GF4-MX400 or Voodoo5 5500?

[profdlp]

Laugh at me:vimp: , but I am still using a Voodoo5 5500 in my main computer. I recently acquired a GeForce4 MX400 from my bro-in-law. I am planning on building a new computer in the near future (this Fall looks good), but that is not guaranteed. My new system will have something less prehistoric.

Is it worth my time/trouble to stick the MX400 in my main comp?

I must admit that I'm awfully tired or wrestling with my orphaned Voodoo card, and it's lack of any serious drivers for XPpro. However, having my two 12-year-old nephews here this week has rekindled my interest in 3-D gaming.

Tell me what you think.


Prof:crazy:

[GHoosdum]

Stick the MX440 in there for temporary use. It can't hurt since you've got it!

[WuGgaRoO]

buy a 9600 for 150 at newegg.com...cant go wrong bro

[RWB]

WuGgaRoO said
buy a 9600 for 150 at newegg.com...cant go wrong bro

I doubt he is willing to spend any money, he already has the card and wants o know which of the 2he has to use.

I'd go with the MX400

[SimGuy]

The GeForce 4 MX-440 performs at about the same level as the older GeForce 2 GTS GPU does, fully supporting DirectX 7.0 extensions & technologies.

In both synthetic & gaming benchmarks, the GeForce 2 GTS managed to best the Voodoo 5 5500 in 99% of the tests.

I'd highly recommend the GF4 MX-440 and save your pennies for a DX9 video card. :)

//Edit: There is no "MX-400" edition of the GeForce 4, unless NVidia has released some severely scaled down version of the MX420 (how you can scale down from SDR VRAM, I have no idea...) :D

[Geeky1]

Wait a minute... GeForce 4 MX400?!?!

AFAIK, there's a GF4 MX420, 440, and 460, and GF2 MX200s and 400s. No GF4MX400... or am I wrong?

[GHoosdum]

You're exactly right, Geeky...

Which card is this?

[SimGuy]

I think he might have been referring to the 440, but accidently typed the 400. I can't find ANY information on the MX-400, other than companies who retail the 440, but mistakenly labelled them the 400.

eg,

http://www.vartotechnologies.com/item331.htm

Says that the card is the "MX-400", but then contradicts that in the first sentence, stating the "MX-440 packs 64MB of DDR memory...."

[Straight_Man]

OTOH, there is a GF2 MX400 (I have one, from PNY). But if that is what he is thinking, I would say the Voodoo5 if what he is going to use it for likes both cards. The MX400 was more compatible, in its day.

[GHoosdum]

Compatibility and outdated drivers seem to be a problem with the Voodoo. I suggest sticking in the GF and running with it.

[SimGuy]

prof,

It also depends on what types of games you are playing on this video card. If the majority of your games support Glide, then go with the V5500. However, if they only support Direct3D or OpenGL, your better off with the "MX400" (whatever that is...) as it actually supports DX7. :)

Even if it is the GeForce 2 MX400, back in the day, people were able to get decent overclocks out of them, provided you upgraded the cooling system. :)

[SimGuy]

GHoosdum said
Compatibility and outdated drivers seem to be a problem with the Voodoo. I suggest sticking in the GF and running with it.

When trying to get my old Voodoo 5 6000 (yes, 6000) to run on Windows XP, I find it easiest to install "unofficial" beta drivers by 3DHQ. The creator usually includes the 3DFX Tools menu and a really stable driver on all OS's (especially 98 & Me). :)

The latest release is Beta 10. A link can be found below:

http://www.voodoofiles.com/9529

[profdlp]

SimGuy said
...//Edit: There is no "MX-400" edition of the GeForce 4, unless NVidia has released some severely scaled down version of the MX420 (how you can scale down from SDR VRAM, I have no idea...) :D
Hang on...
Geeky1 said
Wait a minute... GeForce 4 MX400?!?!

AFAIK, there's a GF4 MX420, 440, and 460, and GF2 MX200s and 400s. No GF4MX400... or am I wrong?
Wait for it...
GHoosdum said
You're exactly right, Geeky...

Which card is this?
Yes, he is...it is the...
SimGuy said
I think he might have been referring to the 440, but accidently typed the 400.
Close, I am a hamfisted typist. This time I was just confusing the card I just got - which is a GF4 MX440 with my girlfriends GF2 MX400. Early onset of alzheimers, I suppose.:crazy:
Ageek said
OTOH, there is a GF2 MX400 (I have one, from PNY). But if that is what he is thinking, I would say the Voodoo5 if what he is going to use it for likes both cards. The MX400 was more compatible, in its day.
The compatibility thing is my current bugbear. Like some of my relationships, the XP drivers work to some degree, just not very well - and I can't always do everything I want...:D
SimGuy said
prof,

It also depends on what types of games you are playing on this video card. If the majority of your games support Glide, then go with the V5500. However, if they only support Direct3D or OpenGL, your better off with the "MX400" (whatever that is...) as it actually supports DX7. :)

Even if it is the GeForce 2 MX400, back in the day, people were able to get decent overclocks out of them, provided you upgraded the cooling system. :)

The big problem was with Unreal Tournament. I dusted it off for my nephews to play, but couldn't get it to play (except in a dinky window, fer crying out loud) unless I used software rendering.
SimGuy said
When trying to get my old Voodoo 5 6000 (yes, 6000) to run on Windows XP, I find it easiest to install "unofficial" beta drivers by 3DHQ. The creator usually includes the 3DFX Tools menu and a really stable driver on all OS's (especially 98 & Me). :)

The latest release is Beta 10. A link can be found below:
http://www.voodoofiles.com/9529
SimGuy, nice call.:thumbsup: I went with the drivers you mentioned and now all is as it should be.

I had used 3rd-Party "Unofficial" drivers in the past (with Win2K), but always ran into some sort of problem which led me to dump them out of frustration. These seem to be working fine, and it is certainly nice to have the 3dfx tools back.

The only time I have ever bought the "latest-and-greatest" video card was the Voodoo 5. Then 3dfx went TU and left me with a driverless orphan. If it wasn't for the IBM "DeathStar" drives, which consume most of the energy I allot for griping, I would probably complain about my Voodoo experience more than I do. I bought two Voodoo 2 cards for SLI - one died within weeks. I had bought them from a vendor at a computer show, who I never saw again. Went to the store and bought another Voodoo 2 - wasn't compatible with the first one. Went back and bought another one (same brand, etc.). Four cards to get two working. Then I upgraded to the Voodoo 3. Whoopty-Doo, didn't see much difference. Then came the Voodoo 5.

Since I plan to build a whole new system before long, I think I'll just stick with the Voodoo 5 (and SimGuy's driver tip) for now. Unless I get curious and run some benchmarks on the Voodoo and decide to install the GF4 MX440 for comparison.

Thanks for the help!


Prof
(Would have replied sooner, but took the boys fishing:tongue: )

[SimGuy]

Glad to know your up and running :)
The ol' Voodoo 5 could really push the poly's back on games like UT that supported Glide :)

[Enverex]

Does the GF4-MX support Pixel Shaders?

The GF4-MX is quite a bit better than the GF2 GTS though.

NS

[SimGuy]

NightShade737 said
Does the GF4-MX support Pixel Shaders?

The GF4-MX is quite a bit better than the GF2 GTS though.

NS

The GeForce 4 MX (NV17) is an enhanced version of the GeForce 2 GTS (NV15), fully supporting DirectX 7 API's and featuring a 2x64-bit Cross-Bar Memory Controller (LMA-II).

Also included is NVidia's Second Generation T&L Engine and NVidia's Shading Rasterizer (per-Pixel Shaders). I should mention that these Pixel Shaders are NOT programmable, but can only be utilized if the software makes calls for the pre-programmed Pixel Shaders included in the GPU.

It does NOT support Vertex Shading at all and is inferior to the GeForce 3/Radeon 8500 or faster families of video cards.

You can ROUGHLY compare the performance of the following devices to eachother:

GF4MX460 -> GF2 Titanium
GF4MX440 -> GF2 Ultra/Pro/GTS
GF4MX420 -> GF2 MX (the GF4MX420 is a SDR-based board).

[profdlp]

Well, curiosity got the better of me. I installed the GF4-MX440 to see what it looked like. Not a huge difference, but enough to be sure it's not my imagination.

I'm looking forward to getting something a little more 21st century, though.

Thanks for all the advice.:respect:


Prof
(Who will probably be back to pester you again when it comes time to order my new stuff :p )