Xabre or Mx440

[lonewolf1983]

im tossing up between these 2 cards...
price is about $90 Us, and im in Australia and these are the only 2 cards in the price range, so no ti4200 or 8500 recommendations please :)

im only a light gamer,and have heard of the triplex xabre cards having a high pitched noise during operation.
Im concerned about driver support with the Xabre, something i wouldnt have to with the Nvidia card.
I never keep my gfx cards long, so long term features isnt that important, but decent compatibility and performance is.
im using an SIS chipset mobo, so both cards will work well technically.

thoughts people?

[Maxvla]

check out this link.

i think the best bet is the nvidia gf4 mx line

http://www17.tomshardware.com/graphic/02q3/020730/index.html

this review is right up your alley.

[funnyperson1]

my suggestion to you would be to go to the ocau forums and see if they know any good cheap online australian sites, because i know in the US you can get a Radeon8500LE for 90$ online but in the stores 150$ us is the norm......

if not i would go with the MX440, the Geforce2 architecture its based on is one that has been proven to work and work well.....

also where is Perth? I was just in australia for a couple weeks, we flew into Sydney and drove up to Cairns while stopping along the way.....:D

[slim_lim]

Well, as far as compatibility is concerned, Nvidia is king. Xabre would be an interersting card to try out, and I hear the image quality is quite good, but as a fresh new entry in 3d market it's bound to have some driver/compatibilty issues. In your price range, you may also consider a Geforce3 of some sort, although I don't know if they're more expensive in Australia.

[lonewolf1983]

perth is on the west coast of australia, away from all the other cities :)

as for other cards, a gf3ti200 will cost me $250 Aus, vs $150 for the other cards, a radeon LE will cost me $300+
so they are outta the picture.
I dont need to look at online stores, these prices are thru a wholesaler, cost price here....

[Maxvla]

the mx460 card cleans up in that review. i'd go with it.

also the mx420 and 440 cards aren't full size cards... which is kinda weird looking. :beer:

[DaddyB]

out of those 2 my vote goes for the GF4mx460 but I think you should look around to see if you can find a radeon 9000 since it should be in the same price range and out perform those cards by a small margin... plus its DirectX 8.1 compatible, which the GF4 is not.

Edit: just noticed you were looking at the mx440... I would go for the mx460 if you can afford the extra few bucks.