ABIT Siluro T400

ABIT's GeForce2 MX400: Siluro T400

Introduction

We all know how popular VGA cards based on the GeForce2 MX GPU from Nvidia have been over the past year or so. With the MX offering performance on a par with the previously top-of-the-line GeForce at a significantly lower cost, it has hardly made sense for the average consumer to go with anything else. A high bang to buck ratio is what most of us look for after all.

Nvidia know that this is the side their bread is buttered on: high-end chips like the GeForce2 Ulta and GeForce 3 may grab headlines, but MX is where the volume is, and they have done everything they can to keep it at the forefront. First they used it as the basis of their GeForce2Go, allowing 3D gaming on laptop computers, and now they have given the nearly year old chip a makeover to keep it competitive.

The first aspect of that makeover was splitting the MX line in two. Originally hailed as a "GPU for everyone," the MX now faces stiff competition in the lower end and workstation markets from ATI's Raedon VE and Matrox's G450. Nvidia also need to phase out the TNT2 Ultra (which, believe it or not, is still quite popular in many parts of the world.) To kill these two birds with one stone, Nvidia created the inexpensive new GeForce2 MX 200, which is merely the same chip with its memory bus and bandwidth halved. The second aspect of the makeover was to give the MX's 175MHz core clock and extra boost of 25MHz and call it the GeForce2 MX 400.

The first GeForce2 MX 400 card that we here at AAPC have had a chance to look at is the Siluro T400 from ABIT. We all know ABIT for their motherboards, and like most motherboard companies, this past year has seen them successfully taking a stab at making Nvidia-based VGA cards. Though perhaps not at the very top of the market, their catchily-named Siluro line ("Siluro" means torpedo in Italian) has consistently checked in at well above the norm. 

But unlike their approach to motherboards, ABIT have taken a very conservative approach to VGA cards: they avoid expensive, top of the line cards like the original GeForce with DDR or the GeForce2 Ultra. They also choose to produce in smaller quantities rather than expose themselves to fluctuations in the SDRAM market. A sound, if not earth-shattering business plan.

All this adds up to very good cards, if you can find them. (I have only seen Siluros for sale in Europe, though apparently a few have surfaced in the US as well.) Let's see how the T400 fits in with the tradition they've built so far...