HEXUS.bang4buck, overclocking, temps, power-draw
HEXUS.bang4buck
In a rough-and-ready assessment of the cards' bang per buck, we've aggregated the average 1920x1200 4xAA 8xAF framerates for the three games, normalised them*, and listed the cards' price. There are more provisos than I care to shake a stick at. We could have chosen three different games, the cards' prices could have been derived from other sources and pricing is such that it can fluctuate daily. However, to reiterate, the graph below highlights a metric that should only be used as a yardstick for evaluating comparative performance with price factored in. Other architectural benefits are not covered, obviously.| Graphics cards | Sapphire Radeon HD 2900 XT 512MiB | ASUS EAH2900XT 512MiB | NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX 768MiB | ASUS EN8800GTS 640MiB | ASUS EN8800GTS 320MiB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actual aggregate marks at 1920x1200 4xAA 8x(16x)AF | 225.01 | 219.9 | 329.85 | 238.63 | 231.94 |
| Aggregate marks, normalised**, at 1920x1200 | 202.36 | 199.37 | 254.92 | 209.31 | 205.97 | Current pricing | £233 | £249 | £365 | £245 | £190 |
| HEXUS.bang4buck score | 0.869 | 0.801 | 0.698 | 0.854 | 1.084 |
| Acceptable framerate (60FPS av.) at 1920x1200 4xAA 8/16xAF | No (FC) | No (FC) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Now, the HEXUS.bang4buck divides the normalised aggregate framerate by current price.
The HEXUS.bang4buck metric looks adequate for the asking price, but we know that it's somewhat compromised by the mediocre performance in Far Cry. Still, it's hard to ignore the value proposition from a card that packs in so much technology for what, really, can be considered reasonable money.
Overclocking
| Graphics cards | Sapphire Radeon HD 2900 XT 512MiB | ASUS EAH2900XT 512MiB | HIS HD 2900 XT 512MiB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Default core/memory frequencies | 743/1656 | ||
| Overclocked core/memory frequencies | 848/1890 | 843/1800 | 843.75/1908 |
The Sapphire HD 2900 XT is a decent overclocker with respect to both core and memory speeds. Indeed, we've found that all retail samples have significant headroom above default frequencies.
To see how the overclocked frequencies were manifested in increased performance, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory was run at 1920x1200 0xAA 8xAF HDR.
There's an ~11.5 per cent increase in performance above the default-clocked card's. It's enough to give a stock-clocked GeForce 8800 GTX 768MiB a run for its money.
Temps
| Graphics cards | Sapphire Radeon HD 2900 XT 512MiB | ASUS EAH2900XT 512MiB | HIS HD 2900 XT 512MiB | GeForce 8800 GTX 768MiB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ambient temperature | 21°C | 21.5°C | 21.5°C | 21°C |
| Idle temperature (2D) | 49°C | 59°C | 61°C | 64°C |
| Load temperature (3D) | 71°C | 71°C | 71°C | 84°C |
We see that the Sapphire HD 2900 XT, tested with CATALYST 7.7 drivers, idles at a full 10°C lower than a couple of other retail boards that were tested with CATALYST 7.7 betas. Load temperatures, though, are identical.
