GeForce 4 series

Lore & Background

The GeForce4 Ti (NV25) launched in February 2002 as a revision of the GeForce 3, with higher clock rates, a revised memory controller (Lightspeed Memory Architecture II), Direct3D 8.1 support, an additional vertex shader, hardware anti-aliasing (Accuview AA), and DVD playback. The MX family (NV17) was based on the past-generation GeForce2 but incorporated bandwidth-saving techniques, dual-monitor support, and a multi-sampling anti-aliasing unit from the Ti series. The MX also introduced the Nvidia VPE for video processing, which the Ti lacked.

The initial Ti lineup included the Ti4400 and Ti4600. Nvidia later released the Ti4200 at a lower price, though its release was delayed to sell off GeForce 3 Ti500 chips. The Ti4200 with 128 MiB memory was set to 222 MHz memory speed, while 64 MiB models ran at 250 MHz; some card makers ignored this guideline. In late 2002, the NV28 core replaced NV25, adding AGP-8X support, leading to the Ti4200-8X, Ti4800SE (replacing Ti4400), and Ti4800 (replacing Ti4600). The only mobile Ti derivative was the GeForce4 4200 Go (NV28M), launched in late 2002, which lacked power-saving circuitry.

The MX lineup had three initial models: the MX420 with SDR memory for low-end PCs, the MX440 as a mass-market OEM solution, and the MX460 meant to slot between the MX440 and Ti4400. The MX420 performed only slightly better than the GeForce2 MX400. The MX440 outperformed its closest competitor.

Reader's Guide

The GeForce4 Ti series outperformed the GeForce 3 significantly and overshadowed the competing ATI Radeon 8500 in every area except price and pixel shader support. Nvidia missed a chance to dominate the upper-range segment by delaying the Ti4200 and not rolling out 128 MiB models quickly enough. The Ti4200 debuted at half the cost of the Ti4600 ($199 vs $399) and remained the best balance of price and performance until the launch of the Radeon 9500 Pro at the end of 2002. It held its own against several DirectX 9 GPUs released in late 2003, outperforming the GeForce FX 5200 and FX 5600, and performing similarly to the Radeon 9600 Pro in some situations.

The GeForce4 MX was criticized as a misleading marketing ploy because it was less advanced than the preceding GeForce3, lacking programmable shaders. However, in non-game applications like AutoCAD, it performed within a single-digit percentage of much more expensive Ti cards. The MX420's main competitors were chipset-integrated graphics, and its advantage was multiple-monitor support. The MX440 performed reasonably well for its intended audience.

The mobile GeForce4 4200 Go outperformed the Mobility Radeon 9000 by a large margin and was Nvidia's first DirectX 8 laptop solution, but its thermal output was similar to the desktop part and it lacked power-saving circuitry, causing battery life problems for notebook manufacturers.

Did You Know?

• The GeForce4 MX was based on the GeForce2 architecture, not the GeForce3.
• The Ti4200 was initially delayed to sell off GeForce 3 Ti500 chips.
• The GeForce4 MX was the first GeForce to feature the Nvidia VPE for video processing.
• The GeForce4 4200 Go was Nvidia's first DirectX 8 laptop graphics solution.