews.