Overclocking and Noise
Overclocking
The XFX review sample overclocked nicely, hitting the following stable clock that ran every test.
Just over the Gainward CoolFX approved clock of 470/1200, the XFX kicked out an almost identical 3DMark score to the Gainward at that setting, with 13407 achieved with all optimisations off, using a Model 3400+ Athlon 64.
As always, the caveat that the review sample isn't representative of retail boards applies; use the clock obtained only as a rough guideline.
Noise
In the reference board examination back in April I said the following:NVIDIA don't seem to have done much to the reference 5950 Ultra cooler for the NV40 reference cooler (which at least ASUS are adopting). It's quite noisy at full speed, but it does slow down in 2D mode to much more tolerable levels. It sounds, to my deaf old ears, to be ~50dBA from a couple of feet away at ear height in 3D mode.
Not the quitest cooler in the world, but I wouldn't go as far as calling it Dustbuster 2.0 either. Annoying at times on my test bed, I'm keen to see what partners do with the cooler.
With XFX doing nothing at all to the retail cooler, my comments still stand. It's not the quietest card in the world in 3D or 2D modes, but neither is it intolerable. Unless you're looking for extreme silence, the XFX won't bother you too much.
