Hercules’ 3D Prophet II MX 400 comes to us in the familiar blue many now associate with Hercules products. The card is fairly simple looking, which is good, because simple usually means inexpensive. The GeForce 2 MX 400 is cooled by a small heatsink and fan, which, in all likelihood, isn’t necessary, and could be replaced with a single larger heatsink. The card is equipped with 5.5ns Micron memory. With a default clock of 183 MHz, the memory is already at its rated speed, so don’t expect it to overclock too much further. A 350 MHz RAMDAC powers the card’s 2D.


Fig 1 - Hercules' 3D Prophet II MX 400.

The bundle is pretty minimal. The retail version of the card comes with an installation guide, and a few games and game demos. Nothing earth shattering, but it serves to keep the cost of the card low.

We’d also like to remind you that Hercules is about the only graphics card manufacturer we’re aware of that offers a toll-free technical support number. If you’re new to building or upgrading, that should definitely count for something.


Fig 2 - The card uses 5.5ns-rated memory.

At Hercules’ website, the 3D Prophet II MX 400 is priced at $99, while the 3D Prophet 4500 retails for $149. However, a quick look around the web reveals that both cards can be bought online for around $95. At such a similar price point, the comparison between the two should prove quite interesting...