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Diamond Viper Radeon HD 2900XT 1GB Videocard Review
Diamond Viper Radeon HD 2900XT 1GB Videocard Review - PCSTATS
The ATI Radeon HD 2900XT VPU core runs at 743 MHz while the 1GB of GDDR4 memory hums along at a very sweet 2 GHz! In pairs, the Diamond Viper Radeon HD 2900XT is ATI Crossfire compatible on supporting motherboards.
 89% Rating:   
Filed under: Video Cards Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Diamond Aug 22 2007   C. Sun  
Home > Reviews > Video Cards > Diamond Radeon HD 2900XT 1GB

Overclocking the Radeon HD 2900XT Videocard

Overclocking Results:
stock overclocked (single) overclocked (crossfire)
gpu (core) speed: 743 mhz 825 mhz 812 mhz
memory speed: 1000 mhz 1135 mhz 1123 mhz
if you're new to Overclocking and not sure what to do, check out these two excellent Guides for some pointers:
Overclocking the CPU and Memory
Overclocking the Videocard

Diamond Multimedia's Viper Radeon HD 2900XT videocard comes out of the box with a GPU running at 743MHz, memory clocked at a cool 1000MHz. (AMD reports DDR value, that's 2 GHz in SDR).

By all accounts that's already faster than most graphics cards, but not fast enough to dissuade PCSTATS from overclocking the Radeon HD 2900XT GPU and its cadre of GDDR4 memory even further!

Starting with a single videocard, the AMD Radeon HD 2900XT GPU was overclocked in 5 MHz increments, starting from 743 MHz. This is uncharted territory for PCSTATS, for sure. The Radeon HD 2900XT handled this well, and broke the 800 MHz mark without sweat.

The AMD Radeon HD 2900XT core ran out of steam once it hit 825 MHz, anything higher and the system would lock up while running benchmarks. Still 825 MHz is a decent jump from 743 MHz.

Next up was the 1GB of GDDR4 memory, clocked at an even 1 GHz. The memory frequency was increased in 10 MHz jumps, easily breaking past 1100 MHz. That is the stock speed of the memory on the 512MB version of the Diamond Viper Radeon HD 2900XT videocard. Continuing, the memory topped out at 1135 MHz, anything higher it locked up while running benchmarks.

Crossfire Overclocking Tests

Next up PCSTATS tried our hand at overclocking two Diamond Viper Radeon HD 2900XT 1GB videocards running CrossFire mode. That's about $900 in videocard if you're counting! ;-) I started with the core, but kept my expectations low as I figured the cards would not reach the same overclock as a single Diamond Viper Radeon HD 2900XT is capable of. I was right. The VPU reached a maximum speed of 812 MHz, still not too bad though.

The memory did not overclock as well in Crossfire mode, and to make a long story short we saw top speed results of 1123 MHz. That's just 12 MHz shy of what the lone Diamond Viper Radeon HD 2900XT videocard achieved.

So there you have it, overclocking results for a single Radeon HD 2900XT and two running in Crossfire. As you'll see in the benchmarks, overclocking under Crossfire can have a very significant impact on game performance, whether it's worth the added cost is another matter entirely however. Anyhow, on with the benchmarks!

Prelude to Benchmarks

The details of how the Diamond Viper Radeon HD 2900XT 1GB videocard test system was configured for benchmarking; the specific hardware, software drivers, operating system and benchmark versions are indicated below. In the second column are the general specs for the reference platforms this pair of ATI Radeon HD 2900XT based videocards are to be compared against. Please take a moment to look over PCSTATS test system configurations before moving on to the individual benchmark results on the next page.

PCSTATS Test System Configurations
test system reference system
processor:

amd Athlon64 FX-62 (AM2)

Clock Speed:

14 x 200 MHz = 2.8 GHz

Motherboards: ECS KA3 MVP Extreme Crossfire Xpress 3200 (CF3200)

Asus M2-CROSSHAIR (NF 590 SLI)

Videocard: Diamond Viper Radeon HD 2900XT (single and Crossfire)

Asus EAX1900XTX/2DHTV/512M/A
Asus EAX1950PRO/HTDP/256M/A
MSI NX8800GTX-T2D768E-HD
Foxconn FV-N88SMCD2-ONOC
MSI NX8800GTS-T2D320E-HD-OC
nVidia GeForce 8600GTS SLI
Foxconn
8600GTS-256
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC
MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE
MSI NX7900GTX-T2D512E
Gigabyte GV-NX76GT256D-RH
Biostar Sigma-Gate GeForce 7600GS
Albatron 8600GT-256

Memory:

Corsair Twin2X2048-6400C3

Hard Drive: 74GB Western Digital Raptor WD740
CDROM: AOpen Combo 52x
PowerSupply: PC Power & Cooling TurboCool 510 SLI
Heatsink: Athlon64 FX-62 Reference Heatsink
Software Setup:

Microsoft WindowsXP SP2
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate
nVIDIA Forceware 6.70
nVIDIA Forceware 91.27
ATI Catalyst 7.7

Benchmarks:

3DMark05
3DMark06
FarCry
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Doom 3
Quake 4
FEAR
Call of Juarez (DirectX10)
Lost Planet (DirectX10)

< Previous Page © 2023 PCSTATS.com Next Page >

 

Contents of Article: Diamond Radeon HD 2900XT 1GB
 Pg 1.  Diamond Viper Radeon HD 2900XT 1GB Videocard Review
 Pg 2.  Massive Heatsink and Quiet Cooling System?
 Pg 3.  ATI/AMD CrossFire Redone
 Pg 4.  The AMD Radeon HD 2900XT Core
 Pg 5.  Videocard Power Consumption Measurements
 Pg 6.  High Definition Playback Tests with AVIVO
 Pg 7.  — Overclocking the Radeon HD 2900XT Videocard
 Pg 8.  Videocard Benchmarks: 3DMark05, 3DMark06
 Pg 9.  Videocard Benchmarks: FarCry
 Pg 10.  Videocard Benchmarks: Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
 Pg 11.  Videocard Benchmarks: Doom 3
 Pg 12.  Videocard Benchmarks: Quake 4
 Pg 13.  Videocard Benchmarks: FEAR
 Pg 14.  DX10 Videocard Benchmarks: Call of Juarez, Lost Planet
 Pg 15.  PCSTATS Maximum Videocard Overclocking Chart & Conclusions
 Pg 16.  Radeon HD 2900XT To Give nVidia a Real Challenge

 
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