Best Video Card for overclocking?

Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
edited October 2005 in Hardware
Ok, so what's the best dirt cheap (<$100 preferred, $<$150 acceptable) video card from an overclocking standpoint?

I don't care about chipset, manutacturer, etc. New or refurbished (newegg) doesn't matter. All I want to know is what decently fast (e.g. GF4 or Radeon 8500/9000/9100/9200 or better) video card overclocks extremely well?

The reason I ask is that I may try a bit of an experiment involving extreme cooling (peltiers) and I don't want to risk one of my 9700s or the 8500...

any suggestions?

Comments

  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    My GF3 overclocked REALLY well untill I sold it AND IT WAS DESTROYED IN THE MAIL. Fking postal service. Now they want to SEE the damage, yeah right, no physical, but the huge green bars down the screen are a little bit of a problem.... :grumble:

    NS
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited October 2003
    Hmm... that might be a possibility. I was thinking maybe a Radeon 9600 Non-pro, which I can get for <$100... do the non-pros overclock as well as the pros do?
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited October 2003
    NightShade737 said
    My GF3 overclocked REALLY well untill I sold it AND IT WAS DESTROYED IN THE MAIL. Fking postal service. Now they want to SEE the damage, yeah right, no physical, but the huge green bars down the screen are a little bit of a problem.... :grumble:

    NS

    Since it's already broken, break it enough for hem to be able to see, then show it to them.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited October 2003
    :D;D
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited October 2003
    BBA ATI Radeon 9600 Pro or Sapphire Atlantis 9600 Pro.

    People have been getting MAD overclocks out of this card. Beyond3D got theirs up to 531/335, up from the factory default of 400/300 WITHOUT any volt mods or additional cooling.

    //Edit: [H] got their 9600 Pro up to 576/358.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited October 2003
    Hmm... any of the 9600s/9600 pros have super-fast RAM?
  • PreacherPreacher Potomac, MD Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    SimGuy said
    BBA ATI Radeon 9600 Pro or Sapphire Atlantis 9600 Pro.

    People have been getting MAD overclocks out of this card. Beyond3D got theirs up to 531/335, up from the factory default of 400/300 WITHOUT any volt mods or additional cooling.

    //Edit: [H] got their 9600 Pro up to 576/358.

    REALLY!?

    Color me interested, Simguy! How does the perfomance compare to a 9800? I'm thinking of waiting a month for the XTs to get out in the market and then just by a 9800 PRO.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Remember, a default 9500 Pro is better than a default 9600 Pro, but with those overclocks, who knows.........

    NS
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited October 2003
    The 9600 Pro utilizes only 4 pipelines, while the 9500 Pro utilizes 8 pipelines.

    Benchmarks @ Beyond3D, OCers.com and the [H] have shown that despite the higher clock, the 9600 Pro is still inferior to the 9500 Pro.

    Save your money for one of the others.

    The 9600XT... well... nobody has reviewed one yet, so I can't really tell you what to expect. But... if it's anything like the 9800XT is compared to the 9800 Pro, it won't outperform the 9600 Pro by very much (+10 -to- 15%) and still won't reach the power of the 9700/9800 series.

    Radeon 9500 Pro:
    FILLRATE: 8 Pipelines x 275 MHz x 1 TMU per Pipeline = 2.2 Gigapixels/sec
    MEMORY: (128-bit Interface x 275 MHz x 2) / 8 = 8.8 GB/s

    Radeon 9600 Pro:
    FILLRATE: 4 Pipelines x 400 MHz x 1 TMU per Pipeline = 1.6 Gigapixels/sec
    MEMORY: (128-bit Interface x 300 MHz x 2 DDR) / 8 = 9.6 GB/s

    Radeon 9600 XT:
    FILLRATE: 4 Pipelines x 500 MHz x 1 TMU per Pipeline = 2.0 Gigapixels/sec
    MEMORY: (128-bit Interface x 300 MHz x 2 DDR) / 8 = 9.6 GB/s

    Radeon 9700 Pro:
    FILLRATE: 8 Pipelines x 325 MHz x 1 TMU per Pipeline = 2.6 Gigapixels/sec
    MEMORY: (256-bit Interface x 310 MHz x 2 DDR) / 8 = 19.8 GB/s

    Radeon 9800 Pro:
    FILLRATE: 8 Pipelines x 380 MHz x 1 TMU per Pipeline = 3.04 Gigapixels/sec
    MEMORY: (256-bit Interface x 340 MHz x 2 DDR) / 8 = 21.76 GB/s

    Radeon 9800 XT:
    FILLRATE: 8 Pipelines x 412 MHz x 1 TMU per Pipeline = 3.29 Gigapixels/sec
    MEMORY: (256-bit Interface x 365 MHz x 2 DDR) / 8 = 23.36 GB/s

    Even if you were to get the 9600 Pro up to 500 MHz core, you'd still only have 2.0 Gigatexel's per second theoretical fill-rate. You might be able to match a 9500 Pro at stock speeds, but if you O/C that 9500 Pro, you'll blow away the 9600 Pro. :)

    I should note here that the 9600 is ATI's first 0.13 micron VPU, the RV350. Being able to overclock in upwards of 200 MHz is quite a nice sign of things to come, especially as the R420, ATI's next big VPU early next year, will be based on the 0.13 micron process. :D

    Preacher: Stick with the 9800 Pro plan. :D

    //Edit: I need to proofread a little more :D
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited October 2003
    If you're interested in one of these and you want some kickass memory. Go with this one http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?threadid=33716218

    $135 with 2.8ns samsung memory. the same as the 9700 pro's and 9800 pros.
  • PreacherPreacher Potomac, MD Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Tempting Al!...but considering I will be on travel for a month....I'm just going to wait until Turkey Day weekend and order the best I can get for $250 or less.
  • WingaWinga Mr South Africa Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    Hi Guys

    I have ressurected this thread as I have a friend who has a 9600 SE. Real entry level stuff. Reading the comments here so far it seems the 9600 got off to a bad start with only 4 pipelines.

    He would like to know whether there is any mod available to speed the card up or whether it is really worth overclocking the card.

    Any feedback whether yea or nae would be greatly appreciated :)
  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited October 2005
    The se's bottleneck is the crappy 64bit bus on the memory.
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