ASUS EAH2600Pro
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Date: 26.09.2007
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Overclocking
Things were really surprising about overclocking the video card. ATITool of version 0.27b was able to detect the GPU and memory frequencies, but wouldn't change them and always reset them to the defaults. On the other hand, it allows controlling the speed of the cooler's video card if the card allows that. RivaTuner of version 2.03 does not reset the GPU and memory frequencies to the defaults, but doesn't display the changes to them in the monitoring, and we also found out it had no tab to control the cooler's rotational speeds. As regards the GPU temperature, all is fine with its display.
 On this monitoring screen of RivaTuner, the left-hand mark meets the nominal speeds in the 2D modes without load, the middle mark meets the 3D mode under load at the nominal frequencies, and the right-hand mark meets the 3D mode under load at 775/1200 MHz. But right here strange things start to happen. Despite the essentially increased GPU frequency, the performance gain, as the preliminary tests had shown, proved to be incommensurably small – as little as 5%. Just admit it - isn't that too little as compared to the 30% frequency raise. Of course, we could blame the video memory for insufficient performance (of DDR2 standard), but it has proved of no use.
In fact, under these conditions we decided to resort to the "proven" means of overclocking like the ATI OverDrive tab in Catalyst Control Center.
We simultaneously found out that in the 2D mode without load the video card substantially reduces the GPU and video memory frequencies. As can be seen from the screenshot, the frequency of the video card in this mode amounts to the scanty 110 MHz for the GPU and 252 MHz (real) for the video memory. I don't know whom I should thank for this gift - engineers at ASUS or ATI/AMD, but that is really fantastic! Even the way they are, the chips in HD2400/2600 do not stand out with high power consumption, but the sound idea that in the 2D mode the power of even a low-end card is sufficient to handle documents and the like has finally come true. In the 2D mode, the video card ASUS EAH2600Pro will not heat up the air within the CPU unit with no use, but in the 3D mode it is able demonstrating quite a decent performance.
Before we move on straight to the tests, we note the following point – the maximum frequencies which can be set for the GPU and memory using ATI OverDrive are 700 MHz for the video processor, and 600 (1200 MHz DDR) for the memory. These are just the frequencies at which we ran the tests.
Test configuration
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Bus
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PCI-Express
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CPU
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MB
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Memory
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OS
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WinXP + SP2 + DirectX 9.0c
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PSU
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Thermaltake ToughPower 750 W
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We ran the tests using the 7.9 and ForceWare 162.18 drivers.
As contenders to ASUS EAH2600Pro, we used 8500GT running at the nominal frequencies, as well as the overclocked version of 8500GT with DDR3 memory. The diagrams also show the results for the pair of higher-end video cards – HD2600XT and 8600GT. Who knows, maybe overclocked ASUS EAH2600Pro will be able competing versus them on par? The results for ASUS EAH2600Pro and 8500GT at the nominal frequencies are marked with dark tints, with the lighter tints displaying the results for overclocked video cards.
At the nominal speeds, ASUS EAH2600Pro is well ahead of the regular 8500GT at synthetic tests. Moreover, even overclocking of 8500GT is not always able to helping it. The elder "brethren" (or "sisters") like HD2600XT and 8600GT are beyond competition, but the overclocked ASUS EAH2600Pro is not very much lagging behind them.
At Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the situation is evidently in favor of ASUS EAH2600Pro. The substantial superiority at the nominal frequencies over 8500GT is seen in both the makes, and in overclocking we see results almost identical to those for 8600GT.
Need for Speed Carbon has always been favorable to ATI's graphics, and this time has proved no exception. Even at the nominal frequencies, ASUS EAH2600Pro is on par with 8600GT, so what to say regarding the overclocking of hopelessly outdated 8500GT.
Shooters have always been a traditional patrimony for cards based on NVIDIA chips, but here ASUS EAH2600Pro is showing all its worth. At Serious Sam II, at the nominal frequencies, ASUS EAH2600Pro demonstrates quite a comfortable FPS at 1280?1024, whereas 8500GT demonstrates a similar result only in overclocking.
At Quake4, the results are very similar to what we have seen above. Needless to say, video of higher class remain unattainable, but it's not yet the time to sum up.
At Prey, the gap between ASUS EAH2600Pro and the regular 8500GT at nominal frequencies becomes almost two-fold. But at overclocking, ASUS EAH2600Pro is able catching up with 8600GT.
At F.E.A.R., the alignment of forces is preserved on the whole. The only difference is that overclocked 8500GT equipped with DDR3 is anyway a bit ahead of ASUS EAH2600Pro.
At Call of Juarez, ATI cards are again beyond competition.
Final Words
As today's test have shown, ASUS EAH2600Pro is a worthy representative of the HD2600Pro family video cards. The lack of connectors for CrossFire is unlikely to be a shortcoming. We have repeatedly mentioned that two video cards in combination at the "price/performance" ratio will be anyway worse that a single video card of higher class, so there is not much sense building a CrossFire combination of two HD2600Pro video cards (especially in view of the forthcoming release of HD2900Pro).
Among the obvious advantages of ASUS EAH2600Pro is the low power consumption, the powerful and absolutely noiseless cooler, as well as low frequencies in the 2D mode. This card is a superb candidate for a typical "work" computer rarely used for games. The presence of HDCP and the HDMI output with support for audio output make this card and ideal candidate for a home-based media center, due to the option of HD-Video hardware decoding. That is, you media center with ASUS EAH2600Pro will let you watch video films at the maximum quality, play your favorite games and will even stay "cool". Recommended!
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