System Setup and Notes
- Gainward CoolFX Powerpack! Ultra/2600, NVIDIA NV40, 256MB, AGP8X
- ASUS AX800PRO/TD/P, ATI R420, 256MB, AGP8X
- AMD Athlon 64 Model 3400+, 2200MHz, 1MB L2
- ASUS K8V Deluxe, Socket 754, VIA K8T800
- 512MB Corsair XMS3200LLPT, 2-2-2-6
Software
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 1
- VIA Hyperion 4.51v
- NVIDIA ForceWare 60.72 (XFX)
- NVIDIA ForceWare 61.34 (Gainward)
- ATI CATALYST 4.5 BETA (AX800PRO)
- Far Cry
- Painkiller
- Unreal Tournament 2003
- Call of Duty
- Serious Sam: Second Encounter
- 3DMark03
Notes
The Gainward gets a primary competitor in the form of an ATI Radeon X800 PRO from ASUS, running the beta CATALYST 4.5 driver set. The Gainward is run at 450/1200 (the basic ExperTool enhanced clocks) using 60.72, 450/1200 using 61.34, NVIDIA's new WHQL candidate driver, and at 470/1200 on 61.34, a boot clock using a Gainward supplied card BIOS.Gainward ship the CoolFX at 400/1100 (standard Ultra clocks), using ExpertTool, their overclocking software, to boost clocks to 450/1200, just over reviewed Ultra Extreme clocks of 450/1100. The BIOS then takes that to 470/1200 at card boot, a Gainward supported clock and one that all CoolFX boards are certified to run at, but that has to be activated with software or by flashing the BIOS.
Overclocking testing is also done past 470/1200 using Coolbits, more on that later.
So there's a little headroom in the out of the box experience with the CoolFX, Gainward leaving that to the user to find with Coolbits, ExperTool, or other software. The 470/1200 BIOS was only supplied at my behest after conversations with Gainward about possible clock headroom; I'm not sure it'll be made public. Coolbits will get you to 470/1200 though, it's just an extra step.
To summarise, the CoolFX is tested at few clock settings over two drivers, with a retail X800 PRO to keep all that NV40 action honest.
Driver Optimisations
- NVIDIA Trilinear Optimisations - 60.72 - Off
- NVIDIA Trilinear Optimisations - 61.34 - On, Off
- NVIDIA Anisotropic Optimisations - 61.34 - Off
- ATI Trilinear Optimisations - BETA 4.5 - On
The first version of this article ran with all optimisations turned off for the Gainward in both sets of drivers. After plenty of public request and acknowledgement that I made a mistake in my optimisation choices, I've updated the graphs using the NVIDIA driver's default Quality setting, which enables trilinear optimisations but keeps the aniso optimisations off, so that an out of the box IQ performance comparison can be made.
You'll find the updated graphs and commentary in the benchmark pages. My apologies to Gainward for the initial filtering choices.
Control Panel and App AF and AA Usage
Control Panel AA and AF settings were only used when the application didn't supply its own control.- Far Cry - App AA, App AF
- Painkiller - App AA, CP AF
- Unreal Tournament 2003 - CP AA, App AF
- Call Of Duty - CP AA, CP AF
- Serious Sam: SE - CP AA, App AF
- 3DMark03 - App AA, App AF