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The choice for PCI graphics cards is growing smaller and smaller as
time goes bye , with very few manufacturers not including a AGP slot
on there motherboards , the financial reward for supplying to a ever diminishing
market must be disappearing equally fast . PalitDaytona has brought
us the GF4mx420 PCI graphics card for those without a AGP slot . Just
to see how this card performs I will be putting it up against my old ,
but reliable Voodoo3 2000pci card .
System specs : Epox 8k3a ( 2312bios
) XP1700 @ 11x166 1.75v , Direct X8.1 , Win98SE , Maxtor 40gig 7200rpm
ATA133 , Samsung PC2700 256meg , Netcomm PCI modem , TV card , C-media
Sound , 50x CD-rom , 32x12x40 CD-rw , 20gig ATA100 seagate 7200rpm .
Nvidia 29.42 drivers for GF4mx420.
GF4mx420
To start with , I will run 3Dmark2001SE
at the default settings .
2833 3Dmarks
Well , my old GF2mx could have done
that ( AGP card ) so we have to accept the fact that the PCI slot is
going to act a bit like a hand break when comparing results with
similar AGP cards . Next I tried 1027x768x16 ( this is what the
Voodoo3 2000pci will do ) .
3362 3Dmarks
A lot better , but all the tests were
run in 16bit mode , next Quake .
800x600x16bit =
51.9FPS
1024x768x16bit =
45.7FPS
1280x1024x16bit =
35.7FPS
Quake wasn't nearly as kind to this
card as 3Dmark2001SE was , in fact I think a TNT64 AGP could give this
card a run for its money , running Quake frame rates , in fact you'l
see for your self just how unkind Quake has been in a moment .
Voodoo3 2000pci
I forget how old this card is now , but
it must be at least 5 years I think , and for such an old card it
still does ok , esp when overclocked . So lets check out those
3Dmark2001SE benchmarks ( 1027x768x16bit ) stock clock speeds .
2009 3Dmarks
Well that's not to good at all by today's
standards ,( still shames the GF2mx200 though ) , esp taking the cards
age to consideration , and the fact that its PCI , well onto Quake :
800x600x16bit =
59.7FPS
1027x768x16bit =
38.9FPS
Just in case you were wondering max
screen res for the Voodoo3 2000 is 1027x768x16bit , and if you noticed
the Voodoo3 2000pci wiped the floor with the GF4mx420pci @
800x600x16bit screen res . At higher screen res the GF4mx420 takes the
lead , as it should , and I was very surprised to see the Voodoo do so
well at 800x600x16bit .
Conclusion:
The GF4mx420 has 4 times the ram
onboard compared to the Voodoo3 2000pci , yet for some strange reason
game play was much smoother with the old voodoo card , well in anyway
the Daytona card put on a reasonable show taking the limitations of
the PCI slot into account . Personally I think I will hang on to my
aging voodoo card , the GF4mx420 seemed to slow down
considerably during game play as the action got hot and heavy , noticeably
more than the Voodoo , the same thing happened playing Rouge Spear .
We all know that a AGP slot is essential for good games performance ,
but for you folks holding on to your old 200MMX systems and only able
to chose from PCI cards , here is a card that will give you more
performance than you may be able to utilize , as well as TV-out
.
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