Extreme Overclocking Performance

As usual we do like to check if there is something more to get out of the graphics accelerator, meaning that we try and see how far it can be overclocked. And so we did with the Sapphire Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4 as well, by using the only tool available current coming from AMD. Using GPU Clock Tool we tried to overclock the Radeon HD 2600 XT in small steps, with the so called trial and error approach. With the rather big cooler on the GPU of the Sapphire card we expected some extra performance to be unlocked. And that is exactly what we tried to do by overclocking the graphics card and increasing both the core and memory clock speed. And the cooling solution on the GDDR4 edition does allow a bit more than we have seen previously...

Gaming Results - 1280x1024 - E6300 2.80GHz - 2GB RAM
Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4 (2x/4x)	Game Score
800/2200MHz (Reference)	89.3 fps
820/2250MHz (Avg Overclock)	90.6 fps
840/2300MHz (Max Overclock)	92.5 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.
Gaming Results - 1600x1200 - E6300 2.80GHz - 2GB RAM
Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4 (2x/4x)	Game Score
800/2200MHz (Reference)	67.9 fps
820/2250MHz (Avg Overclock)	69.1 fps
840/2300MHz (Max Overclock)	70.4 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

We just overclocked the core and memory by upping the clock speeds and that resulted in decent increase in performance. As you can clearly see from the figures we gotten from Half-Life 2 a significant boost is noticeable. We raised the Sapphire card up and beyond any overclocking level we have seen so far and it did withstand the increase firmly. During all our benchmarks the Radeon HD 2600 XT kept on humming stable with no hiccups to finally set the top speed at 840/2300MHz. Raising these to the maximum stable clocks shows that it can surpass all expectations and crush the previous gaming results. But the Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4 certainly has quite some hidden potential that each and every owner can unlock by just overclocking their graphics card.

Final Thoughts

The long wait is over as we now finally have the mid-range graphics cards from ATI supporting DirectX 10 and which are ready for the upcoming gaming titles going for that technology. A complete new architecture, bringing the performance to the next level. Well, having played around with the GDDR4 edition version from Sapphire based upon the Radeon HD 2600 XT we must admit that is comes with great performance at an attractive mid-range price tag. Although a bit trailing behind NVIDIA, they have finally been able to strike back and also put their video cards on the market and have some extra competition. The Radeon HD 2600 XT brings us the same unified shader architecture which was introduced some time ago with the Radeon HD 2900 series. By leveraging off the same architecture, Radeon HD 2600 GPU's receive all the benefits in optimizations and compatibility work that developers have put into their game engines.

At our first encounter with the Radeon HD 2600 series, we weren't impressed at all, but that really didn't depend on the manufacture but rather with ATI and their chip design. And although the specifications look good, we can't hide our disappointment when it comes to the actual gaming performance. Since then we have to revisit our statement, and frankly say that ATI has done quite well with making their drivers better and lift the Radeon HD 2600 series to a higher performance level. These new drivers and the Sapphire Radeon HD 2600 XT featuring the more expensive though faster GDDR4 memory has paid off very well. The performance on our benchmarks and actually gaming suites has gone up and brought the Radeon HD 2600 series at a similar level as the GeForce 8600 series, taking into account that the GTS is still the champion of the mid-range segment.

But we do acknowledge that the pricing is in favor of ATI, which somehow had anticipated a bit on the lack of real power to go up against the GeForce 8600 series. And, of course that really is good news for all who are waiting for the Radeon HD 2600 series and who can now get these cards at a very nice price tag. What is generally the most exciting part about the graphics card these days is without a doubt the overclocking ability. With the more mature drivers currently available for the Radeon HD 2600 series we can say that it has a very positive effect on the stability during our overclocking attempts. In the end the results are not as spectacular as with the GeForce 8600 series, but it is better than expected. The Sapphire Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4 did manage to hit 840/2300MHz with no hiccups and would be able to just a bit more with a better cooling solution.

We saw a very good follow-up from ATI on the drivers, bringing more mature and stable drivers which gave a bump in performance. The Sapphire Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4 comes at a very attractive price tag which will please a lot of potential buyers. It does offer good performance, and almost closing the gap with the GeForce 8600 GTS graphics cards. The main point we liked about the Sapphire version is the faster GDDR4 memory which does an excellent job and allows greater overclocking. All well considered the features offered are excellent, and with full Windows Vista and DirectX 10 support you can't really go wrong with the Radeon HD 2600 series. So if you are on a lower budget then this Sapphire board could be the graphics card you have been looking for...

Pros

• Great Gaming Performance
• High Quality and Gorgeous Design
• Ultra Fast GDDR4 (0.9ns) Memory
• Mircosoft DirectX 10 Ready
• Decent Overclocking Capability
• CrossFire Ready, Multi-GPU Enabled
• Avivo HD Video Technology
• Very Attractive Pricing

Cons

• Limited 128-bit Memory Interface

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