Budget Video Card Comparison - November 2000

MDK2 Performance

We saw at 640x480x32 in Quake III Arena how the Voodoo4 4500's lack of T&L resulted in a huge performance penalty. Once again, in MDK2, we find that the Voodoo4 4500 is quickly dominated at this low resolution. Although the GeForce2 MX performs 3.6% faster than the Radeon SDR, it beats the Voodoo4 4500 by 148%.

Since MDK2 is rather heavily dependent on a cards T&L engine, we continue to see the GeForce2 MX on top. The MX performs 23.4% faster than the Radeon SDR. The Voodoo4 4500 remains the slowest of the pack, performing 70.4% slower than the Radeon SDR.

Unlike in Quake III Arena at 1024x768x32, the Radeon SDR can not catch up to the GeForce2 MX. Although HyperZ helped the Radeon SDR along in Quake III Arena, it can not speed the Radeon SDR up to GeForce2 MX speed in MDK2 at 1024x768x32. This is most likely a result of the Radeon SDR's sub par T&L engine. First shown in Quake III Arena at 640x480x32, the T&L performance of the Radeon could be hindering its performance. Since our MDK2 tests are conducted at default settings with the T&L check box clicked, the game is relying on the T&L engine more than other games do. Unfortunately, this problem really manifests itself in MDK2, where at 1024x768x32 the Radeon SDR performs 23% slower than the GeForce2 MX. In addition, the lack of T&L support on the Voodoo4 4500 prevents it from performing up to par as well, as it performs 97% slower than the GeForce2 MX.

The results of the MDK2 demo at 1280x1024x32 mimic the results found at 1024x768x32. In this case, with the amount of information passing through the memory bus growing, the Radeon SDR cuts its losses to 18%. The fact remains, however, that only the GeForce2 MX provides playable frame rates, with the Voodoo4 4500 rendering at almost unplayable frames per second.