XFX 9600 GSO MAXIMUM-overclock?

[rex000]

Hey, does anyone know much about this card?

XFX 9600 GSO 512MB DDR3
http://xfxforce.com/en-us/products/graphiccards/9series/9600GSO.aspx


It seems to be way off from the reference 9600 GSO. Core clock seems to be under-clocked (GPU Clock MHz: only 500 MHz) but with higher memory clock (Memory Clock MHz: 1800 MHz).

ANYWAY, my point is, I've been using MSI Afterburner to OC this card, and I MAXED out @ 650MHz for the Core clock (with shaders linked, can't remember to what). I didn't touch the memory clock since I heard it doesn't even make much difference.

-->> This card is poorly designed because the fan is either @ 0% or 100% (I've tried...), and it's impossible to measure it's temperature (there's just no reading, wtf?) The heat-sink-fan runs @ 100% constantly, so I'm not TOO worried about it overheating at this point.

I bought this card for $15 last week, as a tester. But now that I have it, I may as well use it to it's full potential. How far do you guys think I could push it (in a safe, but fun way.. haha)

Thanks,

 

[cps1974]

I found these reviews for similar card from 9600 GSO family, maybe they will help - have a read?

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-9600-gso-386-mb-review-point-of-view/5

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2008/09/22/xfx-geforce-9600-gso-680m-xxx-edition/1

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1420/palit_geforce_9600_gso_sonic_768mb/index.html


chaz

 

[jyjjy]

ANYWAY, my point is, I've been using MSI Afterburner to OC this card, and I MAXED out @ 650MHz for the Core clock (with shaders linked, can't remember to what). I didn't touch the memory clock since I heard it doesn't even make much difference.

With DDR3 on a 128-bit bus I would think memory speed is quite important.
With an OC you can push it until it isn't stable/showing artifacts. Not sure what you are asking beyond that.

 

[jyjjy]

I found these reviews for similar card from 9600 GSO family, maybe they will help - have a read?

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-9600-gso-386-mb-review-point-of-view/5

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2008/09/22/xfx-geforce-9600-gso-680m-xxx-edition/1

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1420/palit_geforce_9600_gso_sonic_768mb/index.html


chaz

None of the cards in those reviews even share the same GPU as this guy's card. They aren't relevant.

 

[rex000]

Hey thanks for all the replies.

I did have a quick read on all the reviews of the 9600 GSO, but as jyjjy pointed out, they're completely different which is why I came to the forums for help, after my research skills failed.

@ thanks jyjjy, for mentioning that memory OC might be important. I won't hesitate to give it try soon.

I guess the point of this post, was to find out how much of an OC I could get with this card (assuming someone had the same card). MSI Afterburner won't let me OC anymore, I maxed out the core clock / shaders.

I'm wondering if there is a way to get MSI afterburner to allow me to OC even more.. but first, is it even worth it? I was just worried 650Mhz may be close to the limit for this card, which is why I came to the forums to see if anyone knew what the limit of this particular GPU was....

 

[rex000]

Update:
I just made a new budget build over the weekend using this GPU, and tried to OC everything once again. I still oc'ed the core and shaders to the max ALL OK. Turns out that the ram doesn't OC too well. I was only able to get it to a little over ~1000Mhz (2000MHz effective) before my screen goes haywire.

I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any ideas for me to try to push this card any further.

 

[jyjjy]

I believe Afterburner will limit you to what is available in CCC unless you enable unofficial overclocking in one of the configuration files.

 

[rex000]

Thanks jyjjy,

I didn't see your post until now. So i would have to enable "unofficial overclocking" if I want to push this card any further?

I'm new to this, so would you happen to have any information as to how I would do this?

Thanks in advance,

 

[Deemo13]

This may be an old post, but I have the same card and the same issue. I clocked it up to 650MHz, but there is no temperature reading at all. Maybe I will try GPU-Z and see what that will tell me.

 

[rex000]

Hey Deemo13,

I did alot of research on this particular card, check out this forum:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2205706

sillyho's post sums up everything I have to say about this card.

"Just a FYI to everyone...

1) Card doesn't require a 6-pin power adapter (big plus if you're putting it in an OEM machine).

2) It has a 128-bit interface and only 48 shaders which makes it score substantially lower than it's 8800GS/960GSO counterparts with the 192-bit interface and 96 shaders, regardless of the memory size (384/768 vs 512). I have a 192-bit 384MB 9600GSO and a 192-bit 384MB 8800GS on my 3dMark Profile and these new 128-bit 512MB cards are getting around 60% of what the others did.

3) The fan is a 2-pin connector, no speed modulation available. It is obnoxiously loud..really really. For those (previous Tiger-Direct deal post) saying that you can modulate the fan speed with RivaTuner - actually look inside your case at the GPU fan when you're doing this. It will completely turn off at anything below ~93% fan speed. The only acceptable solution I've found is just to leave it off unless I'm gaming.

4) Out of the box the card will not pass audio via HDMI. You have to get a 2-pin SPDIF cable to run from your mobo to the 2 pins on the card if that's a goal you have. You can pick these up for as cheap as $1.99 with FS on ebay.

I have it, and I'm keeping it, but I just wanted to pass along some info I've uncovered since getting the card in that may sway others away from the deal. The card only benched around 5500 in 3dMark06 with a AM2 5600+ (2.9GHz) so don't expect to turn up the resolution or detail in current games by any means. It does OC to 640-650 on the GPU, not much (maybe 50Hz OC) on the mem."

Hope this answers your questions.

 

[rex000]

Now that this thread has been brought up, I've been wondering.... does anyone think I can run COD:MW3 @ lowest settings and lowest resolution with this card ? ><" Of course, It will be overclocked as far as it can go...


Current Specs:

XFX 9600 GSO 512

Processor & Bus
Chipset version: G92-158
GPU Clock: 650 MHz
Shader Clock: 1,625 Mhz
CUDA Cores: 48
DirectX: 10


Memory
Memory Bus: 128 bit
Memory Clock: 2.0 GHz (effective)
Memory Size: 512 MB
Memory Type: GDDR3

 

[Deemo13]

It would probably do fine, its not that demanding of a game especially on the lowest settings.