Graphic Card Guru needed.

Would this GForce4 card be worth it?

The $169 is in Canadian funds.

No! Stay away from the GeForce 4 MX line of cards. They say GeForce 4, but they don’t even have the advanced features of the GeForce3. They are higher clocked GeForce 2MX cards, and they perform worse than any GeForce 3 based card out there. I would try to find any GeForce 3 ti 200 based card, which should be around the same price. It’ll crush any GF4 MX, especially the 420. Also, if you’re into overclocking, the GF3 ti200s usually can nearly reach the speed of a ti 500.

Jman

Okay, this is an opinion, but I emphatically say, “NO.”

Although these cards are badged as GeForce 4s, they are basically GeForce 2s. The card has trouble running some games currently available, and by “trouble” I mean being able to run at a reasonable number of frames per second with lots of eye candy at an acceptable resolution. (640 X 480 is no longer an acceptable resolution in most games, if you ask me.)

The big thing about the GF4MX that is pissing off the geek community is that it has no defined vertex shader engine at all (i.e., just like a GeForce 2 MX). It isn’t even based on the GeForce 4 Ti core. This is a notable step back from its arguable predecessor, the GF3 Ti200. Some would probably be willing to dangle the phrase “bait and switch.” It is, however, cheaper.

I’m no fan of ATI’s drivers, but a Radeon 8500 with the broken drivers it has now will turn loops around this thing at 1024 x768 and above, for not much more. Another possibility is the GF3 Ti200, or even a GF2 Ultra, if you can still find one. Any one of those cards will likely perform better at higher resolutions, but more importantly they will not be obsolete before the close of this year, which will be the case for the card you’re considering.

That’s not to say the thing won’t do a great job if you have a fast processor. Where the GF4MX fails, miserably, is at the higher resolutions. If you can forego that wonderful facet of computer gaming, you’re probably going to be okay with one.

As always, Dr. Damage and Dr. Evil at the Tech-Report have got the smack already laid down.

The GeForce4 MX line are pieces of crap. They
are substantially outperformed by the GF3 Ti 500 series, which are a full generation older. NVidia is doing an evil thing here: They are naming their GF4 4400 and 4600 cards (which ARE very good, and very fast, and cost $300 US) almost exactly the same thing as their crap GF4 MX line. Read the TomsHardware.com article.

I’m cynical enough about the computer industry (having worked in it for about ten years now) that I don’t believe this mislabeling is an accident. They expect people like you are going to be confused about what’s really going on. They suspect you’ll probably go for the lower priced option instead of doing the research, and then have to upgrade again in a year.

If you want a good card and don’t want to pay $300+ US for it, I suggest you do what I’m doing: wait about two months, then buy a GeForce3 Ti 500 card. These are currently $275 US but as the GF4s ship, the price should come down at least some. These cards are blazing fast, and you will probably need to upgrade your CPU before you need to upgrade this card. Their only downside is that they only have 64 megs of video ram, which will not be enough in two to three years. I wish there was a Ti 500 card with 128 MB, but I cannot find one. Strangely enough, the slower little brother of the Ti 500, which is the Ti 200, DOES have at least one card with 128 MB. Go figure. But this
is not a good tradeoff,
because looking at the performance numbers, the Ti 500 far outstrips the Ti 200.

Of course, the GF4 4600 series also far outstrips the Ti 500, but that’s to be expected. Right now I just don’t feel that the additional performance is worth the extra $100. Once the game hits about 70 FPS, my reflexes (and those of 90% of the rest of humanity) become slower than the computer. After that point, I don’t care any more. If computer can respond faster than my brain can process, I’m happy. Extra power after that is only good for extending the longevity of the card. (Since games are always resource hogs from hell, and future two years from now will probably require the most absolute wiz-bang card you can buy today.)
-Ben

Stay away from GeForce 4 MX, of any version. I also wouldn’t buy a real GeForce 4 right now anyways…there aren’t many games out that take advantage of it (the most notable that comes to mind is Comanche 4, which has a huge improvement in detail and FPS over a GeForce 3 Ti 500). But, when Doom 3 (DROOL!) comes out, You’ll want at least a GF3 Ti 500.

True, but my GF3 Ti 200 runs very stably at 233MHz core, 530 MHz memory, which is just BARELY below ti 500 on the core, and substantially FASTER than the ti 500 on the memory. True, a real ti500 will overclock more than a ti 200, but I got a GF3 ti 500 by buying a ti 200 and overclocking it with good cooling…and I spent $140 less.

Now, not everyone wants to OC their cards, but I think the ti 500 is only for those with very deep pocketbooks, since the ti 200 can get to that performance for free! And, if you have the money to get a ti 500, and you fry a ti 200 by overclocking it, you can get another ti 200 and still pay the same amount…but very VERY few cards get fried unless you overclock way above safe levels.