The mystery core of the Connect 3D card comes to light under the overclocking section; the core cannot hide its limitations under stress. We took each card and tried to see how far we could push the hardware. Both cards show good numbers; by using ATI Tool (available on the Internet) you can set the clock frequencies adjustment sliders or have the tool find the maximum settings automatically. You can also verify the accuracy of the images to insure image quality and stability.

X800 XL Reference Card

The reference ATI X800 XL was the standard design with a 400 MHz core and 490 MHz (980 MHz DDR) memory clock frequencies. We were able to push the ATI reference card's core up to 435 MHz and the memory up to 504 MHz. That memory is only able to do 3% above spec while the core was able to do almost 8%. We obtained a score of 5,560 Marks in 3DMark 2005, which is a 6% score increase. This is a limited overclocking result but it will set the tone for the determining what core the Connect 3D card is using.