ASUS EN9600GT DI/512MD3/A PCSTATS Review - Power Draw, Overclocking, Test System Specs

The Asus EN9600GT draws less wattage under load than the Radeon HD 4770. Its idle performance is even better, with the entire PC test system drawing a paltry 86W. Given that this videocard also doesn't need an extra PCI Express power adapter, and this videocard is an ideal upgrade for those stuck with older, less powerful power supplies.

Overclocking Results:

	stock	overclocked

gpu (core) speed:	600 mhz	726 mhz
memory speed:	(900mhz) 1800mhz	(944mhz) 1888mhz ddr
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

The ASUS EN9600GT DI/512MD3/A videocard is unique among the 55nm Geforce 9600GT videocards because it doesn't require an additional power connector. As overclocking tends to increase power demands from the videocard, it will be interesting to see if this ASUS EN9600GT videocard is up to the task.

As usual, overclocking was done through nVidia's nTune utility which unlocks GPU and memory clock speed. PCSTATS started with the GPU first, pausing to test the results with a quick 3D benchmark before continuing.

The Geforce 9600GT core is clocked by default at 600MHz. Starting with the GPU first, the speed was quickly overclocked to 656MHz, then 679MHz and 694MHz. Finally we went for the gusto with a 726MHz core clock!

PCSTATS then turned its attention to the 512MB of GDDR3 memory clocked by default at 900MHz (dual-pumped to yield a Double Data Rate operating speed of 1800MHz). The ASUS EN9600GT DI/512MD3/A was overclocked aggressively with nTune to a speed of 1888MHz, which remained stable through our overclocking tests.

Ultimately, PCSTATS saw mixed overclocking results from the ASUS EN9600GT DI/512MD3/A videocard. The videocard overclocked to a mediocre 726MHz GPU / 1888MHz memory. Good, but not nearly has fast as the previous 55nm Geforce 9600GT videocard PCSTATS tested from Gigabyte (the GV-N96TSL-1GI achieved 811MHz GPU / 2100MHz memory).

In this instance, ASUS has built an affordable videocard with HDMI onboard, not an overclocker-friendly Geforce 9600GT.

The details of how the ASUS EN9600GT DI/512MD3/A videocard was configured for benchmarking; the specific hardware, software drivers, operating system and benchmark versions are indicated below. All benchmarks for the videocard were run in Windows Vista Ultimate, the reference video cards were tested in both Windows XP and Vista for the DX10 benchmarks.

PCSTATS is in the process of making the transition to a Windows Vista and Intel CPU test platform, so keep this in mind as you scan the benchmark results. In the second column are the general specs for the reference cards this Geforce 9600GT videocard is 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 #1	reference system #2
processor:	intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (775)	Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 (775)	AMD Athlon64 FX-62 (AM2)
Clock Speed:	15 x 200MHz = 3.0GHz	14 x 200MHz = 2.6GHz	14 x 200MHz = 2.8GHz
Motherboards:	ASUS P5E3 Premiun (Intel X48 Express) ASUS Striker II NSE (nF 790i SLI)* MSI X48 Platinum (Intel X48 Express)	MSI X48 Platinum (Intel X48 Express)	Foxconn C51XEM2 (NF 590 SLI)
Videocard:	ASUS EN9600GT DI/512MD3/A Gigabyte GV-N26OC896H-GA ASUS ENGTX260 MT/HTDI/896MD3 Sparkle GTX260 Core 216 ASUS ENGTS250 DK (SLI)* ASUS EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A Gigabyte GV-N96TSL-1GI	Palit Radeon HD 4870X2 ASUS Radeon EAH4850/HTDI/512MA MSI Radeon R3870X2-T2D1G-OC ASUS Radeon EAH3870X2 1G Diamond HD 3650 Pe 512 MSI R4830-T2D512-OC	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 NX8600GT-T2D256E-OC MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC Gigabyte GV-NX85T256H SLI Gigabyte GV-NX85T256H MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE MSI NX7900GTX-T2D512E Gigabyte GV-NX76GT256D-RH Biostar Sigma-Gate GeForce 7600GS Albatron 8600GT-256 MSI NX8800GT-T2D512E-OC ASUS EN8800GT TOP/G/HTDP/512M/A Palit 9600GT Sonic Biostar V903GT52-NV1AN *
Memory:	Corsair DOMINATOR Twin2X2048-1800C7D (DDR3)		Corsair Twin2X2048-6400C3 (DDR2)
Hard Drive:	74GB Western Digital Raptor WD740
CDROM:	ASUS BC-1205PT-BD Blu-Ray Drive
Monitor (1080p):	ASUS MK241 24" HD LCD
Power Supply:	PC Power & Cooling TurboCool 750W
Heatsink:	Intel E8400 Reference	Intel E6750 Reference	Athlon64 FX-62 Reference Heatsink
Test System Setup:	Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit Intel INF 9.0.0.1008 Catalyst 9.3 Forceware 185.85 nVidia 15.23		Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2 Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit*
Benchmarks:	3DMark06 3DMark Vantage Far Cry 2 STALKER Clear Sky FEAR Crysis Call of Juarez Lost Planet

Benchmark results are organized by GPU manufacturer first (AMD/ATI or nVidia), then by GPU generation, and then by GPU class (high end, mainstream, value). This approach provides a clearer view of how performance can differ from generation to generation, and class to previous generation. The product being tested is marked with the red colour bar.