Ge Force 2 Mx 440 64MB

[O Belo]

Helo there guys.

I am thinking about getting myself a Ge Force 2 Mx 440 64MB.
the purpose,is mainly for watching DivX,DVDs etc..in my telly.
How good is it ?
Is it worth it?
I mean,the output image quality is all right ?

Thank you very much

Felipe

[digitaladvisor]

Hi Felipe

I assemble home theatre orientated PC's and below are my findings:

I hope I don't start nVidia verses a Radeon debate. I'll be evenhanded here.


A manufacturer places various video encoder chipsets on these cards:

Going from poor quality to good quality:

1. Chromtel - prone to interference often is okay but unpredictatble - you end up thinking is this best quality? - well it aren't - Chromtel chips are unpredictable.

There are issues with this chip on nvidia cards with PAL overscan using a program called TVTOOL. You get interference and line banding!

Even on NTSC (if your TV plays back NTSC) there are issues with distortion as well - wavy distortion ripples in horizontal in overscan. Can be unstable as card warms up.

WHY overscan? - well normal mode (underscan) gives huge black borders around a DVD movie - you don't want that on the bigger screen TV only to have displayed smaller!

2. NV17 integrated video encoder by nVidia - okay but you will get underscan and you cannot do anything about it. Does not work with TVTOOL.

3. Brooktree encoder chip - good to excellent and reliable. Use with TVTOOL for overscan and better TV quality.

4. Conexant - same chip in XBOX for TV output. But only found on TI4200's like Albatron brand. EXCELLENT quality but pay for higher end card. HIGHLY RECCOMENDED. Quality of DVD better then DVD standalone players. Works with TV TOOL.

Alternative:

Radeon 7500 upwards to 9500 cards. Good excellent reliable TV output in Pal. Adjustable size. Overscan via 3D Rage Tweaker.

Can fail however on some cards on SVHS output (card defective) - return IMMEDIATELY, don't put up with it. It's not your TV or the way you are plugging things in - you can just get black and white to 45 degree RF lines scrolling through the picture.

Radeon cards actually cause a great deal of LESS interference with your TV set then as cheap nVidia can sometimes send out chunky radio interference.

(Found this out when installed a Radeon 9100 - alot of RF interference disappeared on the large screen TV (36") when replacing a MX400 nvidia with the Radeon.)

So it's over to you - but I looked into MX440 and discovered most manufactuers are using the embedded NV17 chip. This chip is on par Chromtel quality and it is exactly that good and on par with it.

The difference between a Chromtel encoder chip and a Conexant can be like night and day particurally if using TVTOOL with nvidia.

Not unless anyone has had differing experience with undercan and overscan on TV's.

Alternative to above - trends indicate integrated TV outs coming on most motherboards as standard fitments now. Not tested these lastest but from what I know quality looks good to excellent.

BTW: Are you getting digital TV broadcasts yet in your country? I understand you may be standard as here in Australia. We are shortly getting digital tuner cards for Australia sometime in May 2003.

Greetings to you.

DA