GeForce4 Ti and MX Overclocking Guide - Page 2

GeForce4 MX 440: Value Overclocking

The VisionTek Xtasy GeForce4 MX 440 has been selected for the low-cost portion of this overclocking adventure. The VisionTek board arrived with an atrociously poor cooling setup and was just begging us for a retrofit. There is virtually no cooling on the VisionTek GeForce4 MX 440, other than a very basic heatsink. Compared to the GeForce4 Ti series of cards, the GeForce4 MX series runs noticeably cooler, and this allowed VisionTek to fit the card with only a minuscule passive heatsink.

The GeForce4 MX line is also positioned as a value product, so adding in an expensive cooling setup would only increase costs and make the cards less attractive to the general user. What many would view as a product negative we see as a real opportunity, since the card still runs pretty cool with no active fan, so we're ready to blow off the barn doors with some extra hardware.

The Goodies

The Thermaltake Crystal Orb was the best choice to replace the stock GeForce4 MX 440 heatsink as it seems to post some of the best scores outside of water cooling. Its low price and high availability don't hurt either, and with a card as inexpensive as the GeForce4 MX, we don't want to go too hog wild with the hardware.

We also decided to throw a few basic aluminum heatsinks on the four Hynix 5ns DDR ram chips just for kicks. Memory heatsinks are not a viable overclocking solution if there is not good airflow through the case, and to combat this, our test case uses an 80mm 24CFM Panaflo L1A fan blowing directly onto the memory chips of the MX440.

Total Cost of Thermaltake Crystal Orb and Aluminum Heatsinks: $20