Test System
Specs: |
Computer: |
AthlonXP1800+ (1.53 GHz at 1.7) 256MB OCZ
PC2400 DDR Ram EPoX 8KHA+ SB Live! Platinum 5.1 30GB IBM
DeskStar 75 GXP |
Video Cards: |
Asus V7700 Deluxe (GF2 GTS 200/333) MSI StarForce 822 (GF3
200/460) Prolink PixelView GeForce2 MX (GF2 MX400 200/183) Prolink
PixelView GeForce2 MX (GF2 MX400 241/245) |
Software: |
Windows 98SE DirectX 8.0 Via 4in1
4.35V DetonatorXP 22.80 |
Benchmarks: |
3DMark2000 Ver
1.1 3DMark2001 GLMark Serious Sam: The First Encounter Quake
III Arena Return to Castle Wolfenstein MP
Test |
It's a shame that over at MadOnion, there are so many cheaters
claiming high scores in 3DMark2000. It makes you think whether the results you
see are accurate.
3DMark2000
Asus V7700 Deluxe GeForce2 GTS |
MSI StarForce 822 GeForce3 |
PixelView GeForce2 MX |
PixelView GeForce2 MX (oc'ed) |
9712 |
12015 |
6708 |
8014 |
It's no surprise that the MX400 is bringing it up in the rear, however, when
overclocked, it leads to quite a healthy performance gain! In general,
3DMark2000 is a great program to test DirectX 7 performance. Here's
3DMark2001, newer and updated for DirectX8.
3DMark2001
Asus V7700 Deluxe GeForce2 GTS |
MSI StarForce 822 GeForce3 |
PixelView GeForce2 MX |
PixelView GeForce2 MX (oc'ed) |
4550
|
8484
|
3234
|
4178
|
Again, the MX is last, but that's expected. Overclocking brings it close to
GeForce2 GTS speeds!
Here is Vulpine's GLMark, it's a synthetic like the 2 3DMark's, but this is
for OpenGL.
Asus V7700 Deluxe GeForce2 GTS |
MSI StarForce 822 GeForce3 |
PixelView GeForce2 MX |
PixelView GeForce2 MX (oc'ed) |
43.2 fps
|
79.2 fps
|
27.7 fps
|
31.2 fps
|
GLMark isn't as kind to the MX400 as the 3DMark's. Here, the MX400 trails by
quite a bit and even when it's overclocked it doesn't seem to help much.
Enough with the synthetics, let's take a look at some real world games. Next
up is Serious Sam
Serious Sam
|
Asus V7700 Deluxe GeForce2 GTS |
MSI StarForce 822 GeForce3 |
PixelView GeForce2 MX |
PixelView GeForce2 MX (oc'ed) |
Normal 640x480 Suburbs Demo |
160.2 fps |
167 fps |
102.1 fps |
110.3 fps |
Normal 640x480 Dunes Demo |
187.7 fps
|
210.8 fps
|
127.4 fps
|
132.1 fps
|
Serious Sam backs up with earlier benchmarks says. Let's turn up the resolution
a bit and see how things fair...
|
Asus V7700 Deluxe GeForce2 GTS |
MSI StarForce 822 GeForce3 |
PixelView GeForce2 MX |
PixelView GeForce2 MX (oc'ed) |
Quality 800x600 Dunes Demo |
107.5 fps |
157.9 fps |
74.2 fps |
79.6 fps |
Quality 800x600 Suburbs Demo |
87.5 fps |
123.7 fps |
54.2 fps |
61.7 fps |
Quality 1024x768 Dunes Demo |
79 fps |
141.2 fps |
49.1 fps |
54.2 fps |
Quality 1024x768 Suburbs Demo |
59 fps
|
97.1 fps
|
36.1 fps
|
42.7 fps
|
That's as far as I'm willing to push the MX. Any settings higher and all we'd
accomplish is to embarrass it.
Let's get some Quake
III action!
|
Asus V7700 Deluxe GeForce2 GTS |
MSI StarForce 822 GeForce3 |
PixelView GeForce2 MX |
PixelView GeForce2 MX (oc'ed) |
Fastest demo001 |
287.4 fps |
303.9 fps |
286.4 fps |
286.7 fps |
Fastest nv15demo |
85.7 fps
|
90.7 fps
|
87.6 fps
|
86.9 fps
|
All CPU limted here. Let's crank up the resolution...
|
Asus V7700 Deluxe GeForce2 GTS |
MSI StarForce 822 GeForce3 |
PixelView GeForce2 MX |
PixelView GeForce2 MX (oc'ed) |
HQ demo001 |
163.4 fps |
255.7 fps |
107.6 fps |
120.1 fps |
HQ nv15demo |
65.5 fps |
66.8 fps |
54.9 fps |
59.8 fps |
MAX 1024x768 demo001 |
97.9 fps |
201.2 fps |
64.9 fps |
75.1 fps |
MAX 1024x768 nv15demo |
50.2 fps
|
63.5 fps
|
37.8 fps
|
41.4 fps
|
Obviously the MX is dead last, but by quite a margin too! Unfortunately the
MX just doesn't have enough horsepower to keep up with the big boys.
Next up it's Return to Castle
Wolfenstein which is based on the Quake III engine,
so the results should be similar.
|
Asus V7700 Deluxe GeForce2 GTS |
MSI StarForce 822 GeForce3 |
PixelView GeForce2 MX |
PixelView GeForce2 MX (oc'ed) |
MAX 640x480 atdemo6 |
60.7 fps |
63.9 fps |
58.4 fps |
59.6 fps |
MAX 640x480 atdemo8 |
161.2 fps
|
175.3 fps
|
140.8 fps
|
152.7 fps
|
Since the atdemo6 is all CPU limited, there
really isn't a noticeable difference between the cards, however with the
atdemo8, the MX's are already starting to fall behind!
|
Asus V7700 Deluxe GeForce2 GTS |
MSI StarForce 822 GeForce3 |
PixelView GeForce2 MX |
PixelView GeForce2 MX (oc'ed) |
MAX 800x600 atdemo6 |
58.5 fps |
62.7 fps |
38.1 fps |
41.2 fps |
MAX 800x600 atdemo8 |
130.4 fps |
167.5 fps |
46.1 fps |
54.3 fps |
MAX 1024x768 atdemo6
|
53.1 fps |
60.1 fps |
22.6 fps |
24.7 fps |
MAX 1024x768 atdemo8 |
107.6 fps
|
163.7 fps
|
39.6 fps
|
43.4 fps
|
As we can see, the MX card just can't keep up with
its' more powerful brothers. The MX performs like... well, an MX card should.
It's not that bad, it can play any game at 800x600-32bit no problem, however it
just doesn't have the power to compete with more powerful (and expensive) cards
like the GTS and GF3. Even when it's overclocked, it's no where close to being
as fast as the GTS. Still, it does have it's appeal, which is mainly the dual display capabilities.
Even the
closest competitor, ATI's RadeonVE is quite a bit more expensive then Prolink's PixelView
GeForce2 MX. If Prolink would also package a DVI to analog converter, things would be even better for the PixelView MX Twin.
If you're a gamer then you already know you should be staying away from the
MX lineup. They are not well positioned to play most of today's high-end games,
and I'd hate to see how they fair with tomorrow's! For non-gamers looking around
in the value market for a decent video card the Pixelview does offer the dual
display features many might find attractive, especially if you want to
transition to a DVI-based flat screen display.