Zotac GeForce GTS250 AMP! Edition, Cont’d
Zotac’s card also has the standard dual-DVI output setup, along with an S-video output. HDMI and VGA are options with included adapters, but a component video adapter is missing.
Now, let’s look at the stock clock speeds. While the core clock speed is technically overclocked from the reference speed of 738 MHz, it’s only overclocked by 12 MHz. The shader overclock is a little more inspiring with 54 MHz over the reference 1,836 MHz, for a total of 1,890 MHz. The memory is also pushed 50 MHz over reference to 1,150 MHz (2,300 MHz DDR).
Overclocking
In keeping with Zotac’s simple formula, it has included the most basic overclocking utility I’ve ever seen: its Firestorm overclocking software. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a good thing, because at the end of the day an overclocking tool’s purpose is to raise the clock speeds. It doesn’t need to be semi-transparent, it doesn’t need to look like it came from the year 2050. It just needs to work. And this one does.
The core overclock we achieved was typical for a GTS 250. We made it to 812 MHz on the core, and the shader clock was upped a little to 1,930 MHz. The memory made it to 1,219 MHz, for an effective 2,438 MHz data rate.
Would you run the first passive card with negative air pressure?
@mi1ez. Not too sure how yours is set up. But for most living rooms I'm sure the average Ikea or Argos T.V. cabinet wouldn't have adequate airflow for that. Getting waffted with heat in the summer wouldn't be my choice.
I don't have a passive card. I was just curious really given what they said about the card drawing cool air from outside the case.
The MSI overclocking panel appears to claim the fan is at 600,000rpm!
I wonder if there's an option on the Asus ENGTS250 Dark Knight card that allows you to run the cooler passive when idle? Seems like the heatsink could pull that off easily, doesn't it? It would be nice to have silent card when in 2D
so the question is can you control RPM of the fan and if so, can you put it to 0% when idle?
Well I just bought the Asus ENGTS250 card based on this review, and not only is the memory clocked slower at 2000Mhz DDR, the card does not slow it's clocks in 2D mode leading to substantially higher power consumption at idle.
I'm not impressed.