ABIT Siluro T400

Overclocking

The original MX chip overclocked reasonably well; almost any MX could go from the 175MHz default core clock to 200 with very little cooling. However, those 25 extra MHz only got you a couple more frames per second, pretty much identical to the increase we've seen on the T400. In fact, the MX400 chip resembles nothing else so much as an overclocked MX; no wonder people have accused the MX400 of failing to overclock much further. 

Imagine our surprise then when we we able to get the T400's core clock, even with the passive heatsink, up to 230MHz and its memory clock to 195MHz! This boosted our Quake III scores ("Normal" settings) for the Athlon and P4 to 139.3 and 152.3, respectively, while our 3DMark 2001 scores went up to 2247 and 2340. If the MX400 is indeed nothing but an overclocked MX, then we must have gotten a particularly good chip.

Conclusions


Our test results speak for themselves.  The MX 400 offers a slight improvement over the MX, but not much: that extra 14% from the core clock can only do so much when constrained by the 128-bit memory bus.  It may be little more than a slightly boosted MX, but that's exactly what Nvidia intended it to be.  Furthermore, since our high opinion of the MX chip shows no sign of waning, and since the MX400 is slated to supplant it, we gladly accept this newcomer in its place. 

As far as ABIT is concerned, they have done a fine job making yet another no-nonsense card in the Siluro T400. With a solid set of features, solid performance, and no gimmicky extras, it'll be the workhorse in your hardware stable. If you can find one, by all means, check it out.