Today we will address Taiwan. I don't think that YUAN Technology is a well
known company, despite the fact that the manufacturer of video cards based
on NVIDIA chips lives as long as 10 years already (YUAN market located in ODM/OEM,
both internationally and inside Taiwan and China). Taking
into account that a large part of such products come in an OEM-package,
it is possible that these video cards sell under a different name.
Today we will examine two cards from YUAN based on the NVIDIA
GeForce2 MX200 and MX400. As for detailed information on the GPUs,
I wrote about these chipsets
and cards on them many times.
Cards
The YUAN XTreme3 GeForce2 MX400 and MX200 have AGP x2/x4 interface, 32
MB SDR SDRAM located in 4 chips on the front side of the PCB.
The YUAN XTreme3 GeForce2 MX400 is equipped with Samsung memory chips
with 5 ns access time, which corresponds to 200 MHz. Bu the memory works
at 183 MHz, which corresponds to the specs of the GeForce2 MX400. The YUAN
XTreme3 GeForce2 MX200 has M.Tec modules with a 7ns access time which corresponds
to the 143 MHz, but the memory operates at 166 MHz. On the one hand, it
also corresponds to the specs for the GeForce2 MX200, but on the other
hand, the memory is evidently overclocked by the manufacturer. The graphics
processors on both cards work at the determined frequencies equal to 200
and 175 MHz respectively.
From the photo you can see that the cards have the same PCB with two
sets of slots for memory chips (for 128- and 64-bit bus respectively).
It is well noticeable on an animated GIF shot:
The PCBs differ only in a color of vanish. Both cards are equipped with
standard coolers with fans intended for the graphics processors.
The cards ship in a Retail-package of a usual for such cards type:
The package looks like an OEM one: it includes only one CD with drivers
for a great deal of video cards and chipsets (it is another feature typical
of noname cards).
Overclocking
Both cards managed to work at a maximum of 230/200 MHz. Well, it's surprising
that both cards have equal results because the MX200 has a 7ns access time.
The 5ns memory of the MX400 refused to work faster than its rated value:
we could see artifacts yet at 205 MHz.
Installation and drivers
Test system configuration:
- Intel Pentium III 1000 MHz processor:
- Chaintech 6OJV (i815) mainboard;
- RAM 256 MBytes PC133;
- HDD IBM DPTA 20 GBytes;
- OS Windows 98 SE;
- ViewSonic P810 (21") and ViewSonic P817 (21") monitors.
For testing we used drivers from NVIDIA of the 12.40 version.
For comparative analysis the results of the following cards are given:
SUMA Platinum GeForce2 MX200 and SUMA Platinum GeForce2 MX400.
Test results
The 2D graphics quality is peculiar to the most of cards of this class,
i.e. the quality is excellent in 1024X768 at 85-100 Hz, 1280X1024 at 75 Hz,
while at the higher values images become soapy. Once again it should be
noted that 2D quality depends not only on a card manufacturer but also
on a definite sample.
For estimation of 3D quality we used the id Software Quake3 v.1.17 -
a game-test which demonstrates the card's operation in OpenGL with usage
of a standard demo-benchmark demo002.
Quake3 Arena
demo002
The tests were carried out in the standard modes: Fast (operation in 16-bit
color) and High Quality (operation on 32-bit color), as well as at the
maximum quality (all settings of detailing are highest).
As you can see, the YUAN video cards answer the level of the GeForce2
MX200/400 class, overclocking boosts the performance slightly up, but since
the memory can't be raised significantly, the response is low.
Conclusion
These cards are typical representatives of the products of one of Taiwan/Chinese
companies based on a universal design. Thank God, these video cards have
normal quality which is proved by a lack of flaws in the tests. The deceit,
however, also takes place here (I mean overclocking of the 7ns memory on
the MX200).
Highs:
- Correspondence of speed and quality characteristics of the YUAN XTreme3
GeForce2 MX200 and MX400 to the level of the GeForce2 MX200/400 card series;
- Relatively low price as compared with other noname cards;
- Decent card implementation quality;
Lows:
- Installation of overclocked memory on the YUAN XTreme3 GeForce2 MX200;
- Scarce Retail package which doesn't differ from an OEM one.
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