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The MX carries 166MHz SDR memory on a 128-bit interface. The card we have uses SDR SDRAM, though NVIDIA tells us that shipping cards will use SDR SGRAM. The MX is capable of using a 64-bit interface as well, matched with SDR or DDR memory, though NVIDIA tells us they don't expect such cards to ship for a while. Currently, SDR memory is significantly less expensive than DDR memory, though the price difference is closing as SDR memory prices rise and DDR prices fall.
In comparison, the GTS uses 166MHz DDR SDRAM or DDR SGRAM on a 128-bit interface. This gives the GTS twice the maximum memory bandwidth of the MX. Such high bandwidth is useful mainly when running at higher resolutions where performance is bandwidth limited. It should also be helpful when using FSAA. The MX's lower memory bandwidth and fewer rendering pipelines limits the MX's high-resolution performance, which may be intentional on NVIDIA's part. They want to offer a value part without hurting their GTS sales and they can differentiate the products more by effectively reducing the MX's high-resolution performance.
The MX carries all the 3D quality features of the GTS. Each pipeline has an NVIDIA Shading Rasterizer (NSR), which enables real-time per pixel shading. The NSR is capable of performing up to seven per-pixel operations in one pass. If you would like to read more about the NSR, please consult the portion of our GeForce2 GTS Guide, where we explain the NSR in-depth. The MX also supports 32bpp 3D textures up to 2048x2048, texture compression, FSAA, cube environment mapping (pictured below) and vertex blending, just like the GTS.
Cube Environment Mapping
NSR effects on
NSR effects off
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