I believe that MSI has come to realize that consumers do not solely look upon performance when searching to buy a high performance video card - many consumers want extreme performance, an aesthetically pleasing card, extra features, and bundles of software, all at an affordable price. The MSI Geforce4 Ti4200 fits this bill perfectly, from its aesthetic value and great performance, to its slew of bundled games and utilities.
The box looks sleek, featuring a 3d rendered image of a face, as well as "TV-Out DVI-I" and "Free Dual VGA Support" advertised on the side of the face. Turning the box over, we find that there is a free bundled DVI to VGA connector, 7 in 1 games collection, MSI Utilities, as well as 3 full retail games.
To my surprise, the image on the back of the box was of a card with a green PCB (Printed Circuit Board) - this was not the case with my card though. The background is red on the back of the box, and the card must have needed the contrast to make it stand out. I have not heard of anyone receiving a card from MSI that had a green PCB, the bright red seems to be a favorite of both MSI and computer enthusiasts alike.
The bright red PCB is unique, giving the card an aesthetic appeal.
In the Quick User's Guide you will find the list of features:
The nVIDIA nfiniteFX II Engine enable a virtually infinite number of special effects that deliver the next leap in realism to 3D graphics:
- Dual programmable Vertex Shaders
- Advanced programmable Pixel Shaders
- nVIDIA Lightspeed Memory Architecture II
- nVIDIA Accuview Antialiasing
- 3D Textures
- Shadow Buffers
- 4 dual-rendering pipelines
- 8 texels per clock cycle
- Dual cube environment mapping
- 64MB High Speed DDR RAM memory
- High-Definition Video Processor
- AGP 4x with Fast Writes
- AGP 4X/2X and AGP Texturing support
- 32-bit color with 32-bit Z/stencil buffer
- Z-correct true, reflective bump mapping
- High-performance 2D rendering engine
- Hardware accelerated real-time shadows
- True-color hardware cursor
- Integrated hardware transform engine
- Integrated hardware lighting engine
- High-quality HDTV/DVD playback
- TV-Out and Video Modules
- Multibuffering (double, triple, quad) for smooth animation and video playback
- Microsoft DirectX and S3TC texture compression
- nVIDIA Unified Driver Architecture (UDA)
- Up to 8.0 GB/sec. memory bandwidth
- 113 million vertices/sec.
- 4.0 billion AA sample/sec. fill rate
- 1.03 trillion operations/sec.
The video BIOS on the card is especially interesting - it uses a Twin-BIOS which allows for worry-free BIOS flashing. Due to time constraints and development updates from Nvidia, and sometimes to increase performance, a video card's BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) will need to be updated. To accomplish this, the whole BIOS needs to be overwritten. This is called "Flashing" the BIOS.
There's only one problem with this method of replacing the BIOS. If the BIOS is flashed incorrectly - if your computer shuts off prematurely or the wrong BIOS is flashed, then the BIOS will effectively be dead. To compensate for this possibility, MSI uses Twin-BIOS which allows the user to use a jumper to switch to the card's original BIOS so that the normal BIOS can be repaired.
MSI also touts the cards' compatibility with Linux as well as Windows XP/2000/NT/98/95 (NOTE: Windows ME [Millennium Edition] is based on the 9x kernel, which is covered by support for Windows 98.)
The card also has nice refresh rates at high resolutions:
640x480 8/16/32 bit colors at 150 Hz
800x600 8/16/32 bit colors at 150 Hz
1024x768 8/16/32 bit colors at 120 Hz
1152x684 8/16/32 bit colors at 120 Hz
1280x1024 8/16/32 bit colors at 100 Hz
1600x1200 8/16/32 bit colors at 85 Hz
1920x1200 8/16/32 bit colors at 75 Hz
2048x1536 8/16/32 bit colors at 60 Hz
I personally will not run anything under 60 Hz ever, simply because of the eyestrain - then again I do not know anyone who runs at 2048x1536. Even so, the refresh rates are more than adequate, even for the power user. One must note though, that these are the maximum outputs for the video card itself - the monitor is also a limiting factor for refresh rates. Check the manual for your monitor, or the manufacturers web site for details on the refresh rates which your monitor can handle.
The Hynix ram that is used does not utilize BGA (Ball Grid Array) technology as to cut some of the cost for the card.
The Ti4200 chipset has a 250 Mhz CPU Clock, and a 513 Mhz Memory clock.
The default settings for a Ti4200 consist of a 250 Mhz CPU Clock and a 500 Mhz Memory clock.
It is important to note that the Ti4200 that I am reviewing is the 64 Mb version. The 64 Mb version of MSI's Ti4200's Hynix ram is 3.6 nanosecond memory, whereas the 128 Mb version of the Ti4200 has 4 nanosecond memory.
The BGA configuration was forgone for a TSOP (Thin Small Outline Package) configuration so that MSI could use higher quality RAM.
What does this mean exactly? These numbers reflect how long in nanoseconds it takes for information to be read from the RAM, it is measured in nanoseconds. The memory clock speed dictates how long it takes for the read information to be transferred back to the processor (in this case, the GPU.) This speed is measured in Mhz. Therefore overall latency is dependant on two factors - how long it takes the RAM to find and read information, and how long it takes for the GPU to get that information.
Since the RAM has a quicker read time (3.6ns) than the default RAM latency (4ns,) MSI can safely bump up the clock speed of the RAM without damaging the hardware, thereby receiving a performance boost. MSI by default overclocks the memory clock speed by 13 Mhz, and includes their own overclocking utility which embeds itself into the Display Properties.
MSI Includes their own Overclocking Utility - with an Auto-Adjust function
The Auto-Adjust button will engage the card in testing loops - the card will test its clock frequencies, raising it until artifacts are present. Artifacts are small discrepancies in the display, almost always caused by overclocking the video card or CPU too high, upon which small discrepancies in the images become present.
The bright red PCB is a distinctive MSI "trademark"if you will. The MSI Ti4200's Red PCB is a sure eye catcher, making it a favorite for those with case windows.
As previously mentioned, MSI has chosen a large bundle to include with their video card. Included are 7 "slim" jewel cases, their colors matching the most common color on the front insert - just another little detail which MSI has looked into. Included are the following:
Three full retail games:
- No One Lives Forever - a First Person shooter set in the 1960's.
- Aquanox - A game set in an Apocalyptic 27th century, underwater.
- Sacrifice - a Real Time Strategy game which has won numerous awards
- MSI DVD - MSI's included DVD Player
- A CD containing demos of:
o Ballistics
o Tom Clancy's Rogue Spear - Black Thorn
o Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
o Comanche 4
o Fallout Tactics
o Swat 3: Close Quarters
o Serious Sam: The First Encounter
- A Drivers and Utility CD consisting of:
o Trend PC-cillin 2002
o MSI Utilities:
" GoodMEM - an included memory utility
" LockBox - a security program for windows
" SecureDoc - allows for encryption
" 3D! Turbo Experience - an overclocking and monitoring utility
o E-Color 3Deep - to ensure proper display brightness and contrast levels
o ThinSoft BeTwin - which allows 2 people to simultaneously work on 1 computer
The bundle itself is impressive, to say the least. The games themselves could retail for quite a bit.
The card also has TV Out capabilities and dual monitor support. Nvidia's nView allows for tweaking for a dual monitor setup. nView allows you to maximize a window to a single monitor, overriding the default windows maximization over both windows. NView allows the user to move a window to a specific display, and even stop an application from being placed in between two displays. With the dual monitor support, MSI also included BeTwin, which allows two people to use 1 computer simultaneously. Two keyboards and two mice are needed, as well as the dual monitor set up.
MSI includes a DVI-I (Digital Video Interface with Analog capabilities) port a VGA port, as well as the TV-Out port. When interacting with nView, you can choose from 3 dual-monitor configurations:
- Clone: The second display will be a copy of the first display
- Horizontal Span: The monitors will act as if they are side-by-side; this allows for windows to move from one monitor to the other, as well as be in-between monitors horizontally.
- Vertical Span: This functions the same as Horizontal span, except it is vertical.
MSI includes a DVI-I to VGA adapter, which allows for a dual-monitor setup with two VGA displays.
MSI includes a DVI to VGA connector, allowing for dual VGA displays.
The only problem I can see with this setup would be if one had two LCD's with DVI support, and wanted to use the dual monitor setup - they would have to buy a VGA to DVI converter, and their second video display would not be true digital. This is just a minor quirk though - the majority of today's displays use VGA.
The following benchmarks have been taken on my system. It's specifications are as follows:
Standard "stock" 300 Watt PSU
Abit KR7A-Raid Motherboard
Athlon XP 1700+ with Vantec cooler and Delta Fan.
512 Mb of Cas2 Crucial Ram,1T, 4-way interleave
Sound Blaster Live! Platinum (Not utilized in the tests at all)
Standard 10/100 Networking card.
The AGP Settings are as follows:
AGP Bandwidth: 128 Mb
AGP Speed: 4x
The BIOS settings are tweaked so that the AGP, RAM, and CPU are all tweaked for maximum performance.
The comparison model is a Gainward Geforce4 Ti4200. The MSI's memory clock was toned down to 500 Mhz so that a clear comparison could be made (default Ti4200 speeds are 500MHz memory). We will explore MSI's stock speeds (513MHz), as well as AntiAliasing.
All benchmarks will be run at 1024x768 and up. Q3 Engine @ High setting results will be displayed, and 3D Mark is left at default settings.
Quake 3 Arena
As we can see, the MSI beats out the Gainward in every test. The difference is marginal, barely noticeable. The Quake 3 benchmarks are almost otherwise neck to neck.
Return To Castle Wolfeinstein
Return To Castle Wolfeinstein is a heavily revised Quake 3 Arena engine which takes place in Nazi Germany. The engine itself is advanced, and will stress a video card to its limit.
Here we see the MSI and Gainward are once again neck to neck, short of a few scores.
3D Mark 2001SE
MadOnion's 3D Mark benchmarking program is celebrated as being one of the most popular ways of determining just how fast your video card and computer is overall.
Here we find once again, very similar scores. I think I'm starting to see a pattern.
Jedi Knight 2
Finally, we have Jedi Knight 2, which I have found to be very processor dependant. Since both configurations are using an Athlon 1700+, the scores should be within a few FPS.
What can we conclude from these benchmarks? Simple - when clocked at the standard 250 Mhz CPU / 500 Mhz Memory, the MSI performs just like other cards.
Too bad MSI overclocks by default, Gainward!
Let's see how the stock CPU Clock pairs up against the Gainward. Will the extra 13 Mhz really help out all that much?
Quake 3 Arena
We see quite a large increase in FPS - even though the 1600x1200 NORMAL configuration's FPS was higher for MSI before, the extra 13 Mhz gives it the extra umph to propel itself a good 17 FPS over the Gainward - even if that 17 FPS is at the CPU-Bound benchmark. In the cases where the video card itself was actually being maxed out, a great increase was shown.
Return To Castle Wolfeinstein
Here we find as before that the lower resolutions which do not max out the video card get a slight boost, whereas the higher resolutions and configurations get a larger boost.
Jedi Knight 2
The numbers are similar to those which were benched before with the 500 Mhz memory clock - approximately 1 FPS greater than the Gainward.
MadOnion's 3D Mark
We find that the extra 13 Mhz does in fact help, boosting the 1024x768 benchmark all the way up to 9800 3D Marks.
AntiAliasing Results
On MSI's Ti4200 with 2 sample anti-aliasing, we find that at the highest settings in Quake 3 Arena, the card is brought to it's knees, averaging 48.30 FPS - not shabby at all, but nothing compared to it's previous Non-anti-aliasing 100 FPS.
Quake 3 Arena
Return to Castle Wolfeinstein
Return to Castle Wolfeinstein on the other hand does not drop too significantly at lower resolutions - showing how the newer engines and games are dealing with Anti-Aliasing better.
At 4 sample anti-aliasing, the card holds it's own in comparison to its 2 sample anti-aliasing scores - only loosing about 2 FPS at the maximum configuration and resolution.
3D Mark gives us astounding results, 7818 3D Marks at 1024x768 with 2 sample anti-aliasing.
Now, surprisingly, we find that at 4 sample speed, the card performed almost just as well as when it was using 2 sample anti-aliasing.
Instead of measuring memory in nanoseconds, as it was done way back when, memory nowadays is measured in Mhz as to draw a common denominator between the bus speed and the speed of the RAM. If we divide 1 second (or 1 billion nanoseconds) by the speed of the RAM, we can get the speed of the RAM. Here's an example:
10 nanosecond DDR RAM is rated at 200 Mhz.
1000 nanoseconds/1 second x 1/10 nanoseconds = 100 Mhz
A hertz is a measure of cycles per second. The prefix Mega means 1 million. So,
100 Mhz means 100 Million cycles per second - or 100 Million "transfers" or "calculations" or "completions" per second.
Since the RAM is DDR (Dual Data Rate), the speed is doubled - 200 Mhz.
We can use the same following equation to get the theoretical clock speeds for the RAM on the video cards:
1000 nanoseconds/1 second x 1/4 nanoseconds = 250 Mhz
500 Mhz is the theoretical clock speed for the 4ns RAM (used on the 128 Mb version of the Ti4200.)
The 64 Mb version of Ti4200 uses 3.6ns memory, so using the same equation:
1000 nanoseconds/1 second x 1/3.6 nanoseconds = 277.7 Mhz
The speed is doubled, bringing the clock speed to 556 Mhz.
But wait - this ram is running at 513 Mhz. Why would MSI underclock their memory? The card is an Nvidia chip - it's meant to deal with 500 Mhz memory. By using the better RAM, they can run the RAM at a higher speed than the specs call for - higher than the 500 Mhz mark, without damaging the RAM by maxing out its memory clock.
We can even overclock the memory more than the extra 56 Mhz, since RAM can be pushed a little farther than it's rated usually - the only thing that is sacrificed is of course, stability.
I overclocked the card to a CPU Clock of 290 Mhz, and a Memory Clock of 580 Mhz. I did not use MSI's utility simply because I found it to be quirky - it did not necessarily hold changes I made to clock speeds.
Compared to the stock 513MHz speed, in Quake 3 Arena, we broke 200 FPS at 1024x768 and pulling ahead of the MAX 1600x1200 by almost 20 FPS is a good performance boost - almost 20% in the case of 1600x1200.
Finally, the last non-anti-aliasing test which I performed was 3D Mark - achieving a whopping 10432 3D Marks. I personally have never broken the 10000 mark with 3D Mark.
Final Words
At present time, it seems that at stock Nvidia clock speeds, the majority of Ti4200's are almost all the same - utilizing the same reference board, differing only slightly in design and memory. So what sets this video card apart?
Pros:
Great looking red PCB
Free dual head support
Large bundle of games
Affordability.
Cons:
MSI Clock utility is clumsy
Cannot dual head with 2 DVI-I monitors
Bottom Line: At the time of writing, the Ti4200 costs approximately $150 USD. The only fault I can find with this card is the fact that you cannot go dual head with 2 DVI-I monitors. Then again, it does only boast a free dual vga setup. For it's features, performance, overclockability, and affordability, we at Viper's Lair give the MSI Ti4200 an Editor's Choice. If you got any comments, be sure to hit us up in our forums.
