Vid Card Question

[Hoss54]

I have a GeForce 2 MX 400 64MB vid card. Are these good? And will it work on an Abit KG7 mobo?

[Imperion1]

Its a decent vid card. It will work with the KG7, just use the detonator drivers. Not the driver that comes on the driver cd.
You can go to either www.nvidia.com or www.guru3d.com

[uncle_jimbo]

they aren really that good anymore, for me more of just a waste of money considering 2 months later i upgraded to a geforce4 mx420 i saw huge performance increases with the geforce4.

[cheapster]

I agree with Imperion 1. While there are many more potent cards available, the Geforce 2 MX (original and MX 400) are decent cards which work just fine for most applications and are okay for light 3D gaming purposes. That being said, there are many other video cards available that will outperform the MX cards and many are right around the same price. just depends on what you want to do with your system and how much you want to spend.
Chuck

[JeffD]

Hey uncle_jimbo,

Depends on what you're looking for......

As Imperion1 and cheapster said very well......the GF2 MX400 will run most games out there are reasonable resolutions and at playable framerates for the AVERAGE gamer. Of course there is always something better out there around the corner and if you're a hardcore benchmarking maniac or in love with the highest fps possible then a GF2 MX400 will not cut it. Even in your case a GF4 MX420 is really not that much of an upgrade over a GF2 MX400...especially since a GF3 performs much better than the GF4 MX420....just check out all the reviews for the cards and see for yourself. A GF3 Ti or GF4 Ti would have been a much better bang for for buck.

Regards,

JeffD

[*TeKKeD*]

some reviews are JUNK!!! just plain and simple BS!!! me and my friend build two system for our uncles computer shop!! a amd xp 2100+ and a P4 2.2 gig all with 256 megs of SDRAM yes SDRAM and there was no i repeat NO Difference in performance when we swtiched to RAMBUS which is soo stupid since it cost more and no real performance hit from the change!!! so JeffD dont belive what you read just what you have actually achived urself, i mean i was able to achive a 3112 score with an mx400 card at 1024x768x32 and it plays all games exellent i dont know why so many are whinnying about them not being good!! if your card can handle rtcw, quake 3 arena, and max payn fine!!! it's all you need there aren't any better games to strees your system more than these!!!


-AlBERT

(note, personall test may very from user to user) -

[BobyJo]

TekkeD::You don't seem to remember that the MX line in the GF4's are all driven by the GF2 GPU. nVidia evidently has a lot of GF2 componenats in thier warehouse and this is an excellent manor of clearing out this inventory.
They just add some features to the card and still use the GF2 GPU and achieve good results. If you really want a good nVidia card you will have to go with the GF3Ti200 or the GF4Ti4400 or GF4Ti4200. The 4400 is available now, the 4200 will be available within 60 days.

Or you can go the Radeon 8500 line and be the same in performance. If you want to compare apples to apples compare the Radeon 8500 275/275 against the GF4Ti4400. The 4200 against the Radeon 250/250, compare the GF4Ti4600 against the Radeon R250 (the r250 will be available in about 30 days).

The beautiful thing about Radeon vid cards is the drivers. Any Radeon driver will work with any Radeon vid card. Just get the latest driver for your OS and install on any system you have using any of the Radeon cards. R8500,R7500,R7200,R7000 all will get the same performance enhancements as the next. The new R250 will only accept the latest drivers XP 6052's are designed for the R250 and is backward compatable.

[JeffD]

Hi *TeKKeD*,

Actually, I do not take all reviews for gospel.

Also, if you go back and read my post a little closer you would see that your post confirms what I wrote.....i.e. that:

-- A lower end video card such as a GFMX, Radeon, heck....even a Voodoo 5500, Kyro, etc. can play 95% of the games out there well enough for the AVERAGE gamer. I'm talking 800x600 to 1024x768 and NOT 200fps but getting something playable...say 30-60fps.

-- For a benchmarking fanatic or a frames per second addict the above cards will not cut it. Case in point those folks would laugh at the 3112 score you got when something more like 9000 points would start raising an eyebrow.

-- Does one need all that speed? Well, it depends....for someone runnning at 1600x1200 w/FSAA and all the eye candy turned on then yes. In fact, try that with your MX400 and sit back and enjoy the slide show....even on the beastly systems you built. Does one need to run at those resolutions? Not really but many of these folks also have fine monitors that can handle those resolutions so why not (21"-24" Sonys, Mitsubishis, etc.).

A few final points:

--If you would have read the PROPER reviews you would have realized that changing from sdram to rambus would not have made any differences to the average computer user or one who is not bigtime into benchmarking.......I think of rambus this way......what good is a 8 lane highway over a 4 lane highway if at rush hour there is no difference between the two (i.e. no slowdown)???

--I'm glad you're getting into building computers. FYI the first one I built was a XT in the year....well....folks in the know will figure that that one out. Since then I've built hundreds of systems... AMD, Intel, Cyrix (in the good old days). At home I currently have 3 computer systems running with another one being built. My current stable of video cards includes Nvidia, ATI, 3dfx and I just retired an old friend (Matrox G400). That G400 in my kids system ran great and for their needs did everything it was asked to do. In fact, I think I could effectively argue that for basic computing and gaming, a G400 or Voodoo 3500 paired up with a decent processor and enough memory would be able to play 80% of the games out there today.....not bad for nearly 3 year old technology!!

Regards,

JeffD

[uncle_jimbo]

Originally posted by JeffD
Hey uncle_jimbo,

Depends on what you're looking for......

As Imperion1 and cheapster said very well......the GF2 MX400 will run most games out there are reasonable resolutions and at playable framerates for the AVERAGE gamer.Regards,

JeffD

Now, it just really doesnt make any sense to buy a GeForce2 MX400 when for $30 more you could buy a GeForce4 MX440 for $100.

[uncle_jimbo]

Originally posted by JeffD



-- Does one need all that speed?

Regards,

JeffD

Its getting to the point now where you do need the speed, sure MOST games will run OK, but if you want a card to last you over 6 months, you need to spend a little money, because in 6 months a GF2 will probably not play new games very well at all.

[JeffD]

Guess who uncle_jimbo?

I beg to disagree with you.....why?

You DID NOT READ Hoss54's original post. He ALREADY HAS A GF2MX400 so I was commenting on gaming with that card.....not an upgrade option.

As you can see your suggestion can now be an expensive option for someone who is either does not have unlimited funds or is not in the position to upgrade at this time. Consequently, your $30 difference becomes a $100 upgrade. So I was commenting on the fact that for AVERAGE gaming needs the card can still be OK.

To your other post on speed.........

Your suggestion of a card lasting 6 months assumes Hoss54 or others in this situation are going out and buying the latest/greatest games as soon as they hit the shelves. Sure, a GF2 may start to show its age......but we're talking people who are NOT AVERAGE gamers. These folks are more hardcore and their needs are MUCH GREATER than the average computer user/gamer. Generally these people aren't messing around with cost-cutter hardware. Also, you're making another error in your logic that ALL GAMERS are buying the latest/greatest first person shooter type games.......which generally stress a system/video card to much greater degree than others like strategy, role playing, flight sims (if you have some knowledge of this area the cpu generally means more to performance than the video card and.....the video card of choice for most flight simmers is a Voodoo 5500 for its superior FSAA), other sims (like The Sims...one of the most popular games available today), etc.

Regards,

JeffD

[uncle_jimbo]

Originally posted by JeffD
Guess who uncle_jimbo?

I beg to disagree with you.....why?

You DID NOT READ Hoss54's original post. He ALREADY HAS A GF2MX400 so I was commenting on gaming with that card.....not an upgrade option.

As you can see your suggestion can now be an expensive option for someone who is either does not have unlimited funds or is not in the position to upgrade at this time. Consequently, your $30 difference becomes a $100 upgrade. So I was commenting on the fact that for AVERAGE gaming needs the card can still be OK.

To your other post on speed.........

Your suggestion of a card lasting 6 months assumes Hoss54 or others in this situation are going out and buying the latest/greatest games as soon as they hit the shelves. Sure, a GF2 may start to show its age......but we're talking people who are NOT AVERAGE gamers. These folks are more hardcore and their needs are MUCH GREATER than the average computer user/gamer. Generally these people aren't messing around with cost-cutter hardware. Also, you're making another error in your logic that ALL GAMERS are buying the latest/greatest first person shooter type games.......which generally stress a system/video card to much greater degree than others like strategy, role playing, flight sims (if you have some knowledge of this area the cpu generally means more to performance than the video card and.....the video card of choice for most flight simmers is a Voodoo 5500 for its superior FSAA), other sims (like The Sims...one of the most popular games available today), etc.

Regards,

JeffD

I AM OUTRAGED, MUST YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT EVERYONES POSTS, AND ALSO STOP INSISTING THAT YOUR ALWAYS RIGHT, IF SOMEONES POSTS ARE SLIGHTLY OFF TOPIC, YOU HAVE TO POINT IT OUT AND CORRECT THEM IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE, JUST STOP.

[Imperion1]

jimbo, do not type in caps that is considered yelling.
You are the one that appears to be getting aggrevated. Remember everyone has their opinions. And JeffD was just explaining his.

This thread is now closed. Since no one can play nice.