Hi to everybody,
I am looking to build a SFF as home theatre, TV recording, etc. Among GPUs, I have seen 9600 as an option due to low consumption, no fan cooling solution. It still offers some power for games.
Recently at newegg I found a <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-370&depa=0" target="_new">Sapphire 9550</A> for $75. It seems it's based on 9600 core, but downclocked to 250Mhz. RAM is running at 400Mhz @ 128bits. So the only diference with regular 9600 is 75Mhz less for the core. And my guess is that probably can be overclocked easily (up to a point when active cooling would be required)
The only review I could find is <A HREF="http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=article&dId=649&dPage=1" target="_new">this one</A>, but it is not the same brand/model and one is 256Mb while the other is "Extreme". So I don't know if I can trust the results.
Any idea of what this 9550 is performing? Any review or link?
Thanks for your help in advance!
<b>[edited]</b>
Finally I have found a <A HREF="http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/tul9550/index.html" target="_new">review</A> of a 9550 that covers overclocking. The most interesting conclusion comes here:
"Using Powerstrip we managed to max out the graphics core at <b>332 Mhz</b> and the memory at 230. Something of note here is that <b>the core was limited by the overclocking software NOT its inability to scale up further</b>. The VPU remained very cool even after extended sessions of benchmarking leading me to believe that there is still a lot of headroom to be had. I had no luck trying to raise the clockrate cap of Powerstrip."
In other words, you can overclock easily to 9600 np levels, and probably even further if you found a way to break soft limitation. My guess is that yields are "too good", but still they need to build cards for low-medium segment. So in fact 9600 cores for 9550 cards could be used even for 9600Pro.
Nice for anyone in a tight budget
<b>[/edited]</b>
Still looking for a <b>good online retailer</b> in Spain :frown: <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by baldurga on 07/07/04 10:56 AM.</EM></FONT></P>
I am looking to build a SFF as home theatre, TV recording, etc. Among GPUs, I have seen 9600 as an option due to low consumption, no fan cooling solution. It still offers some power for games.
Recently at newegg I found a <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-370&depa=0" target="_new">Sapphire 9550</A> for $75. It seems it's based on 9600 core, but downclocked to 250Mhz. RAM is running at 400Mhz @ 128bits. So the only diference with regular 9600 is 75Mhz less for the core. And my guess is that probably can be overclocked easily (up to a point when active cooling would be required)
The only review I could find is <A HREF="http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=article&dId=649&dPage=1" target="_new">this one</A>, but it is not the same brand/model and one is 256Mb while the other is "Extreme". So I don't know if I can trust the results.
Any idea of what this 9550 is performing? Any review or link?
Thanks for your help in advance!
<b>[edited]</b>
Finally I have found a <A HREF="http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/tul9550/index.html" target="_new">review</A> of a 9550 that covers overclocking. The most interesting conclusion comes here:
"Using Powerstrip we managed to max out the graphics core at <b>332 Mhz</b> and the memory at 230. Something of note here is that <b>the core was limited by the overclocking software NOT its inability to scale up further</b>. The VPU remained very cool even after extended sessions of benchmarking leading me to believe that there is still a lot of headroom to be had. I had no luck trying to raise the clockrate cap of Powerstrip."
In other words, you can overclock easily to 9600 np levels, and probably even further if you found a way to break soft limitation. My guess is that yields are "too good", but still they need to build cards for low-medium segment. So in fact 9600 cores for 9550 cards could be used even for 9600Pro.
Nice for anyone in a tight budget
<b>[/edited]</b>
Still looking for a <b>good online retailer</b> in Spain :frown: <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by baldurga on 07/07/04 10:56 AM.</EM></FONT></P>
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