Introduction

Despite overwhelming performance from ATI’s flagship, NVIDIA is still the market leader. Think about that for a second – to lead the graphics market in sales is a prestigious achievement, and NVIDIA has put forth a tremendous effort in its quest. That said, NVIDIA needs to maintain its drive if ATI’s recent challenge is to be staved. NV30 will be the first major attempt to reclaim the performance crown, but the battle has to be fought in the mainstream market as well (we all know that the OEMs sell more GeForce4 MX cards than Ti 4600’s).

In order to gain an advantage over competing products like the RADEON 9000 Pro, NVIDIA is retrofitting its bestsellers with AGP 8x support. Apparently, the feature warrants a new core name, hence the recent announcement of the NV28 and NV18 graphics processors. Think of the new products as technology updates, though, rather than the “refresh” we used to expect every six months. We’ll have to wait for NV30 before the real excitement begins.

The Cards – 128MB Ti 4200 and 64MB MX 440

In moving from NV25 to NV28, NVIDIA has only made one significant addition – AGP 8x. Surprisingly, the GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP 8x support operates at 250MHz, just like the currently available NV25. Even the accompanying Thin Small Outline Package (TSOP) DDR memory modules operate at the same 500MHz frequency. Philips’ SAA7104E/V1 handles video output, while Silicon Images’ Sil164CT64 powers the DVI output on the card’s back plate. A VGA output is also present, giving the Ti 4200 AGP 8x dual-monitor capabilities through NVIDIA’s nView 2.0 software. For all intents and purposes, this is the same GeForce4 Ti 4200 you’ve come to know and love, only with AGP 8x capabilities.

NV28 reference board

Conversely, the RADEON 9000 Pro seems to have motivated NVIDIA to bolster the GeForce4 MX 440’s performance; again, NVIDIA is only focusing on the “best seller” at first. Our NV18 reference card arrived clocked at 275/512MHz; though NVIDIA claims the actual frequency should be 275/500MHz. Thus, our tests reflect the adjusted 500MHz effective memory speed, which compares favorably against the 270/400MHz NV17 reference card. Most MX 440 boards based on the NV17 core are actively cooled. This is not the case with NVIDIA’s NV18 reference design, though, as a passive heat sink rests atop the GPU. Philips’ SAA7114H provides video input capabilities, with 9-bit analog-to-digital converters (ADC) indicating the possibility of a planned Personal Cinema package with AGP 8x support. Like the Ti 4200, the GeForce4 MX 440 offers both VGA and DVI outputs. However, the NV18’s integrated TMDS transmitter drives the DVI output.

NVIDIA's NV18 reference board