Onboard:GeForce4 MX GPU Results & Questions.

Im doing some research for a upcoming computer build and the board Im lookin at right now comes with "GeForce4 MX GPU" on board video and was wondering what kind of performance it gives out (ie: Ut2004, Doom3, etc.)

Ive never used onboard video myself, does it take away from any performance from the CPU ?

thanks

-superman

It one of the worst card ever made, dont bother with it. It support only DirectX 7, and its slow as anything. I could barely play Ut2004 @ 800x600 with low details using that card on my bro's PC along time ago. Not to mention Ut2k4 is DX 8.1

Doom3 it wouldnt even run im betting and D3 is a DX9 game. Onboard video says it has like say 32mb or 64mb, but it actually takes system memory and uses it as video memory which is another no no for gamming. Dont get anything that says, MX, or LE or SE in the name

what about buying a respectable video card and just disableing the onboard video ?

I upgraded from a crappy 32mb PCI Hercules Phophet 4000XT card at the time since my motherboard dosn't support onboard video. I just stuck the tw*t in I then bought the GeForceFx 5200 128mb is a very decent card I can play any game from C&C Generals & Zero Hour, FarCry, Halo & Unreal 2004 with no problems.

Plus my GeForceFx 5200 is overclocked at a steady 350mhz core clock and 440mhz memory clock. Which makes it abit better in games Dungeon Siege is awsome providing Internet Security 2005 dosn't kick in after 4 hours of play for unwanted slowness .

If your after a budget card just for now get this otherwise go for a ATi Radeon 128mb 9800pro instead. Cause that's what people keep saying to me but I've seen a Nvidia GeForce5700 Ultra well 2 types actually just stuck on which too invest in.

I've just posted on here about it check it out.

-Superman said:

what about buying a respectable video card and just disableing the onboard video ?

Click to expand...

Yea you can disable the onboard video, and buy a regualr video card for the system it will work like that

While the GF4MX is pretty widely accepted as a bit of a farce, (It is in fact an ultra souped up GF2 aimed at the low cost sector) the GF4MX found on the nforce2 IGP motherboards is in fact the best onboard video currenly available for any platform. (Or, at least the socket A platform. I'm not sure how Intels onboard stuff stacks up against it.)

No, its not a fantastic card. But it will perform well for older titles. I doubt it will run Doom3 that great, Doom3 is quite a hog. I cannot say on UT2K4...but I'd imagine with some tweaking it might perform ok.

Other things of note: The cards performance is signifigantly better if you are using dual channel ram. Buy two sticks, and it will do a lot better. This is because it uses shared system ram for its video memory, as stated above. (This is a pretty common occurance with onboard video, however.) The dual memory channels provide 128bit memory for the card, which hinders it much less than 64bit single channel. Of course it will actually use some of your system ram, so be aware of that if you do decide to use the onboard video. The onboard card has been shown to be roughly equivalent to a GF4 MX440 (an AGP card that is available as well.)

If you are planning I buying an AGP card anyway, I don't see any reason to buy a board with the nforce2 IGP. You're better off getting a board with the regular nforce2, since they are usually cheaper and only lack a feature you would not even be using. (Perhaps you are looking for a microATX board though? I don't think there are any regular nforce2's in that format. I could be wrong.)