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Factory OC vs home OC on 7600GT

Northwind

Northwind

Northwind

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Joined
31 Mar 2006
Posts
1,793
First post, hope it's not too stupid ;) Just looking at picking up a 7600GT, but I wondered... Looking on the OCUK shop, I got to wondering if there's any other benefit to a factory overclocked card other than the warranty issues, compared to a home clocked card?

Fexample, XFX 7600GT PVT73G-UDL3, 560/1400, £120 plus VAT. FX 7600GT XXX, PVT73G-UDD7, 590/1600, £135 plus VAT.

In this case, what's that extra £15 buying? Are XFX grading processors and memory to select application, or are they basically the same parts with different settings? The pics I've seen suggest that both have the same cooler hardware. maybe they'e using better methods to do the overclocking than are currently available to the home monkey? Maybe not.

The last thing I clocked was a P75, which benchmarked at a mighty 122mhz for about 6 months then cremated itself, so it's fair to say I'm a bit behind the times ;)
 
Northwind said:
First post, hope it's not too stupid ;) Just looking at picking up a 7600GT, but I wondered... Looking on the OCUK shop, I got to wondering if there's any other benefit to a factory overclocked card other than the warranty issues, compared to a home clocked card?

Fexample, XFX 7600GT PVT73G-UDL3, 560/1400, £120 plus VAT. FX 7600GT XXX, PVT73G-UDD7, 590/1600, £135 plus VAT.

In this case, what's that extra £15 buying? Are XFX grading processors and memory to select application, or are they basically the same parts with different settings? The pics I've seen suggest that both have the same cooler hardware. maybe they'e using better methods to do the overclocking than are currently available to the home monkey? Maybe not.

The last thing I clocked was a P75, which benchmarked at a mighty 122mhz for about 6 months then cremated itself, so it's fair to say I'm a bit behind the times ;)
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With an "Extreme Edition" of a card you get a guaranteed OC that comes with a warranty, with a vanilla card you have no guarentee that you can OC so its a case of a bit of a lottery but from what ive read most Pre-OCed cards very rarely go any higher but vanilla cards can be pushed a long way.
As i said its a bit of a lottery but in my experiance it better to get a bog-standard card and clock it. My 7800GTX below runs far faster than any pre-oced versions but at the time of purchase was massivly cheeper.
 
Get the cheapest version of the card, and clock the nobs of it. If it wont have it, i`d throw the card back at the retailer, and force a swap out for a diff make. All of my purchases in graphics, have been the lowest priced version of any given card, and they have all clocked well..the latest 7900Gt i just got, the ocUK one, clocks without errors straight away with coolbits
 
I'm in the "vanilla camp". Get the cheapest you can with the best bundle - I consider the Leadtek offering of Serious Sam 2 and Trackmania Nations as superb, along with an awesome card. Mine clocks further than the stock OC of the XFX cards.
 
only time the pricier cards are worth it over the normal ones, are when they offer actual component / architectual differences...

ie 1.6ns ram vs 2.0ns for example
 
Depends on the price difference if you ask me. Personally I wouldn't mind laying down an extra £15 for the XXX edition, given the big increase in stock memory speed.
 
HangTime said:
Depends on the price difference if you ask me. Personally I wouldn't mind laying down an extra £15 for the XXX edition, given the big increase in stock memory speed.
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Thats pretty much my take on it too :)
 
Trouble is, then you get closer to the next card up and that urge to get the best card you can afford creeps in, rather than the one that suits your needs. Look at the 512mb 7800GT and 6800GS cards from Gainward (BLISS ones) they are a massive waste imo, as you might as well got for the GTX or GT respectively. (not sure if they are actually still about, but there were a month ago).
 
Wakinglimb said:
Trouble is, then you get closer to the next card up and that urge to get the best card you can afford creeps in, rather than the one that suits your needs.
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Thats very true,my vanilla Leadtek was the cheepest 7800gtx when i bought it and the clocks in the sig are stable in all modern games (Q4,FEAR,COD2) and even though ive seriously thought about selling it for an ATI 1900 (amazing value), i dont think id appreciate the gain in speed.
I'l just wait until the 1900/7900 series is superceeded then think about upgrading.
 
Northwind said:
Magic, thanks a lot folks. Obviously I'm no clearer :rolleyes: :D
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Its fairly clear i think.
Pre overclocked gives you a guarenteed OC but you pay more for it.
Remember that almost all GFX cards are based on the reference designs so will also OC just as far or even further for free.
 
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