for my first post (welcome me, wo0t!) i wanna address an issue.

i see you guys puttin' down the GF4MX.

well, you're wrong to do so. let me explain....

i was coming from both a Radeon 32mb DDR 'LE' and GF2 MX 32mb

one rig serves for mainly gaming,
while the other does extensive graphics work.
this was back a few months, but it serves for background.

so anyways... the GF3's had just become reasonably priced enuff for me to afford/justify...
so i got a GF3 Ti-450 Gainward 128Mb for the gaming rig.
now being that cost $160 or so it was still costly, and i still needed another card...
so being in 'cheap mode' i decided upon the GF4 MX440 from Chaintech.

ok so i did my nice clean installs... and began testing.
the first, majorly apparent thing was that the GF3 looked NO different from the GF2 on my desktop.

the GF4 MX looked amazing.
much better than ANY other card i've tried.
(bar the GF4 Ti's cuz i have'nt been able to buy one yet)

overall in comparison:
the GF2 gave me 3000 3dmarks,
the GF3 gives me 9000 3dmarks,
the GF4 MX440 gives me 6000 3dmarks
(all averaged #'s)

does this matter a whole lot? well, that depends.
if you're a gaming addict and the only care is to pay twice as much money to get the highest FPS possible and that's it, period.
then hell, the GF3 "was" the way to go.

but for visual quality the GF4 MX rivals all it's earlier siblings by a shedload. and it's performance is Not shabby either.

now all that said, the GF4 Ti4200 is the hot card for bang & buck right now. 128Mb is a must for very soon to come games like Doom3 and UT2k3.

However, the Ti-4200 is $150(64mb) $175(128mb)
whereas the GF4MX is around $80

so this is truly a case where those non-hardcore-gamers can, and will, find an EXCELLENT upgrade value in the MX line.

the card is not only much faster than the GF2,
it's a decent O/C'er, at a good price point, and despite all that...
it's main selling point for me is the amazing brilliance in 2D view.

and that's my take.

.:N2:.

{Overclockcorner's lead Idioso} :crazy:

N2:

Thanks for the input, some interesting observations you've made there.

I can't recall the criticism of this card on the Forum but it may be unjustified, eh?

From your experience it may be a card worth considering. However, as you pointed out, if you're looking forward to Doom III & UT2K3 a minimum of GF3 with 128MB is the way to go.

We always welcome constructive criticism here and to see a product get a thumbs-up, especially a 'budget' product, is encouraging.

I'm going to have to take a closer look at the GF4 from now on

I've tried a 420MX and it seemed a little faster than my GF2 GTS, but not by much. They are very well priced, but they are only about £30 less than a Ti4200 over here.

Is the visual clarity much better than the GF2/3? I'm one that likes clarity (Matrox cards do very well here)

Welcome to the forums

Thanks for the welcomes

ok, clarification on the MX420... that IS one to stay away from. it uses SDRAM not good, as the bandwidth is severly crippled by that.

But, the MX440 and MX460 are DDR equipped. no sense buying a MX460 in my opinion as it's cost isn't justified.

so that leaves the MX440... overclockable, 64Mb DDR, and visually much better than the GF3/GF2 in my opinion.

it actually makes a monitor i hated
(using a ATI 32Mb DDR Radeon) look GREAT!

hey seriously, when it comes down to it,
i'd rather have a GF4 Ti-4200 but for that comes a price, twice as much to be exact.


so knowing how prices drop, the MX440 is gonna be pretty cheap, pretty soon... making it a definite winner in the "budget" catagory. Nothing else comes close as far as i can see.

the main reason i post this, is i see very often ppl saying "Get the GF2 GTS or PRO instead" and that's simply rubbish.

i'm not pointing at anyone, however there was some post regarding "avoid the MX" here tho. but anyways, alot of magazines, websites, and forums just really despise these cards, and i gotta tell you all....

i have one.. i Love it!

I agree, I love my Creative MX440, its fantastic.

Agreed the time I have available to play games is extremely limited but it does a damn fine job.

And pound for pound its a fantastic all rounder. My only criticism would be that the fan on it was awful, so I bought a Zalman heatsink for it and the problem went away.

I see it rates in the Computer Buyer mag as one of its best buys and has done for some months.