SUMMARY: With the release of the GeForce4 Ti series video boards, the world has had some very good graphics adapters. But not everyone can afford the US$400 entry fee for the Ti4600. Come join Mike "Darthtanion" Wright as he takes a look at the X-Micro Impact T4200 Video Card. It features the Ti4200 GPU and is available on the streets for half the cost of its big brother. Can this be the "Sweet-Spot" of price -vs- performance? Let's find out!
Most companies anymore try to keep their added software to a minimum. It’s just my opinion, but I think that this is a good thing. It helps keep the costs of the package down, and most of us don’t use the software anyway. I can say from experience that a vast majority of the people who would even be interested in this card already have the software they are wanting to run. Either that or they are making plans on some brand new game with all kinds of bells and whistles. So I’m all for keeping the extra stuff to a minimum and letting me save a few bucks for something I really need.
That said, we have a very simple gathering of items here that gets right down to the business of cool graphics. Included in the box is the video card (of course), a manual, cables necessary to use the S-Video output, a driver disk, WinDVD and the non-retail version of Serious Sam. Not included are a lot of fancy utilities that we won’t use anyway.
And in case you’re wondering about the inclusion of the WinDVD program, consider that the GeForce4 video cards are fully capable of handling DVD movies without the need for an MPEG card. Since the WinDVD program is low cost, it just makes sure that everyone has what is necessary to enjoy some full-screen movie madness.
Also of note concerning the driver disk is that it adds a tab in the video card’s advanced properties for adjusting the clock speeds of the card. I just love it when the manufacturer realizes what we want and makes it readily available.
