Test System Setup

Processor(s): Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 3150MHz (350MHz FSB with memory @ 1:1)

Motherboard(s): ASUS P5B Deluxe (Supplied by ASUS)

Memory: 2 X 1GB G.Skill HZ PC8000 @ 350MHz 4-4-4-12 (Supplied by Bronet)

Hard Disk(s): Hitachi 80GB 7200RPM SATA 2

Operating System: Windows XP Professional SP2

Drivers: nVidia ForceWare 96.97 (Reviewer Driver) and DX9c

With Coolbits not working on the latest version of the nVidia drivers, it was time to go diving into some other program to use so we could start overclocking our XFX graphics cards.

Surprisingly, the current beta version of ATI Tool worked almost without a hitch. We thought we would be slack and try the auto detect feature but as soon as it went about 4MHz up on the core, it crapped out and we had artifacts everywhere. Using the old manual method - increase the clock speeds, run a 3DMark, rinse and repeat until we crashed something or got artifacts, we got our maximum speed on both the GeForce 8800 GTX and GTS.

At default the 8800 GTS comes in at 500MHz on the core and 1600MHz DDR on the memory. The core increased to a truly outstanding 643MHz (143MHz increase or about 22%) and the memory got a significant boost up to 1824MHz DDR (224MHz DDR increase or about 12%).

The 8800 GTX comes in at 575MHz on the core and 1800MHz DDR on the memory. We got that to 654MHz (79MHz increase or about 12%) which is just above what we got out of the GTS and the memory had no problems breaking the 2GHz DDR marking coming in at 2020MHz DDR (220MHz DDR increase or about 11%).

3DMark05

Version and / or Patch Used: Build 120

Developer Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com

Product Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com/products/3dmark05/

Buy It Here

3DMark05 is now the second latest version in the popular 3DMark "Gamers Benchmark" series. It includes a complete set of DX9 benchmarks which tests Shader Model 2.0 and above.

For more information on the 3DMark05 benchmark, we recommend you read our preview here.

We can see in our first benchmark the massive overclocking on the GTS brings it to similar performance of the standard clocked GTX.

The GTX overclock wasn't as significant as what the GTS offered, so while we do see an increase, it isn't nearly as big as to what is on offer from the GTS which makes it even more impressive considering the price difference between the two cards.