The GeForce 2 MX is based on the.18 micron core of the GeForce2 GTS, but with one important difference. While the GeForce2 GTS utilizes four rendering pipelines, the GeForce2 MX only features two. From a straight performance viewpoint, this positions the GeForce2 MX at approximately half the theoretical rate of the GeForce 2 GTS. This may sound like a negative at first, but remember that the GeForce 2 GTS and Ultra cards are currently top of the line, and are much faster than corresponding GeForce 256 cards.

Other than the dual-pipelines of the GeForce 2 MX, the chip shares all the other features of the GeForce 2 GTS, with dual-textures per pipeline, as well as second generation T&L (transform and lighting), as well as NVIDIA's Shading Rasterizer feature. Since the T&L setup is inherent on the chip's clock speed, the GeForce 2 MX actually fares quite well (20 million triangles/sec) compared to the GeForce 2 GTS (25 million triangles/sec). Like all current NVIDIA cards, the GeForce2 MX also supports AGP 4X, 32-bit rendering, texture compression and FSAA. The newer .18 micron core and dual rendering pipelines of the GeForce2 MX means it only consumes a miniscule 4 W of power.

The GeForce 2 GTS and Ultra chips are clocked at default speeds of 200 and 250 MHz respectively, while the GeForce 2 MX is rated at a 175 MHz core speed. Even without the two fewer rendering pipelines of the GeForce 2 MX, its lower speed ensures differentiation from the GeForce2 GTS and Ultra products. The original GeForce 256 has a default clock speed of 120 MHz, and with quad-pipelines as well, is actually quite similar to the GeForce 2 MX in pure 3D processing power.

Another aspect to the GeForce 2 MX is that it only supports SDR memory on the 128-bit bus (DDR on a 64-bit bus), and this can have an adverse effect on overall gaming performance. This is the same memory format as employed with the GeForce 256 SDR cards, and well below the memory bandwidth present on NVIDIA DDR products. Although the GeForce 2 MX is a more efficient chip with a higher fillrate, its performance remains competitive with the GeForce 256 SDR boards, while the GeForce 256 DDR variants tend to be noticeably faster.