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Performance and Overclocking
For our test, we used the brand-new Gigabyte 7DXR motherboard, which is currently one of the best performing DDR motherboards as shown in our recent review here. How we tested:

We prepared the GF3 and the 7DXR for our overclocking attempts as follows:

• We replaced the disgusting pinkish thermal tape between the GPU and the fan heatsink with a generous drop of Arctic Silver II.
• We later noticed a considerable heat built-up at the memory. After 5 minutes in "Serious Sam" at 1600 x 1200 in Highest Quality the memory was almost at 48C and we had ugly lock-ups. The problem was solved with 2 x 3800 rpm fan card cooler. The stock heatsinks are too small for frequencies over 520 MHz.
• The 7DXR allows increasing the AGP voltage. We knew already from previous tests that basically every card overclocks better, when the AGP voltage is increased. We set therefore the AGP voltage right away from the default of 1.5 to the maximum of 1.7 volts.

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The 7DXR motherboard has a cool running 3-way power supply with 6 MOSFETs as explained here. That keeps the case temperature low and does not add further heat stress to the video card or other components through excessive system temperature. Lower ambient temperature greatly contributes to overclocking any processor, just recently shown on Digit-Life here with the GF3. We, however, kept the room temperature at a usual level to show how the Gainward GF3 is overclocking under real life conditions. The room temperature was between 26~27C with high humidity, as Tokyo is in rain season.

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We initially benchmarked our Golden Sample with 2 settings:

• GPU 200 MHz / Memory 440 MHz: this is the stock speed as defined by NVIDIA for the GF3
• GPU 230 MHz / Memory 530 MHz: this is regarded as the maximum speed for good running GF3.
• After this was done, we started increasing the frequencies in 1 MHz increments until we reached 240 MHz / 550 MHz in 1024x768, 32 bits

When we reached 240/550 MHz it was apparent that our Golden Sample indeed is overclocking better than regular GF3. These frequencies represent a 20% gain over stock speed. This is a very good result and more than Anand Tech and HardOCP achieved with non-Golden Samples of Gainward's GF3 in their reviews here and here. We tried several other settings and found that the maximum speed of our Golden Sample is 245 MHz / 555 MHz when running 3DMark 2001 in 640 x 480 (16 bits). These frequencies wouldn't function in 1024 x 768 (32 bit) and they did not increase the 3DMark 2001 score anymore. We scaled therefore back to 240/550 MHz. These slightly lower frequencies worked in all resolutions and did not produce a lower score. Some very minor artifacts were visible in the 3DMark 2001 Dragothik game simulation.

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How do these much higher-than-stock frequencies translate into 3DMark 2001 scores and actual game performance? It has been shown quite often, that high GPU/memory frequencies do not necessarily result in higher benchmark scores and frame rates. In this (French) review for example the least overclockable GF3 happened to provide the highest frame rates! We used these 3 popular benchmarking and gaming programs: 3DMark 2001, Vulpine GLMark, and Serious Sam (Karnak). All scores and frame rates were taken in 3 resolutions: 640x480 (16 bit), 1024x768 (32 bit) and 1600x1200 (32 bit)

The results can be summarized as follows:

• All 3 applications were fully functional in 1600 x 1200. It's a sheer pleasure to play a game with quality graphics like Serious Sam in such a high resolution. The FPS in the extremely demanding 3DMark 2001 "Nature" game simulation went sometimes down to 15 in 1600 x 1200. This game can only be played with a GF3. But it also shows the limit of a GF3, even when running at 240/550 MHz.
• Overclocking the core to 240 MHz and the memory to 550 MHz provided a performance increase of up to 15%. The performance in higher resolutions benefited more from overclocking. In resolutions below 1024 x 768 the difference is becoming smaller and at 640 x 480 basically not visible anymore.
• We noticed only small performance gains above 230 MHz core and 540 MHz memory clock speed..

Naturally we were very satisfied with these results. Our "Golden Sample" definitely delivered what the label was promising. 15% more frames per second in 1600x1200 means going up from let's say an average of 50 fps to 58 fps in a GPU intensive game like Serious Sam. That is of course not always noticeable, but makes a difference in heavy loaded scenes, when the rate would drop below the 30 fps barrier without overclocking. At the time of this review our 3DMark 2001 scores in all resolutions were among the highest ever recorded at MadOnion.com for an AMD system running at 1550 MHz. They were duly registered as projects and published at MadOnion and can be accessed here (search criteria: chainbolt@tokyo.com).

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Gainward doesn't make it really clear what exactly "Golden Sample" means and how many are available. Given our overclocking results, we assume the "Golden Samples" to be selected cards that have been shown to run substantially higher than stock speed. How much, like always, depends on the individual card. As far as availability is concerned: one vendor in Tokyo told us that less than 20% of the received Gainward GF3 came as "Golden Sample". From BBS discussions we know that the "Golden Sample" rate is much higher in some other countries.

Summary
The Gainward GF3 Power Pack !!!! has excellent product substance and a very competitive pricing. We managed to clock the core of the tested "Golden Sample up to 240 MHz and the memory up to 550 MHz. These frequencies boosted the performance up to 15% in higher resolutions. The only drawback we found is the size of the heatsinks which do not provide enough cooling beyond 520 MHz. Regardless whether you get a "Golden Sample" or not, the Gainward GF3 Power Pack !!! is certainly among the most attractive GF3 in the market.

Pros:

• Excellent performance
• The "Golden Sample" version allows very high overclocking
• With CRT+DVI+VIVO the best equipped GF3
• Very attractive pricing
• Looks cool: "Lady-in-Red"

Cons:

• Memory heatsinks small too small for more than 520 MHz
• The software bundle comes without a game
• Manual doesn't explain anything about the VIVO functions

Other Recent Reviews:

21-Cooler SocketA Roundup

3-Way AMD760 DDR Motherboard Roundup

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