Just to say I did not build any of the computers, a family friend did.
I want to know if the NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 is any better (or any worse) than the NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 440 With AGP8X. And Also whats a good budget gaming video card?
Don't take it personally but I'd say that neither are very good. The MX series were crippled from birth and while they're fine for web browsing neither are a gaming card.
The best card is the cheapest that does what you want.
ATI 9800 XP or PRO are good at the 2nd hand budget end and so are Nvidia 42(6,8)00 Ti ( still very good cards ) or 5900 series. I'd suggest avoiding things like 5200's or dicky ATI cards. Google anything you think you want to buy cus there are some real dogs disguised as good cards. Anything from ATI called SE ( I think, could be wrong with the suffix ) should be left well alone.
I agree with the above. The MX series, as well as anything with SE or LE (or XT in the case of Nvidia but not ATI), is a pile of crap.
9600XT is by no means modern, but MUCH better than the GF2 MX you have right now and is quite cheap ($50 on Newegg). There's also the X1650 which is substantially more modern but also twice the price ($100 on Newegg).
Given the fact you're considering a GF2 MX, I suspect your CPU is not nearly powerful enough to feed the X1650, though. It will probably even struggle to keep up with the 9600XT.
I have a 4x00ti lying around that I never use as I replaced it with a 6600GT in my 1.8Ghz P4. They are great cards and ran lfs pretty well. The only thing holding it back in lfs was the processor.
I think you may mean a GeForce4 MX 440 for the second one? I don't think there was a Geforce2 MX 440. And either way, the 4MX440 is basically a higher clocked 2MX400, and wont make that much of a difference.
As contourSVT said, a 6600GT can be had for cheap, and either that or a 7300GT or 9600pro/XT can be had for under $100, thought the 9600pro will lag behind in performance.
Also, as Niels said, we need to know the rest of your system to make a truly informed suggestion. If the rest of your system is as outdated as your video card, a completely new system may be necessary.
Things we need to know:
CPU type and speed
RAM amount and speed
Power supply brand and wattage
The first two will potentially hold back a stronger video card, and the third one will dictate how power hungry a video card you can use.
If you want to include your hard drive size, monitor (max resolution) and operating system it wouldn't hurt, but isn't necessary.
Never, ever, ever, ever, ever by anything that says china tech. I've never had such a bad card in my life. Then I also went with a SOYO motherboard for my first computer build. Another bad idea.
Keep with the big guns, they are up their for a reason. MSI, and ASUS are pretty much the kings while BFG and XFX are nipping at their heels.
