Review: Gainward FX PowerPack! Ultra/1100 XT

by Ryszard Sommefeldt on 15 April 2004, 00:00

Tags: Gainward FX Powerpack! ULTRA/1100 XT, Gainward

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qaxm

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Overclocking and Noise

Overclocking

Overclocking the Gainward was a simple and unexciting affair. ExpertTool lets you set the following factory approved clock frequencies, to get you a bit more speed.



15% on the core and 11% on the memory will give you a decent performance boost, especially if you're using anti-aliasing or anisotropic filtering, or if you're running DX9 apps that are hitting the underwhelming shader units hard.

Overclocking past those clocks didn't reveal much extra overclocking headroom. 468/798 was the maximum stable set of clocks that would make it through a couple of loops of 3DMark03. Your mileage will vary of course, but they're decent clocks given results from other 5900XT reviews around the intarweb.

Noise

I briefly mentioned fan noise on page two, but I'll cover it again here. It doesn't have speed adjustment from what my ears could tell, staying constant in pitch and presumably RPM for the entire duration of testing. It's not especially loud and in the absence of a specific rating or a decibel meter, I'd estimate it to be ~45dBa from a couple of feet away, at ear height.