Overclocking

Considering the target market, overclocking is probably not high on their priority list, but nonetheless we wanted to test the card's headroom in this area. Given that the cooling is rather smallish, we were pleasently surprised with the 87MHz overclock we managed out of the core (400MHz stock, 487MHz max). We did manage to reach 492MHz, but the system would lock up whenever we ran a benchmark.

While we were satisfied with the VPU overclocking, the memory overclocking on the otherhand was rather abysmal. The 3.3ns ram was already clocked at its maximum specification of 300MHz, and we were only able to push another 12MHz (312MHz max OC) out of it. The ram was obviously the limiting factor but the lack of cooling was another. In the end, our benchmarks did not show any tangible gains from the overclocking and is probably not worth the effort.

Testing

MSI 915P Neo2 Platinum: Intel P4 560, 2 x 512MB Corsair TWINX PC5400 Pro, ATI All-In-Wonder X600 Pro, 160GB Seagate SATA 7200.7, Windows XP SP1, ATI CATALYST Control Center 4.12.

We'll be comparing performance between the AIW X600 Pro to an ASUS X600 XT, and a PCX5750 from MSI. This should give us a good comparison between competing VPUs/GPUs. The test software for our benchmarks are as follows:

FRAPS - We used FRAPS to illustrate the card's real-world performance in actual gameplay. Timedemos never tell the full story as during gameplay, we all know there are highs and lows in terms of framerates while we play. All benchmarks with FRAPS are done at what we feel is the best playable resolution.

Bench'emAll! - Since we still want to do some apples-to-apples testing with something the rest of you can imitate, we stuck with the default demos used by Bench'emAll which is also a huge time saver if you do a lot of benchmarks.

Half-Life 2 - The latest form Valve, this game picks up after the events of the first game. With some of the best water reflection effects we've seen, this is a killer for most video cards at high quality settings.

Doom 3 - id's latest needs no introduction. A graphics acheivement, this game will push video cards to their max.

Unreal Tournament 2004 - Though not as graphically intensive as the other two above, you'll need a decent setup if you want the best gameplay experience out of it.

Far Cry - Try playing this on a lesser card and you'll be treated to a slideshow.

Half-Life 2 - 800x600 Prison Map

	Min	Max	Ave
High Quality	41	170	81.325
Performance	47	193	84.983

Half-Life 2 was quite playable at 800x600, even at the higher quality settings. Bumping up to 1024x768 or turning AA/AF on did slow the game down greatly and we feel the best gameplay experience was at the lower settings, which still look quite good.

Doom 3 Enpro - Medium Settings

	Min	Max	Ave
8x6 No AA/AF	19	62	48.117
8x6 2AA/8AF	13	62	38.633
10x8 No AA/AF	10	62	35.942

Like Half-Life 2, your best gameplay experience will be at 800x600. The framerates never dipped under 20fps and mostly stayed above 30fps. Admittingly, at medium settings, we didn't find the game to look as good as it could have, but it's still decent nonetheless.

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