MSI Graphic Cards
Offers
Reviews
MSI Graphic Card Reviews
 |
MSI G4 Ti4200-VTD8X
by benben_uk I bought one of these GeForce 4 Ti4200 cards for my new computer, I only chose the MSI one because it was the cheapest MSI card available with the Ti4200 chipset. What I didn't expect was all of the lovely extra stuff that came with it - some manufacturers will just give you a card in a box with a boring instruction manual, but MSI ... really make you feel like you have got your moneys worth. In the box: Paper Faff The Ti4200 card A DVI to VGA adapter An s-video link cable A dongle with extra ports on - svideo in&out and composite in&out A bundle of about 10 software CDs in cases As you can see - there is much more than the card in the box! The card is a cool red colour with a nice orange cooling fan (no LEDs though) and looks great with my red mobo! One of the great features about this card is that is has both a VGA connector and a DVI connector - this allows you to connect two monitors at once, they can even both be VGA monitors if you use the DVI-VGA adapter included in the box. Having two monitors connected is awesome - you can have a desktop split across both!!! Think of all those extra pixels!!! I thought it was unbelievable that this card has completely unsung dual head capability since most dual head cards cost considerably more. Also included in the box, and very useful, is the dongle that connects to the s-video port on the back of the card and splits it into separate s-video in, s-video out, composite video in and composite video out ports - this allows you to connect the card up to receive video from a camcorder/digital camera or output your desktop to a TV - great for watching DVDs!!! So far as the 3D performance is concerned, this card is the same as any other Geforce 4 Ti4200 card - the quality is better than earlier chipsets and not as good as the later ones - just as you'd expect. If you want details of how it compares, you would probably do best to look at a few benchmarks on the interne t to see how the chipset performs compared to others. The card has 8x AGP giving a massive amount of data bandwidth between the card and the motherboard, as well as 128Mb graphics memory - this will allow you to play games with a higher texture quality than cards with lower AGP speeds/less memory and will reduce loading times. As if the extra hardware included wasn't enough, the software bundle contains the following software: *Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon FULL VERSION!!! - this is a cool FPS game *Morrowind FULL VERSION!!! - RPG, never played it myself but have heard it is good *Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project FULL VERSION - side scrolling shoot-em-up - I was a bit disappointed by this as it is nowhere near as good as the previous Duke Nukem games *A demo disk containing 7 game demos *MSI 5.1 Channel DVD Player - useful if you don't have one already *Virtual Drive 7 Pro - weird CD copying software - never used it *Restore It 3 Pro - backup software - never used it *Foreign Language Learning Machine - helps you learn languages *MSI 3D Desktop - amusing for about 5 minutes, then boring *MSI Live update - automatically updates the card's drivers and BIOS *MSI 3D Turbo Experience - the card's control panel - see warning below *Goodmem - weird utility to release system memory and supposedly improve stability - sounds like witchcraft to me. *MSI LockBox - a utility to automatically lock your PC when not in use *MSI WMInfo - churns out weird system info - seems to be mostly for MSI's tech support *MSI secure DOC - allows documents to be encrypted *E-Color - a little utility to help you adjust your screen colours so that they are perfect *Adobe Acrobat - this is free anyway *Trend PC-Cillin 2000 - Virus scanner *DirectX 8.1 - in case you have been living on Mars for the past 3 years I think its really quite amazing that Ghost Recon and Morrowind are being g iven away with this card for free, they are still on sale in the shops and are both popular. Although the Duke Nukem game is boring and tedious, at least I didn't buy it to have to discover that. One word of warning about the 3D Turbo experience - this is a control panel for the graphics card, it allow you to do thing such as change the memory and GPU clock speeds, monitor the voltages, GPU temperature and fan speeds, adjust the brightness and contrast etc. The only problem is that it is written in flash and is made to look like the control panel of a space ship with poorly labelled colourful buttons. The first time that I ran the 'Turbo Experience' I just randomly clicked on all the inviting-looking coloured buttons, only to find that my computer locked up! - it turned out that I had inadvertently overclocked my graphics card. This seems a little bit irresponsible of MSI, especially as overclocking can damage hardware. It even seems that the control panel is aimed at children, so don't install this if you have little people using your computer! The E-color tool is useful if you have a monitor that doesn't quite display colours correctly - it runs a series of tests to determine the correct brightness, contrast and gamma correction for the red, green and blue colour channels. This ensures that games look exactly how they should and you are not for example disadvantaged in a game because you can't see an object that is too dark. Overall I have been very impressed with this card - the dual-head ability was a great surprise and the quantity and (general) quality of the bundled software adds to the general good impression. For the cheapest Ti4200 card around, it is truly outstanding. I bought the card for £93 in July 2003, it has probably dropped in price considerably since then, but after a quick look nowhere online seems to sell it any more. Read the complete review |
 |
MSI FX5900-VTD128
by Dave_UK Overview ***************** Today I will be reviewing the latest addition to my customized PC setup ? MSI?s Geforce FX5900XT-VTD128 graphics card (bit of a mouthful, that one!) The board is manufactured by a company called MSI (Micro-star ... International) that many of you will have heard of. For those that haven?t, MSI are a massive computer electronics company, and manufacture all kinds of computer-related kit ? from a vast range of motherboards and graphics cards, to optical drives such as CD and DVD readers/writers. My DVD writer is made by MSI ? as is my motherboard (K7n420Pro, reviewed here on dooyoo). They make decent products at a decent price, and I am very happy with my purchases. This particular graphics card is built using NVIDIA?s Geforce FX5900XT chipset - more about that below? Chipset ***************** The Geforce FX5900XT is the latest in NVIDIA?s Geforce FX product line-up. Sporting a full implementation of Microsoft?s DirectX9, the card supports all the latest graphical features in today?s games, as well as up-and-coming titles such as Half-Life 2 and Doom3. The FX5900XT version is essentially a slightly slower variant of the vanilla FX5900 chipset, with the memory running at a ?clock speed? 700 MHz (as opposed to 800/850 MHz). In addition, the main chip is clocked slightly slower (390 vs. 400 MHz) on some models. For those that aren?t too technically minded, this basically means that the FX5900XT has been equipped with some cheaper (slower) memory, in order to bring down costs. In reality, however, this has lit tle affect on real-world performance ? which is even more surprising when you consider that the ?XT? version is currently retailing for about £50 less than it?s faster-clocked counterpart. The card itself comes with 128MB of memory on-board, which allows for large, crisp textures in your games. 256MB cards are about, but this is largely overkill and makes little difference in any of today?s games. Essentially, the Geforce FX5900XT is designed as a performance card at a mainstream price ? and for this reason makes an extremely attractive purchase for the average gamer. Bundle ********** Upon excitedly opening up the box of my new card, I was greeted by a generous assortment of bundled extras. These were: ~Kit~ The card itself was (fortunately) present, in an anti-static bag. Also included was a DVI-to analogue adaptor (for connecting a second analogue monitor to the DVI connection), a power supply cable, a 2m S-video cable, and a converter for S-Video/Composite In/Out connections. ~Games~ Morrowind ? One of the best Role Playing Games ever made Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project ? A basic but fun platform/shooter Ghost Recon - A Special Forces action game ~Software~ WinDVD Creator ? Video editing / DVD creation software MSI Utilities ? An assortment of utilities for tweaking your card, updating your system etc. In all, the bundle is simply excellent. While you may not enjoy all the games, they are all quality titles and you will no doubt find something of interest there. I haven?t used WinDVD creator yet, but I have a DVD writer and a digital camcorder so I am sure that it w ill come in handy. As for MSI?s utilities ? some of these are of little use, but the tweak program is easy to use and allows you to ?overclock? the card with ease (run it faster than it is supposed to, for greater performance). MSI also include a utility called ?Live Update? which helpfully scans your computer for all MSI-related software/drivers etc ? and updates them. Connectors ***************** The board has the standard analogue connection for a monitor, as well as a DVI connector for flat TFT screens, etc. An S-Video connection also provides Video-In or Out functionality. All necessary adapters are included. Installation ***************** Installation was easy. I will not go into how to install/remove a graphics card here in depth, as it depends on your system and there is an installation guide included. Like almost all new graphics cards, you will need an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) slot. In simplest terms, I uninstalled my existing graphics drivers, switched the PC off, installed the new card, switched on, and then installed the drivers from CD. I would recommend for the latest performance and stability improvements that you download the latest drivers from NVIDIA?s website. The board itself uses quite a lot of power, so needs to be connected directly to the power supply. An adaptor is included for this if you don?t have enough connectors. For this reason, a 350w power supply is recommended as a minimum. Quality ***************** ~2D~ First off, when booting into windows, it was plain to see that NVIDIA have not cut any corners in building their latest chipsets, and MSI have done a great job of implementing the m without problem too. 2D graphics quality is outstanding, and everything is noticeably sharper than with my old Geforce2MX. Worth noting is the comparison of 2D quality between NVIDIA and ATI graphics cards ? where NVIDIA have often been disappointing in the past. I have used an ATI Radeon 9700Pro (had to send it back because of problems) and I can safely say that NVIDIA has clearly caught up on the 2D front. In fact, I would go so far as to say that fonts seamed to appear sharper with the NVIDIA board? ~3D~ Quality in 3D games is similarly top-notch. Textures are noticeably sharper at default settings than my old Geforce 2MX, and all-round image quality seems directly comparable to the latest Radeons, like my old Radeon 9700Pro. I have to add, though, that NVIDIA seem to do a better job of lighting in some games. In Need for Speed Underground, for instance, the lights seem to ?glow? a lot more realistically than with the Radeon? Still, for a brand new graphics card, I was expecting the latest in graphics quality, and I was not disappointed. The one of many advantages brought about by Microsoft?s DirectX9 (and DX8) standards is ?pixel shaders?. These allow the programming of realistic skin, hair, facial expressions etc ? as well as realistic environments. Basically, all these latest technologies (which lets face it, sound a little boring) add up to create game worlds that are more realistic than ever before! ~DVD~ DVD playback is another area where NVIDIA was repeatedly beaten by ATI. I watch a lot of DVD?s on my PC (in my room, with my gir lfriend), so this was a big selling point for me. However, I am pleased to find that NVIDIA have improved markedly in this department as well ? and their DVD playback is now on a par that can compete with that of ATI?s latest Radeon lineup. ~Enhancement~ There are two main methods of enhancing quality in 3D Games that are supported by the hardware of this card. These are known as ?Anti-Aliasing? and ?Anisotropic Filtering?. Anti-aliasing (AA) is a technique for smoothing out jagged lines in your games. It makes a nice difference, and gets rid of the shimmering ?staircase? effect from edges in 3D scenes. There are several modes (2x 4x 6x 8x etc) which smooth the jagged edges out more and more. However, the 4x mode is generally the best balance of quality and performance, and removes almost all noticeable jagged edges. It has to be said, though, that ATI does a better job of eliminating all the ?jaggies?? Anisotropic filtering (AF) is a technique for sharpening the ?textures? in your games. This means that surfaces in the distance (i.e. a brick wall, the floor etc) remain sharp and in focus even in the distance. NVIDIA gets the top trump in this department, because even though their Geforce FX cards are a little slower at it, they provide a better quality image as the end result. I generally use ?8xAF? mode, which makes all the textures look nice and sharp, even at a distance Performance ************* Performance with this card is excellent. It performs very similar to my old Radeon 9700Pro, perhaps edging a little faster in many tests (comparable to a Radeon 9800Pro in some). When ?Anti-aliasing? is enabled, the card is on a par with its rivals in the ATI camp, whereas it performs a bit slower with ?Anisotropic filtering?. However, this is partly because NVIDIA filters at a higher quality than ATI. In general though, the FX5900XT has plenty of muscle for all the latest games, even with the above image enhancement modes turned on. I have played Raven Shield, Max Payne 2, Morrowind, Need for Speed: Underground and several other graphics-intensive games - and all are playable with full detail settings. I can even have any jagged edges filtered out with sharp textures, and still get good speeds in many games :) Of course the performance of the card depends on the rest of your system. I am currently using an Athlon XP 1800+ with 512MB of RAM ? and although it is not state of the art, my PC can still keep up! Features ***************** As well as the afore-mentioned DirectX9 capabilities, AA and AF image enhancement, DVD playback and all the other standard features of the Geforce FX5900XT chipset - the MSI board also offers another very useful feature: VIVO (Video In/Video Out). This allows you to output from your graphics card to a TV ? or input from VHS, Sky/Cable or camcorder. This is very handy for recording or editing video from an analogue source, and the WinDVD creator software is provided for this. The TV-output is a great feature. You can play games on your big telly, or perhaps even put a DVD on the TV screen while you browse the web on your monitor. There is also a DVI (digital) connector for some monitors, namely flat-panel TFT screens. You can use any two screens at once (analogue monitor/DV I/TV). The NVIDIA drivers allow you to spread your desktop across both screens, or to display different things on each. Cooling/Noise ***************** This factor was my reason for choosing the MSI version of this board above the many others that are available. MSI have developed a unique excellent cooling solution for the card, which uses a quality heatsink (basically a lump of metal) and a low-noise fan for dissipating heat. The end result is a card that runs cool and quiet ? quieter than all its competitors according to online reviews. This is very significant to me as my PC is in my bedroom! Noise is probably about the same as my previous Hercules 9700Pro (which also featured an excellent cooling system) and does not noticeably increase the noise of my PC. In addition, the capable heatsink/fan combination gives the possibility of ?overclocking? your graphics card (raising the clock speeds to make it run faster, but hotter). However, I would recommend that you don?t overdo this, and to check out guides online beforehand if you want to overclock this board. Overclocking used to be something done by performance-hungry enthusiasts, and wasn?t a venture that I would like to risk ? but it is now officially supported by many manufacturers. The back of my MSI box even goes so far as to say that the board is guaranteed up to 10% faster clock speeds. This won?t necessarily make your games run 10% faster, though :) Value for Money ***************** I have come to the conclusion that the Geforce FX5900XT is the best value-for-money graphics chipset currently available. Offering almost all the performance of its non-XT big brother, and yet significantly cheaper, this chipset looks set to rule the mainstream sector in the w ay that the Geforce 4 Ti4200 did a couple of years ago (anyone remember that!?) I purchased my MSI card for £140 from eBay.co.uk (the seller shipped from America for free), but I have seen FX5900XT cards from other manufacturers going for as little as £125-130. If you aren?t as concerned about the quiet cooling solution and Video-Input that MSI provide, then you may wish to shop around for a Geforce FX5900XT board from a different manufacturer. Overall ***************** This is an amazing card. A phenomenal price/performance ratio, with all the latest features for state-of-the art gaming. Although beaten to the top spot in the performance stakes by its larger siblings in the NVIDIA product lineup, and ATI?s flagship offerings, the Geforce FX5900XT offers most of the performance you would expect from a high-end graphics card ? at a mainstream price. Not to mention the brilliant implementation by MSI ? with a generous bundle, VIVO functionality, and an excellent cooling solution ? this card is a very attractive package for anyone looking to upgrade their PC for the latest wave of games ? without breaking the bank. I am very happy with it, and thus it comes highly recommended! Thank you for reading, I hope you found this interesting :) Dave Eversden. Dave_UK. Read the complete review |
 |
MSI FX5600-TD256
by JPShooter In a way, my choice for this card was arbitrary. I was buying a new computer and had the choice of what to get. I certainly wasn't going to keep my old card - an MX440. Not a bad card in its own right, but still a budget one nonetheless. I was attracted by the FX5600 by its price - it was only £95 more, and it had 256mb ... of onboard RAM. There always seems to be big leap in price from around £100 to £250 - well out of my budget. I knew the FX range was supposed to be good, and MSI are a reputable firm for branded graphics cards. Unfortunately I had the oem version and hence no bundled extras - not the worst thing in the world but you get what you pay for. Technical Bits ---------------- 256MB DDR RAM DirectX 9.0 compatible Supports 128-bit colour Dual 400MHz RAMDACs AGP 8X Performance -------------- I did a run recently on my Athlon 2800, 1024MB RAM machine and it got a score of over 2000 on 3DMark03. Not bad, but not amazing. Using the example from some games, I can run Max Payne 2 in 1280x1024 resolution with maximum graphic options no problem at all. In fact, I can run most games on 1280x1024 and they run well, including recent games. Now I find it difficult to think of what else to write, without talking about pixel shading and vertexes and other technical terms which make for a very boring review. However, I can say that the card is always more than a match for the system requirements of new games. It is also DirectX 9 compatible, which means it is based on the latest form of Microsoft's graphic drivers. Some games often need this to run well, such as Rainbow 6 3: Raven Shield. Additionally, nVidia release drivers for the GeForce range relatively regularly, and these updates have solved some problems with some games. The card sports 256MB of RAM, but don't be fooled into thinking this makes it better than a 128MB card. Although it helps, the speed of t he graphical processor is important, and the FX5600 certainly can't keep pace with similar efforts from ATI's Radeon range. In terms of price, the card holds up well, and you would be able to pick one up for around £80. However MSI do many different variations of this card, so choose carfeully. I haven't used the DVI monitor support, but a friend of mine with the same card has and he reports it as being good. The TV-out I have used, and is certainly much clearer than my previous MX440. The output is clear and good for putting DVDs on a big screen. The card also supports multiple monitors, if you're fortunate enough, and can spread the image across more than one screen. Ideally you need a good monitor to get the full delivery from this card, preferably a 19" flatscreen CRT or above - I can't comment on TFT screens as I haven't used one. Conclusion ------------ Apologies for the curt nature of this review, but it's hard to know what to put with resorting to jargon-mode. For the laymen (including me) - it's cheap, has lots of RAM and much more than meet the system requirements of all new games. Driver support from nVidia is good, and you probably can't buy much better for less than £90. Read the complete review |
MSI Graphic Card |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Graphic Card / Graphics card - Radeon HD 6450 - 2 GB DDR3 - PCI Express 2.1 x16 - DVI, D-Sub, HDMI - MSI graphics cards offer the HDMI functionality to provide access to premium digital content. HDMI enables gaming enthusiasts to seamlessly connect to their LCD monitor to bring the ... |
|
|
Graphics card - GF GT 430 - 2 GB DDR3 - PCI Express 2.0 x16 - fanless - HDMI + DVI Output MSI Solid Capacitor Graphic Cards Blu-ray and HD DVD support PCI Express 2.0 support Meet RoHS regulations HDCP support Live Update 5 |
|
|
Graphic Card / Graphics card - GF GTX 680 - 2 GB GDDR5 - PCI Express 3.0 x16 - 2 x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort - Afterburner overclocking utility 28nm GPU with PCI Express 3.0 All solid capacitor 3DVision surround |
|
|
Graphic Card / Graphics card - Radeon HD 7970 - 3 GB GDDR5 - PCI Express 3.0 x16 - 2 x DVI, 4 x Mini DisplayPort - The R7970 comes equipped with the unlocked digital power architecture ready for world-record breaking performance and is cooled by the next installment in MSI's award w... |
|
|
Graphic Card / Graphics card - 1 GB GDDR5 - PCI Express 3.0 x16 - DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort - MSI graphics cards offer the HDMI functionality to provide access to premium digital content. HDMI enables gaming enthusiasts to seamlessly connect to their LCD monitor to bring the ultimate ... |
|
|
Graphic Card / Graphics card - Radeon HD 7770 - 1 GB GDDR5 - PCI Express 3.0 x16 - DVI, HDMI, 2 x Mini DisplayPort - MSI graphics card offers the HDMI functionality to provide access to premium digital content. HDMI enables gaming enthusiasts to seamlessly connect to their LCD mon... |
|
|
Graphic Card / Graphics card - GF GTX 570 - 1.25 GB GDDR5 - PCI Express 2.0 x16 - 2 x DVI, Mini-HDMI - The N570GTX Twin Frozr III Power Edition graphics card not only features the Twin Frozr III dual fan cooling module but also exclusive Propeller Blade techn... |
|
|
Graphic Card / Graphics card - Radeon HD 6570 - 1 GB DDR3 - PCI Express 2.1 x16 low profile - DVI, D-Sub, HDMI - MSI graphics cards in the AMD HD 6000 family support the MSI's proprietary Afterburner software with the Predator video capture function. Gamers can enhance their gaming ... |
|
|
Graphics card - Radeon HD 5450 - 512 MB DDR3 - PCI Express 2.1 x16 low profile - DVI, D-Sub, HDMI - SSC (Solid State Chock) has no buzz noise and higher current for better overclocking ability All solid CAP for longer lifespan Support 2D / Graphic Card /3D customized ... |
|
|
Graphic Card / Graphics adapter - Radeon HD 4350 - PCI Express 2.0 x16 - 512 MB DDR2 - Digital Visual Interface (DVI), HDMI ( HDCP ) - HDTV out - 80 stream processors Second generation DirectX 10.1 architecture Support ATI CrossFireX technology Up to 1.7x performan... |
|
| MSI Graphic Card Recommendations 1 2 3 4 back next | ||
| dooyoo Results 21 - 30 of 32 | ||
