PC Graphics Beyond XBOX - NVIDIA Introduces GeForce4

Bug Report

Right after I received the two cards, I had to test the video output quality of the GeForce4 MX460. To do this quickly, I installed it in my multi media PC system in my living room, which is hooked up to the stereo to play SWR3 web radio all day (which I can't live without), and hooked up to my video/TV, as well, to replay copied DVDs from out of my home network. This system comes equipped with an Asus A7V266-E motherboard with VIA's Apollo KT266A chipset, an AthlonXP 2000+ processor, lots of memory and other nifty things.

Once the 27.30-driver had been installed, my GeForce4 MX460 card would not start WindowsXP as long as video-out of the GeForce4 MX was connected to the TV. I rang Lars in Germany and he tried a similar configuration, an AMD760 platform with AthlonXP 1900+. In his case the system would not run as well, as soon as the video-out of the GeForce4 MX460 was hooked to a television.

It seems as if Athlon plus GeForce4 MX plus television is not a good constellation. NVIDIA was very surprised, but also not particularly fussed. While NVIDIA likes to point fingers at ATi's driver issues, it seems to consider itself infallible. The test guys who ought to have caught this driver bug seem to be busy selling their stock or counting their money instead. That's how times change! A few years ago somebody at NVIDIA would have been willing and able to fix a bug of this kind. Today, nada ...

Test Setup