I would like to know. Can anyone tell me about memory band witdh? I a looking at Nvidia MX420 and MX440se. 420 has 2.7gb/sec as opposed to 440's 5.3. Is this a big difference or will I not notice the difference? 420 has TV out, What benifit is this. Can I watch DVDs from my CPU? The 440 has two video ports. What can I do with these? Hook up two monitors. Is there a way to split a single port? and I assume It doesn't have DDR. Is DDR that big of a deal especially since my MB doesn't have it? I am looking at nvidia over ati because of lifetime warranty of course ati is a little chaeper and I could purchase a warranty. Any suggestions? Keeping in mind o a $100.00 or less. I have a 266mhz but will upgrade soon and take new card with me.
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which graphics card?
- Thread starter mmosier
- Start date
Wow, Lot's of questions here.
More bandwidth is always better. You can't always go for what's the fastest though, sometimes you have to figure out what's best based on it's features. (Sometimes fastest is best though)
TV out will allow you to connect your computer to a Television. So yes you can watch DVD's through your computer on your home entertainment system.
The Two video ports will allow you to manage two monitors on your computer. You can set them up in a variety of ways, including spanning your desktop across the two of them. And no, I don't believe you can split a single port.
DDR is fast. So yes it will improve your system even if your motherboard doesn't support it, at least when it's on your video card. DDR allows memory to be allocated (or written) and read at the same time.
---------------------------
My suggestion would be to fork over a little bit more cash and pick up a TI model GForce card. The MX series is to GForce what Celeron is to Intel, or Duron to AMD. It's the cheapy "this will do for now" card.
Otherwise, the Duel monitor feature is nice but not really necessary for most. It's handy for developers or graphics designers.
I've always liked the TV/Out feature, it's fun to show off graphics to family and friends on your big screen. You can also set it up to play games that way. But nothing really beats playing on a good quality screen like the Trinitron and it's cometitors.
DDR is a must for Video cards.
Hope this helps. Scarecrow
More bandwidth is always better. You can't always go for what's the fastest though, sometimes you have to figure out what's best based on it's features. (Sometimes fastest is best though)
TV out will allow you to connect your computer to a Television. So yes you can watch DVD's through your computer on your home entertainment system.
The Two video ports will allow you to manage two monitors on your computer. You can set them up in a variety of ways, including spanning your desktop across the two of them. And no, I don't believe you can split a single port.
DDR is fast. So yes it will improve your system even if your motherboard doesn't support it, at least when it's on your video card. DDR allows memory to be allocated (or written) and read at the same time.
---------------------------
My suggestion would be to fork over a little bit more cash and pick up a TI model GForce card. The MX series is to GForce what Celeron is to Intel, or Duron to AMD. It's the cheapy "this will do for now" card.
Otherwise, the Duel monitor feature is nice but not really necessary for most. It's handy for developers or graphics designers.
I've always liked the TV/Out feature, it's fun to show off graphics to family and friends on your big screen. You can also set it up to play games that way. But nothing really beats playing on a good quality screen like the Trinitron and it's cometitors.
DDR is a must for Video cards.
Hope this helps. Scarecrow
- Thread starter
- #3
SKARK166
Thanks do much, a lot of help. Ti I do Here is better but I don't think I can afford it unless you know of a repatable dealer.
New questions...
I heard I can get an adapter to go from video port to TV, PRO and CONS, any body heard of this?.
I also heard that Nvidia chips like 420 is something like a 440 that didn't inspection. Anyone heard of this?
Thanks do much, a lot of help. Ti I do Here is better but I don't think I can afford it unless you know of a repatable dealer.
New questions...
I heard I can get an adapter to go from video port to TV, PRO and CONS, any body heard of this?.
I also heard that Nvidia chips like 420 is something like a 440 that didn't inspection. Anyone heard of this?
a pc-to-tv adapter is what you are thinking of there...
for the money just spend the extra on a good geforce with tv out if you want the vt out option. the stand alones are ok but still not as good as the integrated ones, and most video card manufacturers incorporate the tv-out feature in at least one of their line of cards these days knoweldge is power, spread the power
for the money just spend the extra on a good geforce with tv out if you want the vt out option. the stand alones are ok but still not as good as the integrated ones, and most video card manufacturers incorporate the tv-out feature in at least one of their line of cards these days knoweldge is power, spread the power
I wouldn't be to confident that either of these two cards will work on an old P2 266.
The GF4 MX440 is far quicker than the 420, and only a few dollars more, sure the Ti range is prefered but the 440 is going to play everything you through at it for now and at a very reasonable price.
The Radeon 9000 is slightly quicker still and has extra features that will take full advantage of the latest games.
I think the Radeon is probably the best card in your price bracket, might be a few dollars over but well worth the extra. Martin Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.
The GF4 MX440 is far quicker than the 420, and only a few dollars more, sure the Ti range is prefered but the 440 is going to play everything you through at it for now and at a very reasonable price.
The Radeon 9000 is slightly quicker still and has extra features that will take full advantage of the latest games.
I think the Radeon is probably the best card in your price bracket, might be a few dollars over but well worth the extra. Martin Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.
- Thread starter
- #6
Oh yes!! All the GF3 range including the entry level Ti200 out perform even the fastest of the GF4 MX range the MX460.
People don't realize but the GF4 MX range are budget cut down chip versions, you will have to go GF4 Ti4200 to out perform a GF3. Just visit Mad Onions 3Dbenchmark website to see for yourself. Martin Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.
People don't realize but the GF4 MX range are budget cut down chip versions, you will have to go GF4 Ti4200 to out perform a GF3. Just visit Mad Onions 3Dbenchmark website to see for yourself. Martin Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.
The GeForce4 MX cards are incredibly weak for their "GeForce4" label, all GF3's will outperform GF4 MX's, as well as GF2 GTS's will outperform them, seriously
If you're really looking to use tv-out features, then I would suggest an ATI video card as they work much much nicer in that respect. ATI OEM cards are cheaper and offer a lot of features not found on the low model ATI cards. I've been getting the cheapo Radeon 7000 cards made by and they've been great for just ~$40. You can grab their Radeon 8500 for well under $100 too w/ both rca video out and S-Video out.
If you're really looking to use tv-out features, then I would suggest an ATI video card as they work much much nicer in that respect. ATI OEM cards are cheaper and offer a lot of features not found on the low model ATI cards. I've been getting the cheapo Radeon 7000 cards made by and they've been great for just ~$40. You can grab their Radeon 8500 for well under $100 too w/ both rca video out and S-Video out.
dakota81,
I wouldn't go as far as to say a GF2 GTS was quicker, I actually went GF2 GTS to GF4 MX440 on my daughters machine and although the increase isn't substantial, the GF4 MX440 is about 10-15% quicker (don't believe me see Mad Onions 3D Benchmark figures for average benchmark scores) the GF4 MX440 does have it by a slender margin.
The ATI 8500 Radeon at around $100 is definately a snip, this card pipped the GF3 Ti500 as top dog only 18months ago? or so.
Martin
Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.
I wouldn't go as far as to say a GF2 GTS was quicker, I actually went GF2 GTS to GF4 MX440 on my daughters machine and although the increase isn't substantial, the GF4 MX440 is about 10-15% quicker (don't believe me see Mad Onions 3D Benchmark figures for average benchmark scores) the GF4 MX440 does have it by a slender margin.
The ATI 8500 Radeon at around $100 is definately a snip, this card pipped the GF3 Ti500 as top dog only 18months ago? or so.
Martin
Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.
...get an Asus V-8460 which is a GeForceTi4600 with 128Megs of Samsung DDR RAM...this one is the Ultra,the Deluxe has extra like 3D glsses but they ain't all that hot!I wouldn't buy an MX card if you paid me dude...they are not worth your money or time! No offence to you dude,but...if you buy cheap you get cheap!I go with the best and nothing less! ...intergrated mobos is a concept the pc industry should take a look at...I forgot?!...leave us 1 AGP and 3 PCI slots just in case we get screwed!
Down4Life,
You need to evaluate the context in which you suggest getting the best or "top-of-the-line". Sure, the elite gamer couldn't live without a GF4 ti4600 or ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. But what about the typical office user? Don't you think either card is a bit overkill for running a word processor and powerpoint slide? After all, this is a professional forum and not targeted for gamers.
Back to the original topic...
I would have to agree that the Geforce4 MX's name is a bit misleading. Nvidia really tried to pull a fast one with the naming scheme. These cards are really just "suped up" GeForce2 GTS cards with extra bandwidth. GeForce3 Ti's are far more advanced in 3D rendering, hence the better benchmarks.
mmosier,
It really depends on how soon you plan on upgrading your pc. A 266MHz pc isn't gonna care if you have a GeForce3 Ti or a GeForce2 GTS. The bottleneck in both cases will be the CPU/Motherboard/RAM/Frontside Bus. There's no point in buying ahead in today's technology, because prices are constantly dropping. If the upgrade isn't gonna happen within the next 4-6 months, then it would be better for you to spend $40-50 on a GeForce4 MX and wait to get a better card when you upgrade. By then, they would have dropped in price anyway, and you can decide if you want to save up and get the best card available...
Just my 2¢ ~cdogg
"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein
You need to evaluate the context in which you suggest getting the best or "top-of-the-line". Sure, the elite gamer couldn't live without a GF4 ti4600 or ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. But what about the typical office user? Don't you think either card is a bit overkill for running a word processor and powerpoint slide? After all, this is a professional forum and not targeted for gamers.
Back to the original topic...
I would have to agree that the Geforce4 MX's name is a bit misleading. Nvidia really tried to pull a fast one with the naming scheme. These cards are really just "suped up" GeForce2 GTS cards with extra bandwidth. GeForce3 Ti's are far more advanced in 3D rendering, hence the better benchmarks.
mmosier,
It really depends on how soon you plan on upgrading your pc. A 266MHz pc isn't gonna care if you have a GeForce3 Ti or a GeForce2 GTS. The bottleneck in both cases will be the CPU/Motherboard/RAM/Frontside Bus. There's no point in buying ahead in today's technology, because prices are constantly dropping. If the upgrade isn't gonna happen within the next 4-6 months, then it would be better for you to spend $40-50 on a GeForce4 MX and wait to get a better card when you upgrade. By then, they would have dropped in price anyway, and you can decide if you want to save up and get the best card available...
Just my 2¢ ~cdogg
"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein
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