I would keep it.
128-bit memory bus means it is not too much cut-down. Slightly lower frequency than regular MX440 non-SE... but still very good GPU for Pentium III. You can try to overclock it to see if performance increases.

MX440 SE reference clock is 250 MHz GPU / 333 MHz DDR.
MX 440 should be 275/400
MX 460 should be 300/550

So not much difference. You can consider yourself lucky for getting the 128-bit version, this is important for good performance. Most of 440(SE) are 64-bit junk 😁

havli wrote on 2025-09-29, 19:17:

I would keep it. 128-bit memory bus means it is not too much cut-down. Slightly lower frequency than regular MX440 non-SE... bu […]
Show full quote

I would keep it.
128-bit memory bus means it is not too much cut-down. Slightly lower frequency than regular MX440 non-SE... but still very good GPU for Pentium III. You can try to overclock it to see if performance increases.

MX440 SE reference clock is 250 MHz GPU / 333 MHz DDR.
MX 440 should be 275/400
MX 460 should be 300/550

So not much difference. You can consider yourself lucky for getting the 128-bit version, this is important for good performance. Most of 440(SE) are 64-bit junk 😁

Exactly, I took it mainly for the confirmed 128bit bus, that wasn't in doubt. I got burned before on a 64bit card, but that was PCI only, not much else to be found for decent prices.
It didn't loose much performances when compared to the Ti4200 in 3DMark, despite it should be much faster. I thing the PIII is the limiting factor. Either that or the RAM.

I'll maybe try to overclock it a little, since it is indeed 250mhz /333mhz (166mhz DDR).

An MX460 would've been sweeter, but those go even higher than a Ti4200, let alone an MX440.

Even if the 10% clock speed difference translated directly to performance difference it would still be minimal and you wouldn't be able to tell anyway, and these things aren't usually that linear.

I'm using a PCI 440MX-8X (yes 8X, and I don't know why they did that) in a similar Pentium III 1GHz and it's plenty fast for the games that run well on that CPU, so the AGP version should pose no problems.

devius wrote on 2025-09-29, 21:08:

Even if the 10% clock speed difference translated directly to performance difference it would still be minimal and you wouldn't be able to tell anyway, and these things aren't usually that linear.

I'm using a PCI 440MX-8X (yes 8X, and I don't know why they did that) in a similar Pentium III 1GHz and it's plenty fast for the games that run well on that CPU, so the AGP version should pose no problems.

oh yeah, I've read about those 8X 440MX (My Ti4200 is a 8X model), and them being no always great on the memory or bus side. But yeah, on a PIII that will be used to play, at best, Max Payne 1, the difference between the two is negligible. Even more when comparing it to a SE model.
I also have a VIA mobo, so every nVidia card I threw at it will run at 2X AGP no matter what.

This evening I'll try ad OC it with Coolbits, and see if I can squeeze some more mhz out of it.

Well, tried to OC it, but no success.

At mx440 stock settings (275/400) it crashes 3dmark almost immediately.
Even midway settings still crashes 3dmark.

I had to reinstall the drive to stop the crashes, since it would keep doing so even when resetting factory settings in Coolbits.

After reinstalling the drivers from scratch, it worked no issues.

I think I'll keep it any since a 128bit bus may be harder to find for sure and for cheap.

(this reminded me that I should've tried underclocking the ti4200 to see if it helped with its artifacts)

An MX460 would've been sweeter, but those go even higher than a Ti4200, let alone an MX440.

MX440-8x were quite often equipped with better memory than MX 460.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2025-09-30, 20:08:

An MX460 would've been sweeter, but those go even higher than a Ti4200, let alone an MX440.

MX440-8x were quite often equipped with better memory than MX 460.

Oh, did they? I recall reading some old posts about MX440, and it came up that the 8x versions were a gamble, meaning you could get some with decent memory and some with crappy memory.
Now, since these cards are alredy a minefield between different versions and configurations, I wouldn't want to risk another gamble on a 8x... I'll keep this one and use it in the PIII system, maybe I'll move the Ti4200 to another K7 system I would like to build, one with a 12v CPU power connector, or even put up the money and get an higher end FX card.
But nothing stops me from putting up an alert for MX440 8x and MX 460s...

Any MX440-8x with BGA memory is usually a good start.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2025-10-01, 02:01:

Any MX440-8x with BGA memory is usually a good start.

U mean how the memory is soldered on the board?
Are there any other indications to determine if a card is 64bit or 128bit from external analysis? The sellers not always provided pictures from Everest or other hardware ID programs, and even the pictures of the card itself may not be enough to understand the maker of the memory, nor the total number of memory chips present on the board.

Proper MX440-8x - https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce … -mx-440-8x.c783

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2025-10-01, 13:57:

Proper MX440-8x - https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce … -mx-440-8x.c783

Yup, that's useful if you manage to get a picture from everest of GPU-z (wich I had for the 440X SE and still missed the lower clocks, I though it must've been a mistake of GPU-Z).

The problem is you don't always get those pictures. Once I missed on a GPU because, while the seller was setting up a system to check in the card was 64bit or 128bit, someone else bought it and beat me to it.
The sea of configurations back in the days was astonishing, it's much easier with recent GPUs to get what you want: If I check a 1070ti on ebay, I'm sure of what I'll get.
If I search an older card? I'm pretty sure I saw 64bit Ti4200s out there while searching for one.

You don't need any GPU-Z screenshot. Just a picture of the card. If a seller can't even provide a picture, why even bother?

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2025-10-01, 19:57:

You don't need any GPU-Z screenshot. Just a picture of the card. If a seller can't even provide a picture, why even bother?

Can you understand if a model is for sure 64bit or 128 just from pictures? How do you do that?

TSOP Memory with 66 pins is 16bit memory. Multiply that with the amount of chips and you get the memory bus bandwidth.
BGA memory is 144 pins and has 32bit. Same calculation.

However there are some exceptions: You can find Radeon 9600s with 8 BGA memory chips and they're 128Bit, not 256. This is because they use two ranks, effectively sharing each 32bits with two memory chips alternating.

For most cards however, the basic calculation remains 16/32 Bit per Chip * Chipcount.

tehsiggi wrote on 2025-10-02, 04:32:

TSOP Memory with 66 pins is 16bit memory. Multiply that with the amount of chips and you get the memory bus bandwidth. BGA memor […]
Show full quote

TSOP Memory with 66 pins is 16bit memory. Multiply that with the amount of chips and you get the memory bus bandwidth.
BGA memory is 144 pins and has 32bit. Same calculation.

However there are some exceptions: You can find Radeon 9600s with 8 BGA memory chips and they're 128Bit, not 256. This is because they use two ranks, effectively sharing each 32bits with two memory chips alternating.

For most cards however, the basic calculation remains 16/32 Bit per Chip * Chipcount.

Oh yeah, I recall searching the specs of the chip if the pictures on the ad are good enough, then it's just about doing the math.