I know absolutely nothing about nVidia cards, as all I've ever owned was ATi, but my dad just bought a new computer yesterday, and I'm wondering if the card is any good. It's an nVidia GeForce MX7700 (I think, I'll have a look in the morning) running with a 2.8GHz Pentium D and 2.0 Gigs of RAM. I seem to recall that some of the GeForce MX series were total crap, and I'm wondering if I should upgrade this one for him.

Just a brief run down on the different nVidia graphics card series would be great

i never heard of that one... but any mx card is usually very week. the last nvidia card i owned was a geforce2 mx400 it ran unreal tournament pretty well

I don't know the 7700MX but from what I've seen the MX series is usually the worst card collection of nVidia. The GF4 MX440 cards for example were slower than GF3 cards and merely on par with GF2.

If it does support HVS (Hardware Vertex Shading) then it will be able to run LFS reasonably well, atleast I think it's impossible to bugger up a 7700 card to be crap enough not to. Regarding LFS, the question is more like how much AA/AF you can turn on (probably not very high), but I'm not sure if you're going to be happy with other, more graphically modern games.

My conclusion is - without knowing the card - LFS will probably run ok, other games more likely not, alteast not on high graphics settings.

The MX range isn't perhaps the best, but a MX7700 is going to out perform anything by ATI under directX, it is a cheaper card designed for oem use, but it should be OK - try it and see .

Well i us an Nvidia GeForce2 MX/MX400 and that runs most games well (despite the fact that i got it with my computer aroudn 5-6 years ago)...

If your on a budget but wanna upgrade the Graphics Card, i strongly recommend a 256mb 6600GT or even a 6800GT, they r good cars, not the best but they rnt shit. Prolly the best value for money in my opinion. If you got alottttt of cash, go for a 7900GTX :P

Well, I looked, and it's a 7300LE, and I feel like an idiot. I looked at the site that Bob provided, and it looks to be a very decent card. Thanks for all the info guys!

From what I've read the new 7600GT is not much more expensive than the 6600GT but twice as fast, even faster than the 6800GT. Looks like a good buy.

@96 GTS: Oh okay, in that case "decent" sounds about right. That doesn't change my "conclusion", though.

What?

The 7300 LE is the absolute low-end of the latest GPU-line of nVidia. I wouldn't call such a card a "good buy" or "decent".

It will be capable of running LFS though - I believe...

I hope...

Quote from 96 GTS :

Well, I looked, and it's a 7300LE, and I feel like an idiot. I looked at the site that Bob provided, and it looks to be a very decent card. Thanks for all the info guys!

Sorry to say that but 7300LE is awfull card.A Geforce 6600 would be way more bbetr choice if you are tight on budget.

Just like the x300 series from ati. We have them in our uni comps, and my notebook with 9700mobility is like 2-3 times as fast o_0

Quote from ORION :

Just like the x300 series from ati. We have them in our uni comps, and my notebook with 9700mobility is like 2-3 times as fast o_0

I am afraid the 7300le has same performance like X300 or maybe a really bit better.
I expect in LFS performance around GF3-4cards.

7600GT will yet again be a best buy card. Definetly.

i wouldnt believe the mx 7700 card would suck as it is in the new 7000 series, it would be more like a everyday use card but if your looking for something with a bit more kick i would highly recomend the Nvida 6600Gt 256 that is one majorly powerful card

Quote from symsworld :

i wouldnt believe the mx 7700 card would suck as it is in the new 7000 series, it would be more like a everyday use card but if your looking for something with a bit more kick i would highly recomend the Nvida 6600Gt 256 that is one majorly powerful card

It wouldn't suck, right - but only because it doesn't exist...

This was said already before in this thread.

Furthermore the mx-chips from nVidia did not always contain silicon derived from the series they were entitled to be. For example the GeForce 4 mx was nothing but a slightly higher clocked GeForce 2 - not even 3!!

And: nowadays the 6600 GT is no more "majorly" powerful. And it never was, because when it was released it was already only the mid-range of nVidia chips. Now it even is the mid-range of an old chip-series.

Maybe you should at least read the thread before posting about things you don't have a clue about...

Quote from symsworld :

6600Gt 256 that is one majorly powerful card

If you said that 12 motnhs ago i would ahev agreed, as it used to be the best bang for buck card out there, but considerign a 6800 can be had for £110, and a 6800GT for £150, or even less if you look second hand then the 6600GT starts to look expensive for what it is.

Quote from Stellios :

If you said that 12 motnhs ago i would ahev agreed, as it used to be the best bang for buck card out there, but considerign a 6800 can be had for £110, and a 6800GT for £150, or even less if you look second hand then the 6600GT starts to look expensive for what it is.

You live too in a bit old world.for 150 bucks you can have 7600GT which is even more powerfull.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/ ... ogue_7600_Series_356.html

Quote from 96 GTS :

Well, I looked, and it's a 7300LE, and I feel like an idiot. I looked at the site that Bob provided, and it looks to be a very decent card. Thanks for all the info guys!

Bah, the LE stands for Lame Edition. Though it will play everything on the market right now, it won't last as long as anything higher up the ladder, that said, if the rumors are true, the latest graphics cards won't last over 2 years until they die (and I mean dead no more life die). Which kinda sucks.

hey psychodude,how'd you get your xp-m up to 2.5? i have mine at 2.2 and if i up it to 2.4 it gets slightly unstable. i have an msi mobo... maybe that is the problem? Funny thing is that the athlon goes for like a second and a half and then BSOD...

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

Bah, the LE stands for Lame Edition. Though it will play everything on the market right now, it won't last as long as anything higher up the ladder, that said, if the rumors are true, the latest graphics cards won't last over 2 years until they die (and I mean dead no more life die). Which kinda sucks.

the 7300LE will not even play current or 1-2 years title smoosthly in 800*600.

It's no screamer, but it's my dad's computer and all he does is photoshop really, so it's fine. I was just wondering if it's a total P.O.S. and needed replacing, but it seems to be doing okay. Thanks for the responses though

Quote from george_tsiros :

hey psychodude,how'd you get your xp-m up to 2.5? i have mine at 2.2 and if i up it to 2.4 it gets slightly unstable. i have an msi mobo... maybe that is the problem? Funny thing is that the athlon goes for like a second and a half and then BSOD...

Bump the voltage to the proc and chipset. I did get it higher, but the site I upload the scores to bork. I also had to put my ram on a devider as it can't go very far before it becomes an issue.

Quote from DEVIL 007 :

the 7300LE will not even play current or 1-2 years title smoosthly in 800*600.

I doubt that, I mean I used to play HL2 on day of release with an MX440, 256mb ram and an AMD XP 2000+ (~1.6ghz) and it was smooth in 1024x768. Unless games todate have evolved stupid ammounts over the last few years (I'll make it know I've not played many games recently) I'm sure it would be able to at least call 1024x768.

Quote from DEVIL 007 :

the 7300LE will not even play current or 1-2 years title smoosthly in 800*600.

Dude, unless you max out on teh bling (AA/AF/zbuffer/PS) you can play most games with that card.

Hell, i played doom3 at 800x600 medium settings on a 5700