Radeon PCI or MX400 PCI?

[oldfart]

I hate even asking. I'm upgrading a friend of a relatives Gateway and need a PCI card (no AGP slot). It will have one of the Powerleap Celeron 1.2 setups in it when I'm done, so it will be OK in the CPU department. I'm pretty familiar with both products in AGP versions. The owners are not gamers, but the kids do have some games that are 3D, so 3D performance is a concern. Has anyone tried both of them? Please dont suggest a Voodoo 5. I know its better, but not the right card for this system. Dont suggest a new mobo either (dont ask). This is what I'm stuck with.

Thanks

 

[BFG10K]

If the Radeon has SDR memory (AFAIK all PCI versions do), pick the MX400. If it doesn't, get the Radeon instead.

 

[oldfart]

Yeah, the PCI Radeon is 32 meg SDR. I'm leaning towards the MX400.

 

[BFG10K]

I think in this case it's the lesser of two evils.

However the other side of the coin is that the Radeon might have better 2D image quality and Hyper-Z may edge it ahead of the MX400. Radeon PCI reviews are extremely rare (I think I've only ever seen one a very long time ago). In all honesty I doubt the kids will notice a difference between the two cards.

 

[oldfart]

I know. This upgrade is not one I'm crazy about. For what they use it for, it will be just fine (overkill really). I just wanted to get the best card that is available.

You are right about there being no reviews on the PCI cards. The MX400 I was looking at is Visiontek, which I hope has decent 2D, but who knows. The integrated video is Riva 128 zx, which I doubt is all that great. I dont know how much the Hyperz helps on the PCI card. I was hoping someone here has tried them both and could give some first hand insight.

Thanks!

 

[BFG10K]

It's good to see you posting again dude. Take care over the holidays.

 

[FrustratedUser]

I have a GF2MX PCI with SDR in my rig. Works just fine.
With a 1.2GHz Celeron you should have a nice setup.

I don't know about Radeon

 

[Engineer]

Well, after running the terrible Savage4 built in video on the Shuttle SV24 (498 in the 3DMark2000 default), I tried both the GeForce2 MX200 32Meg PCI and then the Radeon SDR PCI...

GeForce2 MX200 3DMark2000: 1968
Radeon SDR PCI : 2685

(Both tweaked).....

I kept the Radeon because it was much cheaper and included TV/SuperVideo out....($77.99 for the GeForce2 MX locally vs. $49.99 for the Radeon Locally after rebate and coupon...maybe $39.99 if I can price-match this baby tomorrow with CompUSA )...

I've seen benchmarks from others on the same motherboard using the GeForce2 MX400 go as high as 3950 (pulled from the VIA hardware forums SV24 16 page thread)....

Good Luck all

(For me..the Radeon does the trick and was much cheaper too.....)

 

[oldfart]

Its a long story, but I just bought a used V3 2000 PCI for it ($25). I didn't want them to spend any money on the thing since the PC (Gateway) is not very upgradeable. I also bailed on the Powerleap idea. Some people have success, but I've seen quite a few that don't have any luck with it. The V3 will do for now until they decide to get a new PC.