PNY Technologies: Verto nVIDIA GeForce2 MX200 32MB SDRAM 2D/3D PCI
Written: Jun 19 '02 (Updated Jun 19 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to install, fantastic performance!
Cons: Now I have the urge to play more games...argh!
The Bottom Line: For the price, you can't beat it!
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| Chase_E.'s Full Review: PNY Verto GeForce2 MX200, (32 MB) AGP Video Card |
Well, I finally decided to upgrade the video hardware on my computer. I am running an HP Pavilion 8750c, with a 667MHz P3 processor. It came from the factory with an 8MB video chipset on the motherboard. I was in the electronics department of Wal-Mart, and saw the Verto nVIDIA GeForce2 MX200 32MB PCI card for only $50! I could hardly resist.
Features:
The Verto nVIDIA GeForce2 MX200, 32MB SDRAM PCI 2D/3D Graphics Card is a graphics accelerator card that you install into an available PCI slot on your motherboard. It comes in two versions - the AGP version, for your AGP slot, and the PCI version, for you PCI slot. I got the PCI version.
It comes in a rather large green and black box. Inside, you will find the PCI card, a CD-ROM with the drivers, and a booklet that tells you step by step how to install it.
- 32MB SDRAM
- 20 Million triangles/sec
- 350 Million pixels/sec fill rate
- 700 Million texels/sec. fill rate
- 1.3 Gig/sec memory bandwidth
- 256-bit 2D/3D graphics accelerator
- 350MHz RAMDAC
- 64 bit memory architecture
- 2 Rendering pipelines
- nVIDIA rasterizer
- Integrated transform & lighting engines
- 4 texels/clock
- 32 bit color w/ 32 bit z-stencil buffer
- Direct X & S3 texture compression
- WHQL Compatibility standards
- Maximum resolution of 2048x1536 @ 75Hz
System Requirements:
- Genuine Pentium II, or AMD K6-2 or higher
- Windows 95 OSR2, 98 or higher, NT 4.0 w/ service pack 5 or 6, Linux OS
- 64MB RAM or more
- CD-ROM drive
- 10MB available Hard drive space
- 1 available PCI slot on motherboard
How To Install:
I contacted technical support for advice on how to install a PCI video card on my computer. I was told that I would first have to disable the existing video hardware on my machine, which I did. I would imagine that if your computer has on-board PCI video like mine, you would probably have to do the same thing. In my case, it was a matter of opening up the "Device Manager" in System Properties, and deleting everything under the "Display Adapters". Then, I had to reboot, and Windows automatically wanted to reload the video display drivers, of which I was instructed to pick "Standard VGA". That done, I shut the computer down.
Installing the new Verto nVIDIA GeForce2 PCI card was easy. The hardest part was opening the case to put the card in the free PCI slot. I had to unplug my monitor’s video cable from the standard "Video Out" connector, and had to plug it into the video connector on the Verto card. Then it was a small matter of turning on the computer, inserting the CD-ROM with the nVIDIA drivers into the CD drive, and then clicking the "Install Drivers" option on the menu that popped up. After the installation was complete, and after rebooting, the upgrade was complete!
How It Runs:
So, I decided to have a little video house warming party by installing a screen saver that I knew needed serious 3D video acceleration just to run. I installed "Skyrocket", a screen saver I downloaded a while ago from "http://reallyslick.demonews.com/". Before I had installed the Verto nVIDIA GeForce2, this screensaver ran on my system at such a pitifully slow rate, it was useless. But I saved it, knowing that someday I would upgrade to better video and would then be able to run it properly. Now, with the Verto nVIDIA GeForce2, it ran as smooth as glass!
Next, I installed Deer Hunter 5, which prior to installing the Verto nVIDIA GeForce2, wouldn’t even run past the splash screen before it would crash! I bought DH5 a while ago, knowing that it required 16MB video. I figured I might be able to get it to run at least. That 8MB chipset wouldn’t even touch it. But the 32MB Verto runs DH5 beautifully without a problem. In fact, everything I have thrown at the Verto nVIDIA GeForce2 runs great, - I’m glad I got it. For 50 bucks, it’s a smooth operator, and is definitely worth it. I have had NO problems at all using this card!
Well, sort of. Have you ever experienced "sea-sickness"? I have, on the computer! A bit of advice. When you install this card onto your computer, turn your display options all the way up as far as they will go. Make this card work hard so your monitor doesn’t run perfectly smooth. If your screen runs too smoothly, you can get sea-sick staring at it! I think this has something to do with your brain being fooled into thinking your body is in motion after staring at a monitor for a long time. Probably because your brain can’t understand why it doesn’t detect body motion, while your eyes are telling a different story. Or something like that.
Configuration:
You can access the options menus that allow you to make fine adjustments to how the Verto nVIDIA GeForce2 operates. You can access them through your Settings tab by clicking "Advanced", while in your Display properties.
There are menus for Direct 3D (Direct X), Open GL, color and saturation, screen refresh, Z buffers, among many other options I hadn’t even heard of before. You cab also tell the card how much physical memory you actually want it to use, should you want to. Since I have installed the new board, I have not had to make any adjustments other than to straighten and center my monitor’s picture using the standard adjustment controls on the monitor.
Support and Warranty:
Three words for you - "Lifetime Replacement Warranty". Support? If you need technical support, don’t call nVIDIA for help, call PNY tech support instead, since it is their product. Go to their website to find out how to get help. I personally haven’t had a need to call them yet.
Recommendations:
If you are into power gamming, this card will work just fine for you, and then some. I don’t think there is a game out there that this baby won’t run. With minimum system speed requirements for most games running around 300MHz to 500MHz, and video memory requirements running at least 8MB to 16MB, you can hardly go wrong with this PCI card (provided your video is PCI!) for $50!
There are 64MB cards out there for twice as much money. If you have a slower processor in the neighborhood of 200-300MHz, you may want to get a 64MB card. PNY makes those too.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 49.99
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Epinions.com ID:
Chase_E.
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Reviews written: 25
Trusted by: 6 members
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