G450 OR TwinView MX

[vic1212]

Hi,

Well you knew this one was coming. Which of these cards would you recommend?? I wanted to upgrade for a while now. I play 3D games, but I also want TV-Out and DVD capable video card and the dual monitor. Also, I am looking for a composite, not S-Video out on the Video Card. The cheaper the price, the better.

I am running a K6-2 450 with 128 megs of RAM on a Epox motherboard.

Thanks for any inputs,

Vic

 

[Portend]

you can get s-video to composite converters so you dont have to be limited to composite incase you upgrade your tv later.

 

[ET]

For 3D games, the MX will be considerably better. The G450 is about TNT2 level (not even Ultra). It has EMBM, which is nice, but that's about it. The MX is much faster. OTOH, you do have a pretty slow CPU, and most games still don't take real advantage of the GeForce T&L, so the difference may not be that large for you. This can depend on what games you play.

That said, because of that slow CPU, you're also not likely to get the best DVD performance with the G450, since it doesn't have any DVD acceleration. The MX has motion compensation.

It's likely that the G450 will have better image quality in all things (2D, TV out, DVD playback, maybe also 3D), but I don't know how significant the difference will be for you. DualHead support is also more mature than the TwinHead feature on the GeForce, and the G450 should be cheaper than a TwinHead MX card.

Still, I'd say that for games, the MX will be faster, and when you upgrade your CPU, you'll notice the difference even more. You'll probably want to upgrade the G450 when you upgrade your CPU, and the MX is likely to last you longer.

Oh, one last thing. Make sure you try before you buy. At least one company making an MX card (can't recall which one) said that the card needs an AGP 2.0 compliant board. I'm sure yours isn't. The MX could work well (I know a GeForce2 GTS running on a BX board, which isn't 2.0), but just make sure you can take it back, or try before you buy.

 

[EvilDonnyboy]

The G450/G400 has as good, if not better dvd speed acceleration. The G450/G400 has way better DVD quality. Not to mention unexplainably better picture quality in general.

But to tell the truth, I'd be sucked into the MX's speed, despite me being a Matrox fanatic.

 

[Shukla]

I'd go with the MX because the G450 sucks in 3d. Check out anand's review and at aces' (www.aceshardware.com).

I've heard about compatibility problems with Nvidia cards and the SS7 mobos though so watch out! Though, if your Epox board has the MVP4 chipset, I think they may have worked out the bugs.

 

[Vegito]

Matrox G450 = Not A Gaming Card

I doubt a MX would have good second head at that high res.

 

[Auric]

Disinformation Alert!

Bad EvilDonnyboy!

No Matrox chip has ever had integrated DVD acceleration. Plus, to repeat, the 3D is hopelessly outdated so forget about it for games. So for the features you want (providing you also buy an S-Video to composite adapter) your only option is the MX but I cannot say for sure if a K6-2 450 will have enough pep for DVD even with its motion compensation.