Mainstream Runners: 5 Allround Graphic Cards with nVIDIA’s GeForce2 MX — THG.RU

GeForce2 MX On The Run: 5 New Cards

The first review of the GeForce2 MX is already half a year ago. Today, nVIDIA’s mainstream chip is introducing both the multimedia and business market, as the technology for using two monitors is available now: TwinView. The GeForce2 MX basically supports TwinView ever since its release, just the driver support was initially missing.

There are many reasons why one should decide to purchase a graphics card with GeForce2 MX. First of all those cards are technically very good — maybe except for the SDR-SDRAM memory. Double Data Rate memory could boost up the MX’s performance quite a bit, but would also raise the costs tremendously. With SDR memory, those cards are still reasonably priced though less powerful. The third reason is of course the respectable 3D-performance and reason number four definitely TwinView. Cards with two monitor outputs are only slightly more expensive than standard models, but allow professional users to increase their efficiency. Having the option to watch a web page growing e.g. in the main window of Macromedia Dreamweaver, you can edit the source code in the dedicated window placed on the second screen simultaneously. Looks like the MX league is getting ready to rumble!

NVIDIA Conquers Business Computing

For many years Matrox has been demonstrating that the market is not only focused on 3D, 3D and again 3D. Their current top model, the Millennium G450, is neither a retail market nor a 3D performer. Instead of that it revives the classes graphics card features like excellent 2D Performance and razor sharp signal quality. Matrox teams that up with Dual Head, which is the option to use two monitors, ensuring remarkable market shares. Banks, insurance companies and salesmen consider two-screen solutions both as immensely practical as well as prestigious. Therefore this kind of graphics card is in high demand amongst those users.

NVIDIA is pretty famous for having a good sense of direction, as they employ some of the world’s best engineers and designers. At the last Comdex in Las Vegas NVIDIA released their GeForce2 Go chip for mobile computers, which is expected to take the notebook market by storm. Now, GeForce2 MX and TwinView are sent into battle to conquer the business market as well.

MX’s good performance in combination with features that are very similar to those of the Matrox G450 chip, the Canadian company finally got a serious competitor in their market segment.

nVIDIA TwinView vs. Matrox Dual Head

The digital 2D/3D engine alone is not able to draw a picture onto your monitor as the digital data has to be converted into an analog signal in order to display something on a CRT monitor. That is done by the RAMDAC (digital analog converter), which is nowadays found inside the graphics chip. The higher its clock, the higher the screen resolutions and refresh rates.

Modern RAMDACs work at up to 360 MHz, which is enough for resolutions up to 2048×1536 at 85 Hz. Only a few years ago, the DAC was a stand-alone component on every graphics card. Thanks to structure sizes of 0.18 µm today, the integration into the die is quite easy to realize.

For two monitors a second RAMDAC is required, unless one of the two monitors should be a digital flat panel. Matrox successfully integrated this second DAC into some of their products for years now. Today the second DAC is part of the G400 or G450 chips. Usually the second DAC is not as fast as the primary one. However, today every dual monitor graphics card can display up to 1600×1200 at reasonable refresh rates.

NVIDIA went a different way with their technology called TwinView. Basically, the GeForce2 MX chip includes everything to run two monitors — except the second RAMDAC. This is slightly more expensive for dual solutions than the way Matrox handles this, but in exchange it makes the chip itself cheaper thanks to less required die space. Right now, a well-equipped TwinView card is slightly more expensive than the Matrox G450. In return you will get clearly better 3D performance.

nVIDIA TwinView vs. Matrox Dual Head, Continued

Both TwinView and Dual Head have similar features that are only named differently by NVIDIA and Matrox. Please check the following table for the choices:

You can find our in-depth review of the Matrox Millennium G450.

GeForce2 MX: The Chip

Back in June 2000 we reviewed the first graphics card with nVIDIA’s GeForce2 MX chip. We took a close look at its technical features and the performance. NVIDIA characterizes this GPU as a mainstream model, which we can certainly confirm.

Cards with the GeForce2 MX chip are technically pretty similar. There is only little space for special tweaks even in case of NVIDIA’s high-end models based on the GeForce2 GTS, Pro or Ultra. Differences between MX models can be found at the slot panel, since there are models with only a D-SUB output, additional TV-out, two D-SUBs and other variations with two D-SUBs and a TV out. There are also some cards available that already come with one or two DVI ports for digital flat panels. NVIDIA enabled the MX to work with DDR memory as well. Unfortunately, I have not come across any card with the faster memory so far.

Performance amongst GeForce2 MX cards is also very even. If you keep using the same driver version, you will hardly spot any difference between the different MX cards.

Most manufacturers simply use the NVIDIA reference software with or without a few modifications. So far we did not encounter any model that would have a better value due to useful software enhancements. However, if you are not interested in software add-ons and plan to use the NVIDIA’s drivers anyway, keep looking for the cheapest model you can get. Just don’t forget to balance the cards’ prices in dependency of the memory speed: Quicker cycle times (6 ns is maximum according to nVIDIA) will not necessarily enable better performance, but they will make memory overclocking possible.

Asus AGP-V7100/2V1D

Asus’ AGP-V7100 is shipped with a comprehensive manual that explains both technical features and hardware / software installation. In addition you will get a driver CD, the DVD player ASUSDVD 1.05 and two CDs containing a demo of 3Deep and the game Drakan.

Instead of a second D-SUB15 port Asus placed a DVI-I port on their card. Thanks to this, you can either attach an analog monitor or flat panel, a digital flat panel or both at once. Asus also included a converter module for those who want to attach two analog monitors (DVI to D-SUB15). In my opinion that seems to be the best option right now, as you can use almost any configuration you want. Our test model has not been equipped with a TV out.

Asus and MSI are the only two companies that do not use fans, but only simple heat sinks. Overclocking the chip ended at 190 MHz, while active cooled cards were able to run at 200 MHz. Of course you should not forget that a graphics card without fan does not make any noise also.

The driver CD contained drivers that are based on NVIDIA’s reference model 6.18. As Asus did not enhance them, they offer the standard functionality — just like the competitors. For this review, we made use of a newer NVIDIA driver revision 6.47 (both Windows 98 and Windows 2000).

Gainward Cardexpert GeForce2 MX TwinView

The card from Gainward Cardexpert is shipped with a short manual. Of course there is also a driver CD inside the box, containing drivers and utilities as well as Power DVD 2.55. As you can see on the picture, this chip is kept cool by a little fan.

As the GeForce2 MX does not require much cooling, Gainward decided to use a small fan with moderate rotation speed. That has a positive influence on the noise level of this cooling device.

A hardware analysis can be done very quickly: There is nothing, which would make this model technically superior to the others. 32 MB SDRAM memory and a TV output are ready for games, movies and presentations. You can attach a second monitor or analog flat panel using the second D-SUB15 output.

I was glad to see that the provided performance does exactly match our expectations. It is as fast or slow as the others. Again, the software has not been modified, so that using any NVIDIA reference drivers will be equivalent. Matrox shows that there is certainly room for improvement.

Gainward’s software consists of a little utility called Expertool. Here you can configure your desktop according to your personal requirements and also activate an overclocking mode. I was surprised to see that the installation program already asks you if you want to use the default or the enhanced settings (which means overclocking).

Leadtek WinFast GeForce2 MX DH Pro

Leadtek sent us their GeForce2 MX board supporting TwinView, which carries quite a long name: WinFast GeForce2 MX DH Pro. The huge box contains the graphics board, a driver disc, a DVD player software called DVD Magic, one S-video and one composite video cable and a splitter cable which is required for the TV out. The manual does not lose any word about the hardware but only describes the software installation.

Leadtek includes slightly modified nVIDIA reference drivers (6.27), which give you the option of overclocking and hardware monitoring. Unfortunately, those functions do not work under Windows 2000. Also the dual monitor mode could not be enabled using this operating system.

A heat sink and a fan are used to successfully cool the chip. Noise sensitive users will not have any reason to worry, as the fan is very gentle on your ear. After closing the computer case you should not hear anything from the graphics card any more.

TwinView worked properly using Windows 98. A short test with Windows ME did not cause any problem, either. Unfortunately you have to restart your computer every time you activate or deactivate the second output. Thus one should try to avoid switching it on and off regularly. It seems as if some part of the drivers are disabled as soon as TwinView is activated, since we could not get Quake III running then.

Leadtek WinFast GeForce2 MX DH Pro, Continued

The drivers gave a good impression, as there is also a little tool to modify the clock speed of both the GPU and the memory:

We were able to run the chip stable at 205 MHz. In order to benefit from this faster chip clock, you should also raise the memory clock. Here we could get the board running safely at 200 MHz.

The hardware monitor keeps you informed about the status of your graphics card

MSI StarMAXX 32 (MS-8816)

Micro Star International (MSI) is one of the top motherboard manufacturers. Like many of their competitors they have started to sell graphics cards as well. We got their StarMAXX 32 for review, consisting of the GeForce2 MX graphics engine and 32 MB SDRAM memory (single data rate). This board is not equipped with a second RAMDAC chip; still the layout is prepared for that.

MSI did not spend much money on the basic board, as «only» 6 ns memory is used. That’s of course just enough, but does not give you any margin for big overclocking projects. Unlike the Platinum card from Suma, MSI’s model is not cooled by a fan but with a simple heat sink. Again that is of course not the best basis for someone who wants to overclock her or his graphics board.

Considering that MSI should be selling most of their graphics cards to OEM customers, the standard memory and cooling is the right decision in order to beat down production costs.

6 ns SDRAM memory is enough to meet nVIDIA’s specs, but not satisfactory for overclockers

After Tom’s latest review of four high-end computers, people should be glad to obtain a GeForce2 MX card like this one instead of the outdated TNT2 M64 hardware. There is in fact no other graphics chip that provides as much 3D power as the MX at such a low price. The MS-8816 (that is MSI’s product number) is also equipped with a TV out.

We received a retail box which included a S-video cable as well as a short manual and two game demos.

Suma Platinum GeForce2 MX

Can you still remember the review of AOpen’s first motherboard with black PCB? Suma’s Platinum GeForce2 MX is also colored black and comes with a golden connector panel and heat sink. Suma ships the card in a transparent plastic box, permitting a look at the cool black board.

This card is a TwinView model coming with two D-SUB15 monitor plugs. As expected, Suma did not spend much time in enhancing NVIDIA’s basic software. Also the performance is exactly on par with other MX-based graphics cards.

Video freaks that want to use the feature connector should forget about purchasing the Platinum card, as the connector board, which carries the monitor outputs, covers the pins.

One interesting feature is Suma’s SIF technology (Suma Individual Analog Filter), which places this signal filter and the monitor jacks on a little riser board. According to the data sheet, the signal quality is clearly benefiting from this early way of splitting the signals away from the graphics board. On a 19″ Hyunday monitor, picture quality was very good at 1024×768 and 1280×1024 (tested at 85 Hz).

5.5 ns memory — faster than the 6 ns of MSI’s StarMAXX 32.

Suma has also a GeForce2 GTS and a TNT2 model available, which both are black as well. More information can be found at the link above (review) or at Suma’s website:

Test Setup

Benchmarks: BAPCo SYSmark 2000

As you can see the Matrox G450 is a better performer in 2D applications than the GeForce2 MX. Of course the difference is far too little to have any impact on everyday work. There are only few score variations among the GeForce2 MX cards.

Benchmarks: Mercedes Benz Truck Racing

Mercedes Benz Truck Racing runs pretty fast at 640×480. As we ran this benchmark at maximum quality settings, the frame rate drops pretty fast. Even 800×600 is not playable any more. Of course you can try using less graphic details to increase the frame rate to approximately 40 fps at 800×600. Please note that MBTR is one of the most demanding games right now.

Matrox’ Millennium G450 is all but a 3D runner — 18 fps at 640×480 is simply too slow for gaming today.

Benchmarks: MDK2 Demo

MDK2 runs pretty fast both on the Matrox card and the GeForce2 MX models at 16 Bit color depth. Again there is hardly any difference between the five cards.

At 32 bits per pixel you can see a clear frame rate drop. Still all cards are fast enough to ensure smooth game play.

Benchmarks: Quake III Arena

At the default quality settings and 16 bit color depth Quake III runs pretty fast on all cards. Once again the Matrox G450 scores less than half the frame rate due to both insufficient memory bandwidth and fill rate.

After running all tests again at the maximum quality settings and 32 bit, the frame rate at 1024×768 drops to ~50 fps, which is definitely fast enough to enjoy the game. Matrox can only keep pace up to 800×600.

TwinView under Windows 2000

If you read the whole article you may have noticed that I mentioned the inability of certain drivers to run two monitors under Windows 2000. Since the successor to Windows NT is definitely capable of working with several outputs (the Millennium G450 runs fine), the problem had to be within NVIDIA’s drivers. TwinView is only available for some months, since early MX-drivers did not support this feature. I was able to trace NVIDIA’s driver releases back to approximately 6.31. That is also the driver version which can be found at the support page of MSI’s Taiwanese website, explicitly supporting TwinView under Windows 2000 and Windows NT.

If anybody tries to use the shipped driver versions with TwinView under Windows 2000 (which can reach back to 6.18 in case of Asus or 6.27 with Leadtek and Gainward), TwinView will fail. First of all please check that you have the latest Service Pack (1) and updated drivers installed (6.31 or newer). A good place to find NVIDIA drivers is www.rivastation.com.

Conclusion

Cards with GeForce2 GTS/Pro/Ultra are certainly not affordable for everybody. ATI’s Radeon is definitely quite a nice piece of hardware, but DDR boards are still too expensive and Radeon VE is only on its way to the market. TNT2 is really outdated and S3’s Savage2000 not fast enough for gamers.

Even if some of you may be dissatisfied by the MX due to its use of single data rate memory, please realize that MX-cards provide good performance at a reasonable price. People who want to get a model that is just meant to stay up-to-date as long as possible should be pleased enough with an MX. Also users with limited budgets do not make a mistake by choosing an MX board and finally the performance is good enough for most games today.

The Asus AGP-V7100 is certainly the most flexible card of this review, as you can either attach an analog monitor and a DVI-I flat panel, or another analog device using the included adapter.

Cardexpert and Leadtek are selling pretty similar MX-products. Both have two monitor outputs and a TV out, which is a perfect configuration for demanding home and multimedia users right now.

Suma mainly targets the business market, as they did not equip their Platinum GeForce2 MX with a TV out. Instead of that, their SIF filter is supposed to ensure the best signal quality possible.

MSI’s card does not support two monitors but comes with a TV out, which makes this card look interesting for multimedia computers.