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Serious Sam: Second Encounter
The second installment in the Serious Sam series, the new version has even more eye candy. It isn't terribly video card straining, but does push them harder than the Quake 3 engine.
1024x768 and 1600x1200, No AA
Both the The MX440-T8x and the MX440-VTD8x do alright at 1024x768. The stock speed of the MX440-T8x slows it down of course, but overclocking it helps move it past its faster brother. 1600x1200 proves to be a strain on both cards, but the overclocked MX440 does surpass the 30fps mark.
1024x768, 4 x AA
The MX440 is brutalized when AA is turned on. Despite having "GeForce 4" in its name, don't count on any playable AA framerates.
Unreal Tournament 2003
A fairly good test of video card performance, UT2k3 has some great eye candy, but your video card better be something decent to play the game the way it was meant to be played.
1024x768, No AA
Even without AA on, the MX440 has a hard time staying in the thirty framerate zone. The stock MX440-T8x doesn't even reach that plateau.
1024x768, 4 x AA
At 15fps for the overclocked MX440, you may as well forget about playing with AA on.
Final Words
This is my first look at the MX440 personally, and as a enthusiast, I'll have to admit that the MX440 is probably not the card for you if high resolution gaming is your thing. I play quite a bit of Return to Castle Wolfenstein online, and even with an Athlon 2400+, there is no way I'd dare play the game at even 1024. I have to regularly knock myself down to 800x600, and on a 21" Trinitron, it doesn't make for the nicest picture.
On the otherhand, I do see where the MX440 can make a reasonable choice for some people. If your monitor is 15" (rare these days, unless if you're the owner of a smaller LCD), 800x600 is probably where you're stuck at. Owners of SFF slim PCs saddled with terrible onboard video could stand to benefit from the MSI MX440-T8x, since it's one of the few cards that will fit if you get the required bracket. Since there's no fan, people looking to build a quiet PC will appreciate the passive cooling this card uses.
It'd be a good choice for corporate types, where noise and price is an issue, but the lack of a secondary VGA or DVI output puts a damper on things.
Still, the card is better than most onboard solutions, which is what the MX440-T8x is geared towards, but in that case, MSI should package one half height bracket, along with the standard bracket, rather than having the consumer order one after.
Pros: Quiet (passive cooling), decent OC potential, decent performance at low resolutions. Cheap.
Cons: Not suited for high res gaming, and AA is not suggested. No nView with this model.
Bottom Line: The card is not expensive, ringing in at about , but as an enthusiast, it's not one I can fully recommend. The Ti4200 is only about 60$ more, and if that's too much, the Radeon 8500 or 9000 would be better choices. If 68$ is too rich for you, we're giving away this card, as reviewed, right here.
Agree? Disagree? Discuss it in our forums
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MSI GF4 MX440-T8X: This is our second look at the GeForce 4 MX440 AGP8x part, but this one differs from past cards as it's designed to fit in tight spaces. The card is half the height, but how's the performance?
