Overclocking:
We overclocked the ABIT RX600 Pro-Guru in a variety of ways, seeing as there are two different modes, and there is also voltage adjustment on the video card. This should give an indication as to how well these cards overclock past their specification. We must affirm that this is only an indication, as we cannot guarantee that video card manufacturers are not sending us “cherries”.
First of all, we overclocked the video card using Normal mode – it is worth noting that the voltages are lower in Normal mode than they are in XTurbo mode. We achieved 500/702 before the video card became unstable, that is a 100MHz gain on the core, and a 96MHz (188MHz DDR) gain on the memory frequencies.
After a reboot, we then overclocked the video card in XTurbo mode, which used slightly higher voltages on the core and memory. We were able to achieve 527/702MHz before we experienced artifacting. That showed a 27MHz increase in clocks on the core, and the same 96MHz (188MHz DDR) on the memory.
We then increased the voltage on both the core and memory to their maximum allowable value and attempted to overclock the video card further. This resulted in us gaining a further 13MHz on the core, and 6MHz (12MHz DDR) on the memory clocks. Our final overclock was 540/714MHz – we were more impressed with the memory clocks than we were with the core clock that was achieved.
Final Thoughts...
The ABIT RX600 Pro-Guru’s two different operating modes delivered mixed results through our testing with some titles benefiting from the increased clock speeds, but others not. It really proves the importance of balancing clock speeds – increasing the core clocks on a video card that is already starved of memory bandwidth can do very little in some cases. One of these instances was Doom 3, where we found that we were unable to increase the in-game settings above 640x480 with Medium Quality. We attempted to find a smooth gaming experience at 800x600 with Low Quality, but this proved to have little success – it may well be possible to find a happy medium if you have a considerably faster CPU than what we have used in our evaluation. The GeForce 6600 128MB was in a league of its own in this title, delivering a fantastic gaming experience at 1024x768 0xAA 8xAF with High quality in-game details. The GeForce 6200 TurboCache also ousted the ABIT RX600 Pro-Guru in this title.
Half-Life 2 performed well in comparison to the competition when we used XTurbo mode – we were able to increase the image quality after enabling the enhanced clocks, where it managed to provide a smoother gaming experience than the GeForce 6600 128MB. Our final title, FarCry, proved to be a fairly even match up between the GeForce 6600 128MB and ABIT’s RX600 Pro-Guru operating in XTurbo mode – the differences being that the ABIT RX600 Pro-Guru had use Medium quality Shadows, while the GeForce 6600 128MB had to use Medium quality Lighting. Both delivered a smooth gaming experience, with the XTurbo clocks on the RX600 Pro-Guru just taking the lead here.
Moving sideways slightly, the GeForce 6200 TurboCache was generally slower than the Radeon X300 with the exception of Doom 3, where the GeForce 6200 TurboCache was notably faster. The prices are fairly similar if you can find the Radeon X300 in stock – the GeCube Radeon X300 cannot be found in the UK, it is an OEM-only part. However, you can get PowerColor’s Radeon X300 for £57.56 from Scan. Connect3D’s Radeon X300 is priced at £49.96 on Dabs, but it is not in stock at the moment – there are also none on back order too. On the other hand, you can purchase XFX’s GeForce 6200 TurboCache supporting 128MB for £43.49 including VAT.
If the Connect3D Radeon X300 was to become available at the listed price, we think that it is a better purchase than XFX’s GeForce 6200 TurboCache if you are not planning on playing Doom 3. However, if you are just after a PCI-Express video card with cost playing a heavy part in the decision making process, the GeForce 6200 TurboCache may represent a better deal than even the cheapest 128MB Radeon X300 video card. However, there is, of course the Radeon X300 SE – Sapphire’s 128MB X300 SE can be found at £40.99 on Dabs – that represents better value than the GeForce 6200 TurboCache supporting 128MB if you have no interest in gaming, but it will deliver worse performance than it if you ever did want to game.
Final, Final Thoughts...
ABIT’s RX600 Pro-Guru, from a technological point of view, is a very sound product – the vGuru technology is something that we want to see more of. The price of the card is not cheap, but it does offer a pretty similar gaming experience to the GeForce 6600 128MB. That is, of course, excluding Doom 3 – the choice there doesn’t bare any thought as the GeForce 6600 128MB is a long way ahead of the RX600 Pro-Guru, even when running its enhanced XTurbo clocks. Incidentally, for comparison purposes, XFX’s GeForce 6600 128MB is available for under £80 at Scan – a little cheaper than ABIT’s RX600 Pro-Guru 256MB. It has a slightly higher memory clock than the GeForce 6600 128MB that we have used in our evaluation today, so you can expect it to deliver a higher performance than our pseudo GeForce 6600 128MB has delivered here.
VGuru’s software interface is a pretty complete one, in the form of OCGuru, which allows you to change voltages and clock frequencies, while also featuring temperature and fan control. However, we would appreciate it if the clock dividers were slightly closer together when overclocking – the jump from 527MHz to 540MHz is quite a large one, which limits overclocking to a certain extent. The core frequency went up in 13MHz steps, while the memory frequencies went up in 7MHz (14MHz DDR) steps.
It would also be nice to see a middle value for voltage adjustment, maybe we’re being overly picky here – the saying goes, “you give them an inch and they want a mile”. We think that is what that ABIT have achieved here, and we can’t wait to see this technology on something more appealing to the hardware enthusiast who is looking to get the most out of their video card. They could achieve this with something like the Radeon X800, or Radeon X800 XL providing the price can be kept reasonably competitive.
- Tim Smalley
We overclocked the ABIT RX600 Pro-Guru in a variety of ways, seeing as there are two different modes, and there is also voltage adjustment on the video card. This should give an indication as to how well these cards overclock past their specification. We must affirm that this is only an indication, as we cannot guarantee that video card manufacturers are not sending us “cherries”.
First of all, we overclocked the video card using Normal mode – it is worth noting that the voltages are lower in Normal mode than they are in XTurbo mode. We achieved 500/702 before the video card became unstable, that is a 100MHz gain on the core, and a 96MHz (188MHz DDR) gain on the memory frequencies.
After a reboot, we then overclocked the video card in XTurbo mode, which used slightly higher voltages on the core and memory. We were able to achieve 527/702MHz before we experienced artifacting. That showed a 27MHz increase in clocks on the core, and the same 96MHz (188MHz DDR) on the memory.
We then increased the voltage on both the core and memory to their maximum allowable value and attempted to overclock the video card further. This resulted in us gaining a further 13MHz on the core, and 6MHz (12MHz DDR) on the memory clocks. Our final overclock was 540/714MHz – we were more impressed with the memory clocks than we were with the core clock that was achieved.
Final Thoughts...
The ABIT RX600 Pro-Guru’s two different operating modes delivered mixed results through our testing with some titles benefiting from the increased clock speeds, but others not. It really proves the importance of balancing clock speeds – increasing the core clocks on a video card that is already starved of memory bandwidth can do very little in some cases. One of these instances was Doom 3, where we found that we were unable to increase the in-game settings above 640x480 with Medium Quality. We attempted to find a smooth gaming experience at 800x600 with Low Quality, but this proved to have little success – it may well be possible to find a happy medium if you have a considerably faster CPU than what we have used in our evaluation. The GeForce 6600 128MB was in a league of its own in this title, delivering a fantastic gaming experience at 1024x768 0xAA 8xAF with High quality in-game details. The GeForce 6200 TurboCache also ousted the ABIT RX600 Pro-Guru in this title.
Half-Life 2 performed well in comparison to the competition when we used XTurbo mode – we were able to increase the image quality after enabling the enhanced clocks, where it managed to provide a smoother gaming experience than the GeForce 6600 128MB. Our final title, FarCry, proved to be a fairly even match up between the GeForce 6600 128MB and ABIT’s RX600 Pro-Guru operating in XTurbo mode – the differences being that the ABIT RX600 Pro-Guru had use Medium quality Shadows, while the GeForce 6600 128MB had to use Medium quality Lighting. Both delivered a smooth gaming experience, with the XTurbo clocks on the RX600 Pro-Guru just taking the lead here.
Moving sideways slightly, the GeForce 6200 TurboCache was generally slower than the Radeon X300 with the exception of Doom 3, where the GeForce 6200 TurboCache was notably faster. The prices are fairly similar if you can find the Radeon X300 in stock – the GeCube Radeon X300 cannot be found in the UK, it is an OEM-only part. However, you can get PowerColor’s Radeon X300 for £57.56 from Scan. Connect3D’s Radeon X300 is priced at £49.96 on Dabs, but it is not in stock at the moment – there are also none on back order too. On the other hand, you can purchase XFX’s GeForce 6200 TurboCache supporting 128MB for £43.49 including VAT.
If the Connect3D Radeon X300 was to become available at the listed price, we think that it is a better purchase than XFX’s GeForce 6200 TurboCache if you are not planning on playing Doom 3. However, if you are just after a PCI-Express video card with cost playing a heavy part in the decision making process, the GeForce 6200 TurboCache may represent a better deal than even the cheapest 128MB Radeon X300 video card. However, there is, of course the Radeon X300 SE – Sapphire’s 128MB X300 SE can be found at £40.99 on Dabs – that represents better value than the GeForce 6200 TurboCache supporting 128MB if you have no interest in gaming, but it will deliver worse performance than it if you ever did want to game.
Final, Final Thoughts...
ABIT’s RX600 Pro-Guru, from a technological point of view, is a very sound product – the vGuru technology is something that we want to see more of. The price of the card is not cheap, but it does offer a pretty similar gaming experience to the GeForce 6600 128MB. That is, of course, excluding Doom 3 – the choice there doesn’t bare any thought as the GeForce 6600 128MB is a long way ahead of the RX600 Pro-Guru, even when running its enhanced XTurbo clocks. Incidentally, for comparison purposes, XFX’s GeForce 6600 128MB is available for under £80 at Scan – a little cheaper than ABIT’s RX600 Pro-Guru 256MB. It has a slightly higher memory clock than the GeForce 6600 128MB that we have used in our evaluation today, so you can expect it to deliver a higher performance than our pseudo GeForce 6600 128MB has delivered here.
VGuru’s software interface is a pretty complete one, in the form of OCGuru, which allows you to change voltages and clock frequencies, while also featuring temperature and fan control. However, we would appreciate it if the clock dividers were slightly closer together when overclocking – the jump from 527MHz to 540MHz is quite a large one, which limits overclocking to a certain extent. The core frequency went up in 13MHz steps, while the memory frequencies went up in 7MHz (14MHz DDR) steps.
It would also be nice to see a middle value for voltage adjustment, maybe we’re being overly picky here – the saying goes, “you give them an inch and they want a mile”. We think that is what that ABIT have achieved here, and we can’t wait to see this technology on something more appealing to the hardware enthusiast who is looking to get the most out of their video card. They could achieve this with something like the Radeon X800, or Radeon X800 XL providing the price can be kept reasonably competitive.
- Tim Smalley
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October 14 2021 | 15:04
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