Let's touch upon some overclocking abilities of the card. As
mentioned before, the board uses Samsung's TSOP2 DDR RAM which
isn't as good as BGA. By default the card is clocked 250MHz core
and 513MHz memory. When you click the 'Enhanced Mode Settings'
button in the EXPERTool the clocks will hop into higher gear:
270MHz 540MHz respectively. We've used 3DMark2001SE and UT2003
to test the changes. Here are some of the results from overclocking
the card using the EXPERTool (We bypassed the 'Enhanced Mode Settings'
and went a bit higher).
Test bed: Gainward GeForce PowerPack! Ultra/650-8X
XP “Golden Sample” + Athlon XP 1900+ @ 1.6GHz with
AGP8X/AGP/SSE/3DNOW!
3DMark2001SE 1024x768 / 32bit:
At stock speeds = 10665
At 285MHz / 585MHz = 10892 (not much of a difference here)
UT2003 1024x768 4AA-NoAF:
At stock speeds = 61 FPS
At 275MHz / 570MHz = 65FPS (no artifacts)
At 280MHz / 580MHz = 69FPS (no artifacts)
At 295MHz / 695MHz = 71FPS (very few artifacts, IQ = okay)
At 300MHz / 600MHz = UT2003 failed to run the entire test.
At 310MHz / 570MHz = UT2003 failed to run the entire test.
UT2003 1280x1024 NoAA-NoAF:
At stock speeds = 96 FPS
At 285MHz / 590MHz = 110FPS (no artifacts, good IQ)
At 290MHz / 590MHz = 112FPS (very few artifacts, IQ = okay)
At 290MHz / 595MHz = UT2003 failed to run
At 290MHz / 600MHz = UT2003 failed to run
At 310MHz / 570MHz = UT2003 failed to run the entire test.
Looks like 285MHz core / 285MHz memory seems to be the most stable
(and safe) overclock we could get out of this card. Not much,
but it will give you some boost when needed. If you are planning
on buying Gainward GeForce PowerPack! Ultra/650-8X XP “Golden
Sample” just for overclocking you will probably be a bit
disappointed. At least try to find a version with BGA RAM chips.
Closure
As stated in the introduction, the review is directed towards
gamers looking for a mid-range graphics card. Let's face it, not
everyone has the money to buy the latest / greatest video cards.
Over the past years, Gainward has proven that they aren't "the
new kids on the block" when it comes to video cards. There
is a lot of competition which is trying very hard to impress us
with their products. Some put fancy cooling solutions, some simply
combine quality components with great customer support. In the
end there are no losers or winners. Most of the cards in the same
class (in our case Ti4200) perform similarly. When you are shopping
for a video card (or any system component), you should first ask
yourself how you will use the card, what kind of bundle you are
looking for and what kind of support you may need.
The Gainward GeForce PowerPack! Ultra/650-8X XP “Golden
Sample” is a great choice for all-around video experience.
Whether you are an avid gamer or an enthusiast you will be very
satisfied with this video card. Not all manufacturers provide
fully functional ViVo solution in their cards. All Gainward cards
with PowerPack! tag do, including this one. So if you are into
recording / editing video captures from an external device, you
will be very happy with this capability. The only grievance I
have with the bundle is the game included: Serious Sam: First
Encounter. Don't get me wrong, it's a great game, but a bit old.
Gainward has been including it for quite sometime now.
Comparing this Ti4200 to my Ti4600 was a great experience. Despite
much lower clock speeds, the card was able to push anything we
threw at it. Sometimes it was losing, sometimes on par and in
few cases it outperformed its faster brother. If you are looking
for a Ti4200 under $170, look no further. Just don't forget to
visit our forums
for more resources.
Pros:
Great performer
Video In / Video Out solution
Great PCB design
Cons:
A bit low overclocking capabilities
TSOP2 DDR RAM
Serious Sam: First Encounter
No performance increase while in AGP8X (AGP 3.0) mode.
I hope you've enjoyed reading this review.
On A Side Note
I appologize it took that long to write the review. In the last
2-3 weeks I went through hell packing all my stuff and moving
to a different place. Not to mention the problems I've been having
with my car insurance. It does sound like I'm leaving doesn't
it? Well sort of. I'm going back to Poland sometime in May. It
will be my next rough ride.
I would like to thank Mike Chambers publicly for giving me the
opportunity to be part of nVnews.
He has offered me a position and trusted my doings. Mike never
frowned upon me when I've done something wrong, and that did happen
few times. Cheers to all the cool people I have met during the
past four years. Last but not least, I'd like to thank my brother
for helping me out with the benchmarks.
