A few months back we showcased the Elsa Geforce 3 here and it was definitely a good performer (check out review here) – with stunning visuals and blazing frame rates – but unfortunately it doesn't come cheap. It has come down in price since our review, but it is still rather expensive and to most people, shedding out in excess of $300 on a video card is simply too much. It is often said that gamers are always looking for the highest frame rates achievable – which is definitely true – BUT, (most!) gamers are NOT looking to break the bank to do this.
So what are you going to do if you want top performance but aren’t ready to shed out a large amount of cash ? You turn to cheaper but still powerful solutions, obviously. Today we bring you the Hercules 3D Prophet 4500 and the Abit Siluro MX400 – two video cards that fit this bill nicely.
The two cards on test today are both aimed at the lower end market. Or put another way: for gamers with longer arms than pockets !!!
The MX400 is Nvidia’s attempt at getting their fair share of the market that haven’t already got a Geforce 2 GTS (or any of it’s incarnations) or a Geforce 3. The MX400 is simply a beefed up version of the Geforce 2 MX that for a long time have dominated the lower end graphics market.
The 3D Prophet 4500 is based on the Kyro II chip that is manufactured by Power VR. For the time being Hercules and Videologic are some of the only (larger) manufacturers that has adapted this technology – much because of Nvidia’s dominating force on the market. No one is interested in testing the big 'giant's' temperament, a company that on it’s track record has the downfall 3dfx. The Kyro II is the successor to the (surprise, surprise) Kyro chip, that didn’t have that big an impact at all…
Enough of the chit-chat – let’s move on to an overview of the technology.
The MX400 is 
