Which GeForce2 MX: ASUS or Hercules ??

[Fuse]

I want to buy a GeForce2 MX card with video out.
I am considering between ASUS V7100T and Hercules 3D Prophet II MX Dual-Display.
which card is faster and which one has better video out?
and how are the driver updates for each company?
thanks

 

[Noriaki]

I've been trying to make the same decision, and here's what I've come to:

Driver updates? nVidia updates their drives like ever 14 minutes...just use the reference drivers.

I'd get the Hercules/Guillemot because they clock their RAM at 183Mhz over the standard 166Mhz for an MX, so they have a performance edge at about 800x600x32 and higher. Asus gives like +5 core and +5 mem...but at 8x6x32 and up (with SDR SDRAM at least) you are memory limited so the Hercules is a better boost.

Then just use the nVidia reference drivers and your fine.

As for TV-out quality, I'm pretty sure that both cards use the Brooktree chipset, and while it sucks horridly (I've been spoiled by the Rage Theatre chip, and a hollywood plus) it is the standard for TV-out chips. ATi's newer cards don't use Brooktree, and I don't think Matrox uses it either...but any other TV-out card you've seen would probably use it. So either TV-out would look pretty much the same and the same as just about any other card you've seen.

Asus includes both S-Video and Composite output on their card, where as hercules includes only S-Video and gives you an S->Comp adapter. I think the Asus way is probably a bit better but I don't think it matters much, any distortion would be covered by other factors.

 

[WWDude]

Actually, ASUS uses the Chrontel chips. I'd like to know the answer to this question as well, still not sure which to get (I'd get the MSI Starforce which has excellent TV out (Though it uses BrookTree). Who knows more about the Hercules TV-out?

 

[dadx2mj]

I have the Hercules MX and like it a lot unfortunatly I do not have the TV out so I can not comment on that but the Hercules is a good card that has performed good for meand is well worth the $$$

 

[Auric]

I asked about this when the ASUS first came out. I was wondering if the NVIDIA reference drivers worked with the Chrontel chip. There is another option and that is the Philips VIVO module which reportedly has Rage Theatre quality however as far as the Elsa version goes it will not yet work with NVIDIA's reference drivers so I am assuming NVIDIA will incorporate these different video chips (Conexant/Brooktree, Chrontel, Philips, et alii) into same. I'm a thinkin' of getting the Philips VIVO meself and am just wondering if it will work on any of the faster cards like the retail Prophet II MX, or if I should just stick with the Elsa (although I swore I would never buy another Elsa when they eliminated the VIVO from the production Winner II Savage4 between my pre-ordering it and it actually shipping -the bastids!). eVGA has some 5.5ns cards with the module connector but I don't know if they have the poor quality display that NVIDIA board makers often produce, plus they are either woefully overpriced direct from eVGA, or only available from shady dealers that charge $10 shipping. Guillemot and Elsa supposedly have better boards, but then Elsa rebranded VisionTek ones early on at least. Ack, so much messin'...

 

[Fuse]

does the s-video to composite degrade quality?
which will overclock higher?

 

[WetWilly]

Auric,

You're making my head hurt ...

 

[Noriaki]

Using an S-Video to Composite converter will degrade quality a tad...but Composite is way lower quality than S-Video to begin with so chances are you won't notice.

 

[LXi]

Hercules, faster and more overclockable RAM.

 

[FordLorider]

Hercules, faster and more overclockable RAM.

where have I heard this from?

 

[R2D2]

Herc

 

[S0me1X]

I think the Asus is cheaper but has only 16mb of ram.
I'd personally choose the Hercules, which has 32mb of ram.