Let's face it, when it comes to manufacturer provided overclocking utilities, most are fairly unimpressive. When Biostar came along singing praises about its new Sigma-Gate/V-Ranger overclocking utility, we didn't think too much of it either... until we saw what it could really do.

For the record, what Biostar includes with its Sigma-Gate GeForce 7600GS videocard is the most versatile and powerful overclocking tool we've yet seen for a videocard. Mainly because it is the only one PCSTATS has ever come across which enables voltgage controls of the videocard memory and GPU. The Sigma-Gate and V-Ranger utilities are not much to look at, but offer better tools to overclock a videocard with than either nVIDIA nTune or RivaTuner!

The Sigma-Gate and V-Ranger utilities support traditional videocard overclocking by manipulating the core and memory clock speeds, and also offer up voltage adjustments for each! If you're a novice overclocker be warned though, the voltage ranges here are high enough to damage the videocard. The long term affects of such GPU and memory over-volting are also unknown quantities. I would assume there is some shortening of component lifespan, but if you upgrade every year or two it may not even matter.

At first glance the Biostar Sigma-Gate GeForce 7600GS looks like a plain mainstream videocard. The card doesn't come with any notable extras, and retails for a nice affordable $149 CDN ($131 US, £66GBP). In this case it's the overclocking utility which really sells the videocard, particularly if you're an speed freak at heart. I have to say that I had a heck of a lot of fun overclocking the Biostar Sigma-Gate GeForce 7600GS too.

At stock speeds the Biostar Sigma-Gate GeForce 7600GS performed as expected, just a bit behind the GeForce 7600GT series. Budget minded consumers will be pleased with the performance of the Sigma-Gate GeForce 7600GS, it plays most games at decent framerates, at 1024x768 quite easily.

The strength of this videocard is really illustrated by its overclocking ability, and at maximum speeds it often performed 50% faster than stock! This GeForce 7600GS card was often able to beat an ATi Radeon X1950 Pro videocard. Rarely does the software make the videocard, but Biostar has definitely changed the way enthusiasts can overclock. The Sigma-Gate and V-Ranger software utilities work with other videocards, however the voltage options are only available when used with the Biostar 7600GS.

Biostar has put together a very fun mainstream videocard here, and while its Sigma-Gate GeForce 7600GS might not be the fastest horse in the race it offers excellent value. I certainly hope Biostar continue to include the Sigma-Gate software with all future videocards; it's about time manufacturers took the next step in pursuit of higher performance. Well done.

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