Geeks 128mb Video Card for $58.50... Hot???

[dannyv23]

I just got an email from the geeks and they have this card on special. I havent been able to find a review for it so I was hoping my fellow anandtechers could help me out. Is this any good or should i just stick to my 32 mb card. (Yes I know its a sorry card but I dont do that much gaming. This card could help that if its good though)

Linky


Edit: This is my first attempt to post a deal so be gentle if it sucks

 

[crapito]

Take a look at this low cost, high performance video card with nVidia's GeForce4 MX440SE chipset and 128MB of SDR memory on board! It will make all your applications look great, and has the punch needed for today's graphically demanding games! This card also features S-Video out, so you can output video to a TV - great for presentations or watching movies!

if you are not a gamer, it's a fine card.

dannyv23: there probably isn't much of a point in "upgrading" your 32mb card, regardless of which model you currently have, cause this ain't a fast 3D card, and 2D doesn't change much between modern video cards.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

Stay way from anything that has 'geforce' and 'mx' in the title. Geforce 3's and Radeon 8500's are around that same price, you'd be much better off with one of those.

 

[dannyv23]

Oh well. Thanks guys for the heads up with this card. Two post without a flame I'm feeling better already...

 

[lzpoof]

You gotta love the concept of a SDR board. The integrated video on a Nforce2 can prob beat this just because it uses ddr memory on the dual bus. I honestly don't see the point of the GF4 MX as more than a refresh of the GF2MX and they seem to be selling for the same prices as the gf3ti200 which really makes them pointless. I don't even remember seeing a gf4mx dual vga sold anywhere. This price is even bordering on radeon 8500 which would not only demolish this card but have better video quality to boot.

 

[MrC4]

I agree. If you are a gamer, avoid SDR on the card like the plague!

 

[Jugernot]

The one good thing I have to say about the GF4 MX series is the TV Output. It's quality is top notch, rivals 3rd party TV Output hardware.

 

[RadioactiveMagpies]

This card can't beat a gefroce 2 ddr in performance, sdr bandwidth is just not enough for video cards.
Even the ddr version of this card only a bit faster than geforce 2 ultra cards.
You can probably double the fps of most games and 3dmark scores with a radeon 8500/geforce3.

 

[ReiAyanami]

DDR= good

SDR= yuck
maybe they cram so much SDR ram in it cuz its so slow

 

[RobCur]

You are right, DDR = 200 percent faster. SDRAM= dinosaur memory, will drag everything down to a crawl.
128meg/256meg etc isn't going to do you much good. I'm getting rid of all my sdram dimm pc133, i bought like 4 512mb, big mistake! because too slow! :yikes::freaked out:

 

[pspada]

This was probably a hot card.....a year or more ago! A lot of OEMs used the much cheaper-at-the-time SDR to make cost effective boards at the time. But today this makes the board a pretty sad performer. Of course, any GeForce chip in the MX line is going to be much less effective than even an older GeForce non-MX chip. For this price, or perhaps a bit more, any of the GeForce3 Ti's would be a much better choice, and you'd not be looking for a new video card in a couple of months. But I'd buy even an older GeForce2 GTS Ultra before I'd buy this card.

 

[sxr7171]

What's the point of even having 128MB RAM on a card like that? I don't think it could deliver acceptable frame rates on any game that might actually need/or be helped by 128 MB RAM.

I think it's a good card if you're not a gamer, but then pretty much any $35 Geforce 2 MX 32MB w/DVI would be good for that.

 

[pspada]

The one advantage to having more memory is the ability to run at higher screen rez and color depth. Of course in gaming, this would result in even slower framerates and likely unacceptable performance. But for just plain 2D usage this would be of value. Not $60 worth of value, IMNSHO, but for an end+L-user with a big or 21" monitor perhaps.

 

[sxr7171]

Originally posted by: pspada
The one advantage to having more memory is the ability to run at higher screen rez and color depth. Of course in gaming, this would result in even slower framerates and likely unacceptable performance. But for just plain 2D usage this would be of value. Not $60 worth of value, IMNSHO, but for an end+L-user with a big or 21" monitor perhaps.

I always thought that the RAMDAC is responsible for providing bandwidth for 2D display. I think any 32MB card with a 350MHz RAMDAC can do 1200x1600 32-bit at 85Hz or higher. But, maybe my understanding of video card function is incorrect.

 

[pspada]

Bandwidth is one thing, but to get higher res and color depths, more memory is required. For example, from the olden days, the early VGA cards had 256k of memory - which was fine for the displays of the time. But soon 512k and even (WOW!) 1 meg cards were available, and you could run at perhaps 800x600x4 (the x4 is 4-bit color). By 1996/97, if you spent well over $200, you could get a good 4 meg card like the original Matrox Millienium, as I did. Or if you were smart, you got a 4 meg trident card for 50 or 60 bucks. With that giant 4 megs of memory, you could run comfortably at 1024x768 even in 16-bit color! For reference, just about all of the cards of this day were simple frame buffer devices

The RAMDAC is "to convert digitally encoded images into analog signals that can be displayed by a monitor". I'm not exactly sure if this pertains to 2D at all. Especially since I never had a RAMDAC on a video card until I started playing real 3D games.

 

[Bagger]

8mb of video memory is all that's required to run a card at 1600x1200x32bits.... I'd be curious to find out what resolution you'd want to run at to require 128mb?

 

[fongpee]

What's the current best card for the price, able to play current games well?

 

[Richardito]

That card is based on SDRAM (i.e. PC133) and not DDR memory. The bandwidth is very limited and the extra memory is useless (it is also kind off cheap now). This card is a hybrid and it severely lacks performance. Better get a real GF4 MX440 (not SE) or a GF3 Ti with FAST DDR memory.

 

[unclebud]

just noticing that NO ONE has linked to a CURRENTLY AVAILABLE deal involving a 8500/gf3 YET, for the SAME or LESSER price...

 

[MrC4]

What's the current best card for the price, able to play current games well?

I love the GF4 4200! It is a great overclocker and runs every game I throw at it beautifully!!

 

[RadioactiveMagpies]

some people are so demanding:

newegg has the Sapphire ATI RADEON 8500LE 64MB DDR CRT/DVI/TV ,Dual Monitor support DVIS+CRT only, BULK for $72 SHIPPED


newegg


the compgeeks 128 mb geforce card has 1/2 the fps, 1/2 the 3dmark, is HALF as fast as the radeon 8500LE is $58.50 with $6 shipping = $64.50
the compgeeks card also has this Notes: TV-Out defaults to PAL. Manual states that NTSC/PAL/SECAM are selectable by jumper, but this is not so. This setting can be changed in a software control panel

if you plan to play games the sapphire card form newegg is good, if you surf alot, then the one from newegg is also better. I have a geforce 3 ti-500, if i need another budget card for my other computer, i would get the radeon 8500le. Bandwidth is nearly everything in video cards, so don't get it sdr board. The 8500le is alos a good overclocker.

 

[lzpoof]

Originally posted by: unclebud
just noticing that NO ONE has linked to a CURRENTLY AVAILABLE deal involving a 8500/gf3 YET, for the SAME or LESSER price...

Use pricewatch. Jeez

And for the record, the Radeon 9000 is ALSO faster than a mx440 or mx440se and is priced about the same as this on a few internet sites.

 

[PCMarine]

Originally posted by: MrC4
I agree. If you are a gamer, avoid SDR on the card like the plague!

Yea, DDR is the ONLY way to go!

 

[lemcc]

would i pay $60 for this card no

but if you can pick up a cheap sdr gf4 mx there not bad cards

i got a pci and a agp sdr gf4 mx for 2 people this month i paid about
$35 for each and was very pleased with the performance of both the cards

 

[pspada]

Well, here's a GeForce3 card for $79:

GAINWARD/CARDEXPERT TI450 64MB GEFORCE3 TI-200 DDR 4XAGP W/TV OUT

It's available at Mwave.com, search for SKU # A19480. Overstock.com has a MSI TI-500 for $99, I have this card and it's an excellent performer for the price:

http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?cid=17159&PAGE=PRODUCT&PROD_ID=157644&fp=F

I realize the price for either is a bit higher, but either one of these is a good value for the price. Both have 64megs of DDR. And the best thing is neither is an ATI.

For reference, I'm currently using a $399 Ti 4600.