NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX - The new mainstream card (1/9)

Now that NVIDIA has introduced its new high-end part GeForce 2 GTS for the enthusiast audience, it seems the company wants to make a stronger showing in the classic OEM business as well. The main target here would obviously be ATi.

The GeForce 2 MX's specs promise to deliver everything that the "big players" also have: 32 MB memory, 0.18 micron production process, T&L, and multiple rendering pipes. Closer inspection reveals some differences, though. While the GeForce2 utilizes 4 renderpipes, which can each render two pixels per clock, the tuned-down MX has only two of those. It's predecessor, the GeForce 256 also had four pipelines - like the normal GF2 GTS, but these were limited to rendering one pixel per pipe each clockcycle.

The practical upshot is that the GeForce 2 GTS can render four texels per clockcycle as opposed to two for the GeForce 256 or the GeForce2 MX. The MX's only advantage to GF 256 is its increased clock speed of 175 MHz, up from the GF256's 120 MHz. This allows the MX to boast a theoretical peak fillrate of 700 megatexels per second (only Multitexturing, half that speed with single texturing), clearly outpacing the GF256 with its 480 Mtexels/s. But the limiting factor here isn't the corespeed - and consequently the chip's processing power - but rather the memory performance and throughput. Thanks to its modern production process, the chip requires only passive cooling despite its high clock speed, making it very attractive for OEM's: Cut cost wherever you can.

GeForce2 MX boards will be sold either with 128bit or (slower but cheaper) 64bit memory modules, while DDR memory is not planned. 64bit cards are not going to be very attractive for gamers though and will most likely show up in pre-built systems. Even using 128bit SDRAM running at 166MHz would be throttling the chip and holding it back from realizing its full potential. The relatively meager memory bandwidth of 2,7 GB/s (GeForce2 has 5,2 GB/s) does its share in keeping the performance within very clear boundaries. Bring 64bit memory into the picture and you might as well speak of concrete walls…

GeForce 2 MX referececard with 32MB SDRAM

The first cards to hit the shelves are most likely going to be using 128bit SDRAM memory. Nonetheless we can't mention this often enough: If you want to buy a MX, look on the memory! How many people got a TNT2 card at seemingly bargain price, only to discover later that they overlooked the little M64 in the name…

Copyright: 10.07.2000 -   RIVA Station 2000 - Lars Weinand
No Copy without Permission!

URL of this Article: www.rivastation.com/geforce2mx_e.htm - If you want to link to it, please use this URL! :-)