Sparkle GeForce4 MX 440

When we took a sneaky peek at the Creative GeForce4 MX420 we were left a little disappointed. nVidia has pushed the new GeForce4 chipsets into the market and, while the Titanium models perform as convincingly as could be expected, the first MX card we saw barely had the muscle to embarrass the elderly GeForce2 MX cards.

This Sparkle card is based around a very similar chip to the Creative MX420 but performs more in line with our expectations.

One of the main reasons for this is that the MX440 uses faster memory than the 420. Both cards had 64Mb of memory but size isn't everything. The MX440 uses DDR memory, which can send and receive information from the graphics chip at roughly twice the speed of the standard memory fitted to the 420.

This doesn't mean a doubling of overall boost but it does mean a big improvement. Our tests demonstrated a 27 per cent boost in the general performance and, in real life, that translates to games being played smoothly at higher resolutions with sharper images.

Installing the Sparkle card is no more easy or difficult than any other expansion card. In order to upgrade, the PC will need to have an AGP slot. The card simply presses into place on the motherboard and, depending on the case, is secured with either a screw or a clip.

Installing the software from the CDRom is very straightforward and the slim instruction manual that is supplied in the box is easy to follow, if rather badly translated. The only noteworthy shortcoming of the card is the lack of a second monitor connection.

The whole GeForce4 range is designed to cope with multiple displays but ours only had one monitor socket and an S-Video plug for hooking up your TV.

At £105, this represents a much better buy than the MX420 and a sensible upgrade for anybody whose AGP video card is more than two years old. Serious gamers won't be especially impressed but, for everyone else, this looks a good bet.

Price: £105 (inc. VAT)

Contact: Sparkle 0191 421 0166
www.sparkle.com.tw

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