Internally, the GeForce4 MX GPU is more closely related to GeForce2 MX than to GeForce2 GTS/Ti or to GeForce4 Ti. GeForce4 MX and GeForce2 MX have only 2 pipelines, while GeForce2 GTS/Ti, GeForce3 and GeForce4 Ti have 4 pipelines.
http://www.tech-report.com/etc/2002q1/g ... dex.x?pg=1
Performance-wise, GeForce4 MX 460 and MX 440 will perform at GF2 Ti or better levels primarily because of memory bandwidth and a higher GPU clock speed.
Memory Bandwidth:
Nearly all NVidia cards since the original GeForce (SDR) have been limited by the available memory bandwidth on the card.
GeForce2 GTS/Ti features a 128-bit DDR memory bus. GeForce2 MX/MX400 was neutered by having only 128-bit SDR or 64-bit DDR memory. The P.O.S. (IMO) GeForce2 MX200 was severely crippled with a 64-bit SDR memory bus. The new GeForce4 MX 420 will have 128-bit SDR memory similar to the GeForce2 MX400, but the GeForce4 MX440 and GeForce4 MX460 will have 128-bit DDR memory. This will allow the GPU cores to achieve more of their theoretical throughput than a GeForce2 MX ever could. With memory speeds as good as or better than a GeForce2 Ti and a more efficient (lightning) memory controller, the GeForce4 MX440 and MX460 will perform at GeForce2 Ti levels or better.
GeForce4 Ti is the true successor to GeForce3, with DirectX 8 shader support and 4 pipelines. Several game developers have written that GeForce4 MX is a product that should never have existed, since it is named confusingly and since it abandons the DirectX 8 shaders that NVidia pioneered with GeForce3. NVidia may have effectively crippled future game development by supporting only DirectX 7 features in the GeForce4 MX.