Graphics Card – ATI PowerColor HD3850

In the past, we’ve received reader feedback asking us why we hadn’t factored the graphics card into our overall cost estimate. This time, we therefore chose to include a real add-in graphics card in our overclocking system in order to be able to judge the energy consumption more objectively.

In order to make the results more comparable to one another we used our reference graphics card, an Nvidia Geforce 8800 GTX made by Foxconn, for all of our benchmarks. Since this card doesn’t really fit with the theme of our low-budget overclocking system both where price and power consumption are concerned, we chose a model from a more appropriate performance and price segment.

We installed the PowerColor HD3850 into our system. However, this configuration is only meant as an example, since we’re focusing on the performance of the CPU and the core components of the overclocking system and only need a graphics card for the power consumption tests. The performance benchmarks were not run using this card.

In the end, you’ll have to decide which graphics card you think will be the best fit the performance of our overclocking system.

The Pentium Dual-Core System

Component	Price
Processor	€49
Motherboard	€88
Memory	€54
Cooler	€45
PSU	€48
Graphics Card	€180
Total	€464

Here’s a look at the finished system as we use it for the power consumption measurements.

• 8 – Graphics Card – ATI PowerColor...
  

  1. 1 – Extreme Overclocking Potential – Intel’s Pentium Dual-Core E2140
  2. 2 – Intel's Marketing Trick – The Pentium Dual-Core in Detail
  3. 3 – Buying – The sSpec Numbers
  4. 4 – Motherboard – MSI P35 Neo2-FR
  5. 5 – Memory – G.E.I.L. Black Dragon DDR2-800
  6. 6 – Cooler – Zalman CNPS9700 LED
  7. 7 – Power Supply – Hiper HPU-4M350
  8. 8 – Graphics Card – ATI PowerColor HD3850
  9. 9 – Overclocking Stage I – 2.66 GHz
  10. 10 – Overclocking Stage II – 3 GHz
  11. 11 – Overclocking Stage III – 3.4 GHz
  12. 12 – Overclocking Stage IV – 3.5 GHz
  13. 13 – An Overview of the Core Voltages
  14. 14 – Power Consumption – 90 Watts for the CPU
  15. 15 – Energy Cost – 143 Watts and €127 per year
  16. 16 – Overclocking - 59% Performance Boost
  17. 17 – Test Setup
  18. 18 – Software Configuration
  19. 19 – Benchmarks and Settings
  20. 20 – 3D-Games - UT2004 and Prey
  21. 21 – 3D-Games - Quake 4 and Warhammer
  22. 22 – 3D-Games - Supreme Commander und Serious Sam 2
  23. 23 – 3D-Rendering - Cinema 4D and 3D-Studio Max
  24. 24 – Applications - AVG and WinRAR
  25. 25 – Applications - Photoshop and PDF Creation
  26. 26 – Applications - Deep Fritz
  27. 27 – Audio Encoding - iTunes and Lame MP3
  28. 28 – Synthetic - Sandra CPU
  29. 29 – Synthetic - Sandra Memory
  30. 30 – Synthetic - Sandra Multimedia
  31. 31 – Synthetic - PC-Mark
  32. 32 – Synthetic - 3D-Mark
  33. 33 – Video Encoding - Xvid and Pinnacle Studio
  34. 34 – Video Encoding - Premiere and Mainconcept
  35. 35 – Video Encoding - HDTV and DivX
  36. 36 – Video Encoding - CloneDVD
  37. 37 – Conclusion – Outstanding Value for Money when Overclocked
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