We’ve received many e-mails from our readers stating that a specific video board is being largely sold in the market as if it were a GeForce 2 MX 400 with 64 MB video memory, but, in fact, it uses the SiS 315 chip with 32 MB video memory, which is a lot inferior to the GeForce 2 MX 400.

The counterfeit can be seen both on the board and its package. We read on the box that the board is a GeForce 2 MX 400, and there’s a tag on the board stating that it’s a GeForce 2 MX 400. There’s also a sticker with the nVidia (GeForce chips manufacturer) logo on one of the chips. The video board BIOS has been altered: when you turn the computer on, the screen shows that the board is a GeForce 2 MX 400.

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Figure 1: Counterfeit GeForce 2 MX 400 board and box.

Figure 2: The BIOS has been altered; when you turn the PC on, you read "GeForce 2 MX 400".

The surprise comes when you install the drivers: the board uses SiS 315 drivers and not GeForce ones! Apparently the drivers have been modified to display "GeForce 2 MX 400" instead of "SiS 315" on the Device Manager. But if you pay attention to the names of the driver files – Sisgrv.dll among others – it gets clear that the board is using SiS drivers.

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Figure 3: Windows detects that the graphics chip is SiS 315 with 32 MB video memory and not the GeForce 2 MX 400.

The "brand" of this board is "Sky Video" or "Sky Media", as you can see in the picture. On the box we have the web address www.sky-tech.info. By searching “Whois”, we found out that a Brazilian from Foz do Iguaçu registered this domain. That means the video board came from Paraguay.

So, be careful with boards by the brand "Sky Video" or "Sky Media". In case you bought a counterfeit GeForce board, it’s important to notice that the reseller who sold you that board may not know it’s fake – i.e., maybe he also bought the board really thinking it’s a GeForce.

We give thanks to the readers Márcio Antônio Rossetto da Cunha and Sieve-X, among others, who sent us pictures and the information for today’s article.