zapbuzz wrote on 2026-01-08, 16:11:

I am committing to buy a PIXELVIEW NVIDIA GEFORCE4 MX440 MVGA-NVG18A 128MB spec will be good for the motherboard with Direct x 8 […]
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I am committing to buy a PIXELVIEW NVIDIA GEFORCE4 MX440 MVGA-NVG18A 128MB spec will be good for the motherboard with Direct x 8.1 support that suits the Pentium 3.
It will play some DOS games as well as many Windows games. It doesn't have DVI out but it does have solid caps and a powered cooler.
It was a bit expensive but I'll forgive myself
Coming from Poland
I appreciate the advice Vogons users contributed this will be special to me.
When its all here I'll showcase this machine.

Congratulations, good purchase.
MX on a PCB from FX5200 (actually a reference designe from nVidia for MX4x0 series) with a DC/DC voltage regulator for GPU.
Not some junk that heats up like an iron.

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2026-01-08, 17:27:

zapbuzz wrote on 2026-01-08, 16:11:

I am committing to buy a PIXELVIEW NVIDIA GEFORCE4 MX440 MVGA-NVG18A 128MB spec will be good for the motherboard with Direct x 8.1 support that suits the Pentium 3.

In case you missed it, this is a directx 7 GPU. Not 8.1.... it's basically an enhanced geforce 2

Its all good I am happy with it. I'll have a good system with DX7 and DOS. My next project will be a Windows XP gaming rig probably next year that will do direct x 8 and 9.

shevalier wrote on 2026-01-08, 18:18:

Congratulations, good purchase. MX on a PCB from FX5200 (actually a reference designe from nVidia for MX4x0 series) with a DC/D […]
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zapbuzz wrote on 2026-01-08, 16:11:

I am committing to buy a PIXELVIEW NVIDIA GEFORCE4 MX440 MVGA-NVG18A 128MB spec will be good for the motherboard with Direct x 8 […]
Show full quote

I am committing to buy a PIXELVIEW NVIDIA GEFORCE4 MX440 MVGA-NVG18A 128MB spec will be good for the motherboard with Direct x 8.1 support that suits the Pentium 3.
It will play some DOS games as well as many Windows games. It doesn't have DVI out but it does have solid caps and a powered cooler.
It was a bit expensive but I'll forgive myself
Coming from Poland
I appreciate the advice Vogons users contributed this will be special to me.
When its all here I'll showcase this machine.

Congratulations, good purchase.
MX on a PCB from FX5200 (actually a reference designe from nVidia for MX4x0 series) with a DC/DC voltage regulator for GPU.
Not some junk that heats up like an iron.

The seller I got it from commented it works and from personal collection it was the only one with solid caps available the gold colour and cheaper postage I just couldn't miss out. Thanks for congrats lets hope it gets to me safely.
So many games to play !

Jasin Natael wrote on 2026-01-08, 14:00:

Yes very true, however the GF2 cards can use earlier drivers which can help with performance on some more meager CPUs.
It's all relative though and with a PIII 1GHz it's not really a concern.

This is absolutely something that is worth considering the setup you are installing the card.

You can probably get some performance hit in benchmarks with newer drivers even on the system you described, but most likely in practice the difference in games isn’t noticeable. But when I had a P3 800 system up and running with GF2 GTS, there was a clear difference between drivers like 45.23 and 7.76 in 3dmark tests.

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2026-01-09, 05:42:

This is absolutely something that is worth considering the setup you are installing the card.

You can probably get some performance hit in benchmarks with newer drivers even on the system you described, but most likely in practice the difference in games isn’t noticeable. But when I had a P3 800 system up and running with GF2 GTS, there was a clear difference between drivers like 45.23 and 7.76 in 3dmark tests.

This is true. But if a Geforce 2 GTS is not an acceptable price any more, what can you do?

Same is true of the Geforce 2 Ti (to a lesser extent). That came out around the time of the Geforce 3, as the budget option in the lineup. It would be interesting to try these different options on a Pentium III system, and see what impact the drivers have vs the same tests on more powerful CPU.

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2026-01-09, 10:15:

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2026-01-09, 05:42:

This is absolutely something that is worth considering the setup you are installing the card.

You can probably get some performance hit in benchmarks with newer drivers even on the system you described, but most likely in practice the difference in games isn’t noticeable. But when I had a P3 800 system up and running with GF2 GTS, there was a clear difference between drivers like 45.23 and 7.76 in 3dmark tests.

This is true. But if a Geforce 2 GTS is not an acceptable price any more, what can you do?

Same is true of the Geforce 2 Ti (to a lesser extent). That came out around the time of the Geforce 3, as the budget option in the lineup. It would be interesting to try these different options on a Pentium III system, and see what impact the drivers have vs the same tests on more powerful CPU.

Sure, everybody needs to go with the budget that feels acceptable personally. Of course, you may bump into these cards cheap locally, just not in ebay so it is always worth to keep your eyes open in local sales channels or hobby groups.

Like I said, with something like ~1GHz machine the driver overhead shouldn’t be a dealbreaker anymore. And if you don’t care about the period correctness, you can ask if it is still worth to dig in the extra dough for GF2 card, which ultimately is a worse card. I think that at least many would answer no, it is not worth to pay the premium for few frames.

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2026-01-09, 10:26:

Sure, everybody needs to go with the budget that feels acceptable personally. Of course, you may bump into these cards cheap locally, just not in ebay so it is always worth to keep your eyes open in local sales channels or hobby groups.

Or sometimes you can get a graphics card cheap if it is bundled with some other stuff. Even on ebay. You need to know what you are looking for though.

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2026-01-09, 10:26:

Like I said, with something like ~1GHz machine the driver overhead shouldn’t be a dealbreaker anymore. And if you don’t care about the period correctness, you can ask if it is still worth to dig in the extra dough for GF2 card, which ultimately is a worse card. I think that at least many would answer no, it is not worth to pay the premium for few frames.

Yep. I guess it depends on whether you want period accurate. If you used a Pentium 4 instead of a Pentium III, it would perform better and probably be cheaper. Period accurate will usually mean low performance for period accurate games (compared to the 100+ FPS that people want now), as that's what we had to deal with at the time.

I have two Geforce 2 GTS cards, both are the 32MB option. They are Dell OEM cards and I got them on eBay for about $20 each shipped.
My Geforce 3 card I got locally and didn't pay anything.
I gave around $20 for my GF4 MX440, it has MX460 clocks or near enough.
No need to pay out the nose for these cards.

There is a difference in the early drivers, I have found the 7.76 driver to be the fastest, same as others have noted.
There isn't really a steep drop off though until around version 23 or so.
The 45.23 drive is handy as it will work with the GF4 cards, but if you are using a 2 or 3 there is no benefit in it save for compatibility with some later games.
But remember that just because a synthetic benchmark is faster with an earlier driver, doesn't mean the later driver will always be slower in games, it's a case by case basis.

Jasin Natael wrote on 2026-01-09, 14:45:

I have two Geforce 2 GTS cards, both are the 32MB option. They are Dell OEM cards and I got them on eBay for about $20 each ship […]
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I have two Geforce 2 GTS cards, both are the 32MB option. They are Dell OEM cards and I got them on eBay for about $20 each shipped.
My Geforce 3 card I got locally and didn't pay anything.
I gave around $20 for my GF4 MX440, it has MX460 clocks or near enough.
No need to pay out the nose for these cards.

This entirely depends on availability. If you're in the U.S., you probably a lot more options for purchase than other locales.

Shponglefan wrote on 2026-01-09, 15:07:

Jasin Natael wrote on 2026-01-09, 14:45:

I have two Geforce 2 GTS cards, both are the 32MB option. They are Dell OEM cards and I got them on eBay for about $20 each ship […]
Show full quote

I have two Geforce 2 GTS cards, both are the 32MB option. They are Dell OEM cards and I got them on eBay for about $20 each shipped.
My Geforce 3 card I got locally and didn't pay anything.
I gave around $20 for my GF4 MX440, it has MX460 clocks or near enough.
No need to pay out the nose for these cards.

This entirely depends on availability. If you're in the U.S., you probably a lot more options for purchase than other locales.

I am in the US, and I'm sure that is true.
But with the exception of the GF3 which a friend kindly gifted me, I bought the others online.
I'm sure shipping internationally could be cost prohibitive in some cases, but not all.
They made millions of these cards.

Plus there are other options from ATi, Matrox, PowerVR....
Surely something is available in the OPs locale.

Jasin Natael wrote on 2026-01-09, 15:15:

I am in the US, and I'm sure that is true.
But with the exception of the GF3 which a friend kindly gifted me, I bought the others online.
I'm sure shipping internationally could be cost prohibitive in some cases, but not all.

A lot of U.S. Ebay sellers don't sell outside of the U.S.

Any time I've searched on U.S. Ebay, I'm always amazed at all the things I can't buy because I'm in Canada. 🙁

Shponglefan wrote on 2026-01-09, 15:22:

Jasin Natael wrote on 2026-01-09, 15:15:

I am in the US, and I'm sure that is true.
But with the exception of the GF3 which a friend kindly gifted me, I bought the others online.
I'm sure shipping internationally could be cost prohibitive in some cases, but not all.

A lot of U.S. Ebay sellers don't sell outside of the U.S.

Any time I've searched on U.S. Ebay, I'm always amazed at all the things I can't buy because I'm in Canada. 🙁

That sucks. I do that we are a bit spoiled for choice here in the US.
I guess I just figured these GF2-4 cards were pretty much ubiquitous everywhere. I could be wrong though.