Bij AnandTech is een review verschenen waarin verschillende videokaarten met een prijskaartje beneden de 200 dollar aan de tand worden gevoeld. In deze categorie vallen de verschillende Geforce4 MX kaarten, de ATi Radeon 8500LE, maar ook de GeForce4 Ti 4200. Laatstgenoemde blijkt het aantrekkelijkst te zijn. Qua snelheid staat de GeForce4 Ti 4200 op nummer één en evenals de Radeon 8500LE is de kaart volledig DirectX 8 compatible. De minst aantrekkelijke kaarten zijn de GeForce4 MX varianten aangezien deze belangrijke features missen:
Let us not forget about the Radeon 8500LE however as it is the primary reason that we have the GeForce4 Ti 4200 today. If it weren't for the Radeon 8500LE we would be left with a DX7 compliant GeForce4 MX to tend to the mainstream market. Unfortunately for ATI, the card that was designed to put the GeForce4 MX to shame ended up resulting in the pending release of the Ti 4200 which is a bit more than the 8500LE can offer.
This is the perfect example of where competition truly brings us better choices in a market, it'll be interesting to see what happens if a capable third manufacturer returns to the scene. With DirectX 9 on the horizon the major hardware firms are diligently at work on their next-generation GPUs, from R300 to NV30 to something else being shown now behind closed doors - as usual, the graphics market always keeps us busy. Stay tuned.
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