Should I upgrade my gfx card?

Hi folks, I currently have a GForce 2 MX 440 installed on my Celeron-700 based gaming box. I have got an offer to buy a used GForce 4 MX 440 for about $60. Do you think I'll see any frame rate improvements with - GPL on graphics intensive tracks like Adelaide / Solitude? - F1 2002 hotlaps? Thanks in advance for any input, Uwe -- Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/ Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E) PGP Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

"Uwe Schuerkamp" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > I currently have a GForce 2 MX 440 installed on my Celeron-700 > based gaming box. I have got an offer to buy a used GForce 4 MX > 440 for about $60. > > Do you think I'll see any frame rate improvements with I did a search on MadOnion.Com and came up with the following scores for 3DMark 2001 with your current configuration (Celeron 700 + GeForce2 MX 400) and with the GF4 MX 440 (although there were no Celeron 700's with that card). Bottom line is that scores went from around 2000 to 3000 in the benchmark. How does that factor into GPL and F1-2002? I guess it couldn't hurt :) - David Cook Score 2128 Date 2002-3-21 Res 1024x768 32bit OS Microsoft Windows ME User [email hidden] CPU Intel Celeron 700 MHz GPU NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 Score 1926 Date 2002-6-12 Res 1024x768 32bit OS Microsoft Windows XP User [email hidden] CPU Intel Celeron 700 MHz GPU NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 Score 1700 Date 2002-2-12 Res 1024x768 32bit OS Microsoft Windows ME User [email hidden] CPU Intel Celeron 700 MHz GPU NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 Score 1697 Date 2001-11-30 Res 1024x768 32bit OS Microsoft Windows XP User [email hidden] CPU Intel Celeron 700 MHz GPU NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 ---------------------------------------------- Score 3214 Date 2002-3-22 Res 1024x768 32bit OS Microsoft Windows 2000 User [email hidden] CPU Intel Celeron 798 MHz GPU NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 Score 3213 Date 2002-6-15 Res 1024x768 32bit OS Microsoft Windows 98 User [email hidden] CPU Intel Celeron 768 MHz GPU NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 Score 3174 Date 2002-5-20 Res 1024x768 32bit OS Microsoft Windows XP User [email hidden] CPU Intel Celeron 782 MHz GPU NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 Score 3114 Date 2002-3-21 Res 1024x768 32bit OS Microsoft Windows 2000 User [email hidden] CPU Intel Celeron 798 MHz GPU NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440

The GF4MX cards are marginally better than the GF2MX cards, you may see a marginal improvement, but I doubt it will be enough to fix fps troubles for what you listed. For example, if you gained 1-2 fps in either of those games, does it fiix your problem? IMO probably not. -- Biz "Don't touch that please, your primitive intellect wouldn't understand alloys and compositions and,......things with molecular structures,....and the....." - Ash Uwe Schuerkamp <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > Hi folks, > > I currently have a GForce 2 MX 440 installed on my Celeron-700 > based gaming box. I have got an offer to buy a used GForce 4 MX > 440 for about $60. > > Do you think I'll see any frame rate improvements with > > - GPL on graphics intensive tracks like Adelaide / Solitude? > - F1 2002 hotlaps? > > Thanks in advance for any input, > > Uwe > > > -- > Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/ > Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E) > PGP Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

> GForce 2 MX 440 --> GForce 4 MX 440 for about $60. I say this is a terrible purchase. It's precisely what nvidia's marketing department want you to do: blow money on a marginal increase, thereby forcing you to upgrade yet again in 6months. If you insist on buying nvidia products, at least get a 4200 or better. rms [email hidden]

Biz <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:dgf29.18505$[email hidden]... > The GF4MX cards are marginally better than the GF2MX cards, you may see a marginal improvement, but > I doubt it will be enough to fix fps troubles for what you listed. For example, if you gained 1-2 > fps in either of those games, does it fiix your problem? IMO probably not. Someone mentioned to me recently that the GF2MX isn't too pricey - would it be a worthwhile (GPL) upgrade from my Matrox G200, on a P2-400? Alternatively, what else could I do for sensible money to boost graphics performance? I can get a steady 36fps with a few AI cars around, but the res and detail are turned way down :-( Jonny

Yah, I too say dont bother, I had Voodoo3 3000, 16mb card on my old system (K6,2 500mhz), and put a 64mb vidcard on it, and really saw no improvement, so I took the card back, now when I upgrade my sytem in January, and got an athlon xp1700+ and matched it up with the same card as you got, (Asus 7100 Pro 64mb geforce 2/mx400) huge improvment. "Uwe Schuerkamp" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> Hi folks, > > I currently have a GForce 2 MX 440 installed on my Celeron-700 > based gaming box. I have got an offer to buy a used GForce 4 MX > 440 for about $60. > > Do you think I'll see any frame rate improvements with > > - GPL on graphics intensive tracks like Adelaide / Solitude? > - F1 2002 hotlaps? > > Thanks in advance for any input, > > Uwe > > > -- > Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/ > Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E) > PGP Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

You can get a GF3Ti200 for $81 now. You can run it at Ti500 speeds. The MX series cards are missing a lot of hardware based features. "Uwe Schuerkamp" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> Hi folks, > > I currently have a GForce 2 MX 440 installed on my Celeron-700 > based gaming box. I have got an offer to buy a used GForce 4 MX > 440 for about $60. > > Do you think I'll see any frame rate improvements with > > - GPL on graphics intensive tracks like Adelaide / Solitude? > - F1 2002 hotlaps? > > Thanks in advance for any input, > > Uwe > > > -- > Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/ > Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E) > PGP Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

Quit getting the MX line. Go for as MUCH cpu as you can afford. If you must upgrade the vidcard, either go with the GF4 4200 or if you really need lower pricing, then the gf3 ti 200....either is better and will last longer than the mx 440 which isn't even fully dx8 compliant.... dave henrie "Uwe Schuerkamp" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> Hi folks, > > I currently have a GForce 2 MX 440 installed on my Celeron-700 > based gaming box. I have got an offer to buy a used GForce 4 MX > 440 for about $60. > > Do you think I'll see any frame rate improvements with > > - GPL on graphics intensive tracks like Adelaide / Solitude? > - F1 2002 hotlaps? > > Thanks in advance for any input, > > Uwe > > > -- > Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/ > Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E) > PGP Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

Get a new motherboard, CPU, and RAM before you get a new video card. You're CPU limited even with the MX400 on that weak old Celeron; at the very least, get a 1.2 or 1.3 GHz Duron, but the best buy would be at least an AthlonXP 1700+. Add in an ECS K7S5A motherboard (not exactly the fastest out there but it can deal with your SDRAM if you choose and it's dirt cheap) and you should see at least some improvments...then, when you add a video card (GF3 Ti200, ideally) to the mix, you should be in the 6000 3dMark range. My system gets just over 7000 3dMarks, with an AthlonXP 2000+, GF3 Ti200, and 512MB DDR on a KT333 board. Milhouse "Uwe Schuerkamp" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> Hi folks, > > I currently have a GForce 2 MX 440 installed on my Celeron-700 > based gaming box. I have got an offer to buy a used GForce 4 MX > 440 for about $60. > > Do you think I'll see any frame rate improvements with > > - GPL on graphics intensive tracks like Adelaide / Solitude? > - F1 2002 hotlaps? > > Thanks in advance for any input, > > Uwe > > > -- > Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/ > Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E) > PGP Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

Well i would suggest upgradeing your whole system wich can be done cheap if you go with something like an athlon XP 1600+, 1700+ or 1800+, a decent MB, get 1 that supports sdram pc133 if that is what you allready have(that's what I did), and then get a GF4 64mb, or ati radeon 64 mb, which can all be done reasonably cheap. Just my 2 cents worth!! P.s. just upgradeing your card will not give you the kind of improvement your looking for, trust me i tried, note my other reply in this tread! "Jonny Hodgson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:dlh29.5085$[email hidden]... > > Biz <[email hidden]> wrote in messagenews:dgf29.18505$[email hidden]... > > The GF4MX cards are marginally better than the GF2MX cards, you may seea marginal improvement, but > > I doubt it will be enough to fix fps troubles for what you listed. Forexample, if you gained 1-2 > > fps in either of those games, does it fiix your problem? IMO probablynot.

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> > Someone mentioned to me recently that the GF2MX isn't too pricey > - would it be a worthwhile (GPL) upgrade from my Matrox G200, on > a P2-400? Alternatively, what else could I do for sensible money > to boost graphics performance? > > I can get a steady 36fps with a few AI cars around, but the res > and detail are turned way down :-( > > Jonny > >

Hans Jensen <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:2qC29.87270$[email hidden]...

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> "Jonny Hodgson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:dlh29.5085$[email hidden]... > > Someone mentioned to me recently that the GF2MX isn't too pricey > > - would it be a worthwhile (GPL) upgrade from my Matrox G200, on > > a P2-400? Alternatively, what else could I do for sensible money > > to boost graphics performance? > Well i would suggest upgradeing your whole system wich can be done cheap if > you go with something like an athlon XP 1600+, 1700+ or 1800+, a decent MB, > get 1 that supports sdram pc133 if that is what you allready have(that's > what I did), and then get a GF4 64mb, or ati radeon 64 mb, which can all be > done reasonably cheap. Just my 2 cents worth!! > P.s. just upgradeing your card will not give you the kind of improvement > your looking for, trust me i tried, note my other reply in this tread!

It appears we have different definitions of "cheap" :-/ I'm not looking to spend even the price of an Athlon, never mind that whole pack of upgrades. However, I'm aware that my Matrox is not the fastest gaming card in the world, hence wondering if it's worth changing - more for processing power than video memory. It seems agreed that the MX series aren't worth it - is a TNT2- -based card going to be any better than my G200, anyone? Dabs have a "TNT2 M64 32MB AGP" for 31 quid, which is more the area I was looking at ;-) Jonny

Jonny Hodgson wrote:

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> > It appears we have different definitions of "cheap" :-/ I'm not > looking to spend even the price of an Athlon, never mind that > whole pack of upgrades. > > However, I'm aware that my Matrox is not the fastest gaming card > in the world, hence wondering if it's worth changing - more for > processing power than video memory. > > It seems agreed that the MX series aren't worth it - is a TNT2- > -based card going to be any better than my G200, anyone? Dabs > have a "TNT2 M64 32MB AGP" for 31 quid, which is more the area > I was looking at ;-)

No, the TNT2 M64 card is NOT a good buy, it was a crappy card when new and it's way outdated now, even for a P2-400, the M64 was the MX version of the TNT2 so to speak, and that's 4 generations old by now, sure, if you get it for free from some bloke here in this NG providing you pay shipping, and the shipping is less than 10 quid, then *perhaps* it's worth considering If you're looking for a cheap and cheerful upgrade for GPL, a 2nd hand Voodoo3 card would be a lot better, they're practically giving them away these days, failing that, a 2nd hand or even new GF2MX might be worth it, just remember, the cheapest GF4 MX isn't a whole lot more than a GF2MX and packs a whole lot more punch I did some bechmarking on these cards a while back, it could give you an idea what to expect from cheap cards, I think one of the the CPU's I used for testing was a P3-533 which I underclocked to 400 http://www.theuspits.com/hardware/UG_benchmarking.html Beers and cheers (uncle) Goy http://www.theuspits.com "A man is only as old as the woman he feels........" --Groucho Marx--

Jonny......you are looking in the �31 bracket for a graphic card upgrade...? Where in UK are you...? Andy

http://www.pricewatch.com/ You should be able to find a faster GF3Ti200 for just a little more at this site. David G Fisher "Uwe Schuerkamp" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> Hi folks, > > I currently have a GForce 2 MX 440 installed on my Celeron-700 > based gaming box. I have got an offer to buy a used GForce 4 MX > 440 for about $60. > > Do you think I'll see any frame rate improvements with > > - GPL on graphics intensive tracks like Adelaide / Solitude? > - F1 2002 hotlaps? > > Thanks in advance for any input, > > Uwe > > > -- > Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/ > Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E) > PGP Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

Andrew <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:aif3ot$538$[email hidden]... > Jonny......you are looking in the �31 bracket for a graphic card upgrade...? > > Where in UK are you...? Coventry, approximately - but these things post okay given an anti-static bag and a thick Jiffy bag, I'd have thought... Email me - you'll need to take the capitals out of my reply address. Jonny

Goy Larsen <"adsales"@get topica.com> wrote in message news:BGD29.963$[email hidden]...

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> If you're looking for a cheap and cheerful upgrade for GPL, a 2nd hand > Voodoo3 card would be a lot better, they're practically giving them away > these days, failing that, a 2nd hand or even new GF2MX might be worth > it, just remember, the cheapest GF4 MX isn't a whole lot more than a > GF2MX and packs a whole lot more punch > > I did some bechmarking on these cards a while back, it could give you an > idea what to expect from cheap cards, I think one of the the CPU's I > used for testing was a P3-533 which I underclocked to 400 > > http://www.theuspits.com/hardware/UG_benchmarking.html

Excellent, thank you Goy! I've just done a quick ranking exercise on the 533/500 results, and it looks like the GF2 Pro 400 and the GF2 MX come top (the MX is better at 533, the Pro at 400) followed by the GF DDR and the GF 256. The V5 is the only non-GF card in contention! From that, maybe a GF4 MX might just make sense - perhaps with a look at some mild overclocking... Cheers! Jonny

On Thu, 01 Aug 2002 18:41:43 GMT, Roger Squires <[email hidden]> wrote: >> GForce 2 MX 440 --> GForce 4 MX 440 for about $60. > > I say this is a terrible purchase. It's precisely what nvidia's > marketing department want you to do: blow money on a marginal increase, > thereby forcing you to upgrade yet again in 6months. If you insist on > buying nvidia products, at least get a 4200 or better. Hi Roger & others, thanks for the reply. I bought the card anyway, but it went to replace an old V3 2000 in my son's gaming machine. It was impossible to install in my games box, so he shelled out the money (the price is still ok imho). He's a happy warcraft III player now, performance of the gf4mx is much better (if only because it has 4X the RAM of the voodoo ;-) Cheers & thanks again for all your comments, Uwe -- Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/ Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E) PGP Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

Jonny Hodgson wrote:

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> > Excellent, thank you Goy! > > I've just done a quick ranking exercise on the 533/500 results, > and it looks like the GF2 Pro 400 and the GF2 MX come top (the > MX is better at 533, the Pro at 400) followed by the GF DDR and > the GF 256. The V5 is the only non-GF card in contention! > > From that, maybe a GF4 MX might just make sense - perhaps with > a look at some mild overclocking...

Most P2-400's I've had my hands on will OC to 448 at 112 FSB speed without even upping the voltage on the CPU or increasing the available cooling And you're not alone in not having a top end system either http://valve.speakeasy.net/ Beers and cheers (uncle) Goy http://www.theuspits.com "A man is only as old as the woman he feels........" --Groucho Marx--

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> Excellent, thank you Goy! > I've just done a quick ranking exercise on the 533/500 results, > and it looks like the GF2 Pro 400 and the GF2 MX come top (the > MX is better at 533, the Pro at 400) followed by the GF DDR and > the GF 256. The V5 is the only non-GF card in contention! > From that, maybe a GF4 MX might just make sense - perhaps with > a look at some mild overclocking...

Most P2-400's I've had my hands on will OC to 448 at 112 FSB speed without even upping the voltage on the CPU or increasing the available cooling And you're not alone in not having a top end system either http://valve.speakeasy.net/ Beers and cheers (uncle) Goy http://www.theuspits.com "A man is only as old as the woman he feels........" --Groucho Marx--