Help with new vidcard... Please?

[Brian Damage]

Okay, got my new computer the other day, complete with a Radeon 9600 Pro.

The Full specs are:

Athlon XP 2400+
K7N2 Delta MoBo
512 MB DDR400 RAM
Powercolour Radeon 9600 Pro

I'm getting a 3DMark 03 rating of about 2000 points, +/- 200 points... is that normal?

The card is clocked at 202.5 MHz for the Memory, and 398.3 MHz for the Core. I've heard that Powercolour cards can come from the supplier somewhat underclocked... so, are they the normal speeds?

 

[Willber123]

well ive checked the saphire radeon 9600pro and it says this:

Chipset/Core Speed: RADEON 9600PRO/400MHz
Memory/Effective Speed: 128MB DDR/600MHz

do because the memory is DDR i think its clocked at around 300mhz.
so i have a feeling your memory might be underclocked, although im not that much of an expert so if im incorrect someone feel free to correct me.

 

[Brian Damage]

Anyone else care to give me a definitive answer?

Also, how overclockable is the XP 2400+? And is overclocking my GCard worth it?

 

[NYHoustonman]

The XP 2400+ is somewhat overclockable (I have one), but at this point it's not necessarily worth it (the only thing I could see doing is raising the FSB... for me it's plenty fast as is).

And that 9600 Pro is underclocked for sure. See if you can overclock it (I use powerstrip) to at least close to stock speeds (a little at a time, of course).

 

[Brian Damage]

I thought I heard something about Powercolour underclocking their cards...

Thanks, I'll try and normalise it. Or maybe even overclock it. Does the 9600 have some sort of built-in temperature sensor so that I can tell when it's getting hot?

Failing that I'll use my finger.

 

[NYHoustonman]

I thought I heard something about Powercolour underclocking their cards...

Thanks, I'll try and normalise it. Or maybe even overclock it. Does the 9600 have some sort of built-in temperature sensor so that I can tell when it's getting hot?

Failing that I'll use my finger.

Nope, I believe only the XT's have that.

 

[Brian Damage]

Can I buy some sort of temperature monitor? I'm worried about the possibility of digital damage...

 

[ComradeBadger]

Brian, when you overclock, if there are no artifacts on your computer screen, it's fine

RadClocker is good too

 

[Cyphron]

looks like your memory might be underclocked a tad. you would probably be better off going to site like www.guru3d.com or www.rage3d.com and asking this question on their forums. you would getter faster and much more accurate responses. not trying to offend anyone on here, you guys are very smart when it comes to hardware. but they have specific forums for each card and its problems so it might be better.

 

[predatowned]

This has me wondering about my 9600 pro now.... lol

heres what mine reads:

Core Clock: 398.3

Memory Clock: 297.0

 

[Asus]

Stock 9600 Pro speeds should be:
400MHz Core
300MHz DDR Memory (600)

Some PowerColor (and other brands) cards are clocked at 200MHz for the Memory (400).
There are a few PowerColor 9600Pro cards that are clocked correct though as well.

I would make sure you check what stock speeds are for that model to compair it to the brand/card you are look at buying. Maybe it's not worth it for the savings. Maybe it is.
Personally 10-20$ more for a correctly clocked card is worth it.

 

[Brian Damage]

I already bought it. It came with my new computer.

I'll certainly try overclocking it. I managed to overclock my old GeForce2 MX massively. Actually managed to run Morrowind :E. At about 25 FPS, mostly...