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"GFX accelerators"

OK, I'm updating my PC and need to know once and for all, i actually witheld buying a graphics card until I get some advice, which is the best card to get for under £120 and where is the best place to get it.

I'm thinking of getting a GeForce 4 MX460 (270clock,550RAM) but people say the GeForce 3 is a lot better but everywhere I look the GeForce 3 is too expensive also SR don't stock the MX460, only the mx420 and mx440, why?

Erm..no. It's not just these "extra features" which seem to be being passed off as irrelevant just to improve a few effects - the GF4mx is a very misleading name. The MX series are usually just cut down versions of the leading cards under a certain name, however, the gf4mx does not use the gf4 chipset at all - it is a revised version of the gf2 NV17. This puts it ahead of the gf2 series, yes, but not the gf3s - especially the Ti500, I use one, and it's a damn sweet card, definately not outperformed by the 4mx. The framerate isn't higher in real life situations either, any number of benchmarks I've checked show the Ti500 consistantly above the 4mx. I believe Tweakers summed this up:

"It would have made no sense not to attach the 'GeForce4' tag to it since came out after both the GeForce2 and 3. Originally NVIDIA planned to name the NV17 the GeForce3 MX but decided against this and renamed it the GeForce4 MX"

If you want a budget card now, gf3 ti200 of gf4 mx460, sure, but neither perform as well as the 3/4 Ti series, regardless of clock speed.

I know that the GeForce 3 Ti cards have more features but the clock speeds are a lot slower and in a lot of benchmarks I've seen the GeForce 4 MX 460 has given higher frame rates and this is what is important to me, the GF4MX460 is also capable of shifting more triangles/sec. so should it not theoretically be the better card to get, if not, why?

I had a GF2MX400 previously and I only started experiencing slowdown on recently released games (THPS3 and 2002FIFAwc)

Overclockers is a good online store, and i would get the Geforce 3 ti200 or better ti 500 as they are alot better than the geforce mx series and not to expensive either.

c.b.

Because MX4* isn't worth buying for any money. Even a Ti GF2 (if they exist) is probably better than an MX4*

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/ Online_Catalogue_Graphics_and_Video_56.html

There's a suspiciously cheap GF4 on there...

Either that or a Radeon. They sell them at SR too.

I really would actually save up to get something better though.

Hmm, my GF3 Ti550/XP is the same price as the Ti4600 now...

OK, I'm updating my PC and need to know once and for all, i actually witheld buying a graphics card until I get some advice, which is the best card to get for under £120 and where is the best place to get it.

I'm thinking of getting a GeForce 4 MX460 (270clock,550RAM) but people say the GeForce 3 is a lot better but everywhere I look the GeForce 3 is too expensive also SR don't stock the MX460, only the mx420 and mx440, why?