GF4 MX440 vs FX5200

Street · 16 Oct 2007 at 12:16

I'm bored and am pimping my work PC. I've got a decent overclock out of it but the onboard graphics are kinda bad for CSS.

I've managed to scrounge an MX440 or an FX5200, but don't know which one is better. Obviously the FX is newer, but I heard they were a bit carp. So.. Which should I stick in my PC?

Lanz · 16 Oct 2007 at 12:19

Go with the FX5200 as at least its DX9, the MX440 is a bad DX7 card.

phatboy · 16 Oct 2007 at 12:22

yeah the FX is your best bet. might have a bit more headroom for O/C'ing too

it is a kind of saw your arm or leg off decision....neither is gonna be great

good luck tho....steal a 120mm fan and cable tie it to the top or summin and try oc the nuts off it lol

Ben

Street · 16 Oct 2007 at 12:24

phatboy said:
good luck tho....steal a 120mm fan and cable tie it to the top or summin and try oc the nuts off it lol

Sounds like a plan! The only trouble is, its a small desktop case, so not a lot of room for things. I suppose if it dies, I can try and blag a 1950 out of the company as a replacement..

randal · 16 Oct 2007 at 12:38

MX440s were based on the Geforce2 chipsets weren't they?? Old old old.

Street · 16 Oct 2007 at 13:53

Whats a good clocking tool for the FX5200 then?

Lanz · 16 Oct 2007 at 13:56

Get a coat hanger, put one end in the mains, and attach the other end to the 4th pin on the VGA. That should overclock it good.

In other words, dont bother, all you'll get is really crap performance, compared to utter crap performance.

Oh ok, just use rivatuner...

randal · 16 Oct 2007 at 13:58

Lanz said:
Get a coat hanger, put one end in the mains, and attach the other end to the 4th pin on the VGA. That should overclock it good.

In other words, dont bother, all you'll get is really crap performance, compared to utter crap performance.

Oh ok, just use rivatuner...

5th pin dude. N00b mistake...

Street · 16 Oct 2007 at 14:04

Lanz said:
Get a coat hanger, put one end in the mains, and attach the other end to the 4th pin on the VGA. That should overclock it good.

In other words, dont bother, all you'll get is really crap performance, compared to utter crap performance.

Oh ok, just use rivatuner...

Haha, I'm bored.. I need something to amuse me in work!

Scrutinize · 16 Oct 2007 at 14:06

phatboy said:
it is a kind of saw your arm or leg off decision....neither is gonna be great

More like a choice between your left leg and right leg.

The FX5200 is in reality no better than a MX440, When they came out the FX5200 could only really play the games the 440 could cope with and at pretty much the same framerates from what I remember from my machines.

Its more 10fps to 12fps gain where the improvement in real terms has no effect on the playability. Fine for RTSs of old and WoW.

randal · 16 Oct 2007 at 14:10

Actually, is this a PCI based PC? Or is it AGP? If it's the latter is it a half-height slot?

PinkFloyd · 16 Oct 2007 at 14:13

I've used both a MX440 and a FX5200, the MX was a PCI card the latter AGP.
Really no noticeable difference in performance. I still have the MX440 solely as its handy to have around just as a display card.

Street · 16 Oct 2007 at 14:16

Yeh its AGP and yeh its half height, which is why I', struggling to scrounge a graphics card for my beast of an office PC!

So far I've blagged a P4 2.8 which is running at 3.2, 1GB of RAM and an FX5200 (soon to be overclocked!)

randal · 16 Oct 2007 at 14:18

Aren't some of the newer ATI 2400s half height swappable?

Yrkoon · 16 Oct 2007 at 14:38

in my old old rig my geforce 4mx 440 beat a 5600 ultra fx at the ut2003 benchmark test with the same system

440 is about the same as a geforce 2 ultra.

Scrutinize · 16 Oct 2007 at 14:52

Yrkoon said:
in my old old rig my geforce 4mx 440 beat a 5600 ultra fx at the ut2003 benchmark test with the same system

440 is about the same as a geforce 2 ultra.

Those FX5600/5700 cards were horrible though.

Street · 16 Oct 2007 at 15:04

Lanz said:
In other words, dont bother, all you'll get is really crap performance, compared to utter crap performance.

Pfft.. Well I've cranked everything up. Got my P4 2.8@ 3.2GHz and my FX5200 up from 200/400 to 300/505! My FPS in CSS has gone up from 36 at 1024x768 with medium details to 56!

jeggsy · 16 Oct 2007 at 16:24

Best half-height AGP cards i've seen is either an ATI Radeon 9250 or a PNY Geforce 6200. Both 256Mb and about £40ish.

Believe me i've looked as we have the half-height Dell Optiplex GX240, 260, 270 and 280's.

tomanders91 · 16 Oct 2007 at 16:52

randal24 said:
MX440s were based on the Geforce2 chipsets weren't they?? Old old old.

tbh, i ran everything on a mx440 for ages,

CSS
HL2
Dawn of War
Far Cry
Doom 3
Sims 2
Guild Wars

etc etc, all ran fine at lows, some medium settings smoothly.

randal · 16 Oct 2007 at 18:15

Blimey, well I'll be. I remember running Max Payne in a GF2 MX400, because my 3DFX card couldn't hack the pace. I borrowed the card off a mate while he went away on holiday for the week. Ah thems were the days.

I guess that was running 640x480 or 800x600 though?