Theresa Pulido    Karen Gordon
Creative Labs     Copithorne & Bellows

Announced today are three Graphics Blaster models: the high-end MA302, the powerful MA202 and the high-value MA201 at the estimated street prices of US$199, US$149 and US$99 respectively. Expected to be available in late May, all three Graphics Blaster models feature high-performance 64-bit accelerator technology from Cirrus Logic, the world's leading provider of graphics accelerator chips.

The top-of-the-line Graphics Blaster MA302 uses the Cirrus Logic GD5462 Laguna Media Accelerator and is the first consumer graphics accelerator to use RAMBUS™ memory, the type of high performance memory architecture currently used on workstations and other specialty devices. The RAMBUS memory provides a screaming 500 megabytes per second of bandwidth - more than 25% faster than VRAM - which allows simultaneous smooth playback of up to three video windows.

The Graphics Blaster MA202, a 2MB EDO DRAM board, and the Graphics Blaster MA201, an upgradeable 1MB EDO DRAM board, both use the GD5446 Alpine Graphics Accelerator.

All Graphics Blasters provide critical hardware video playback functions like scaling, color space conversion, thus allowing Graphics Blaster to deliver superior quality full-screen playback without dropping frames. Also included is CompCore's SoftPEG software MPEG (Motion Pictures Expert Group) video and audio decoding drivers for Windows 95 and Windows 3.1, allowing software-based MPEG playback of up to 30 frames per second - full-motion video.

"The graphics accelerator market is one of the largest segments of the upgrade market," said Tim Bajarin, president of industry research firm, Creative Strategies. "Creative's history of success in the retail channel, coupled with the strong recognition of their Sound Blaster brand, provides consumers and retailers with the confidence and reliability that is necessary for success in this competitive market."

"Creative's continued vision is to bring emerging multimedia capabilities and advanced technologies to PC customers at affordable prices," said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and chief executive officer of Creative Technology Ltd. "With Graphics Blaster, customers can break the envelope for speed at an aggressively low price. No other company has been able to deliver such impressive performance at an equally amazing price - Creative, a well-trusted brand name, is taking the graphics industry by storm."

Creative's extensive software support includes drivers for Windows 95, Windows NT, Windows 3.1, and OS/2 Warp. The Windows 95 drivers also support Microsoft's DirectX and ActiveMovie APIs for compatibility with upcoming multimedia titles for use in entertainment, education, training and business applications. All Graphics Blaster models are 100 percent Plug-and-Play compatible, easy to install and use -- especially under Windows 95 and upcoming versions of Windows NT.

All three Graphics Blaster models incorporate Creative's Blaster Control Panel. The Blaster Control Panel is a fully integrated suite of utilities designed to enhance and control all aspects of the user's Windows desktop including graphics mode switching on the fly, resolution, color depth, screen size and position, and other critical features.

Creative Technology, Ltd., is the world's leading provider of advanced multimedia solutions for personal computers, including sound, graphics, communications and video conferencing products. The company's Sound Blaster® technology has been accepted as the worldwide standard sound platform for PCs, and the company's global distribution network is the most extensive in the multimedia industry. Creative is focused on enhancing the overall user experience by providing powerful, enabling, high-value technology for the mass market.

Sound Blaster is a registered trademark and Blaster and Graphics Blaster are trademarks of Creative Technology Ltd. All other Products mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby recognized as such.