It's no good looking like a gladiator if you can't
fight like a gladiator so with that seemingly pointless phrase
rattling around in my head I decided to see how much heart this
particular combatant possessed. The hardest part of overclocking
a video card for me is not knowing when to stop, it's knowing
where to start and with hindsight I wish I'd started a damned
site higher than I did. Thinking I was probably taking a chance
I used Coolbits (details
here) and dialed it up to 290/640 (core/memory) and it worked
flawlessly. Not a misplaced pixel or unexplained anomaly in
view so I carried on and it kept going :
290/650
PASS
And going..........
290/660
PASS
And going..........
290/680
PASS
And going..........
290/700
PASS
And going..........
290/710
PASS
It looks bad enough written down but I was taking
it 5MHz at a time! Eventually as you've probably guessed the
memory topped out at 710MHz! Being the cynic I am I figured
Coolbits was playing me for a fool and fired up Powerstrip instead.
Nope, it was right, 710MHz on the memory before things started
getting a bit dodgy and even then I was hitting 719MHz before
the artifacts were really visible without looking hard for them.
If I were on a benchfest I could probably have got her up to
at least 725MHz and still got 3DMark to complete, albeit with
a none too pretty display.
So
with the upper memory limit found it was time to see if there
was anything more in the GPU. And indeed there was, a final
stable speed of 318MHz was reached before things went awry.
That's 710MHz on the memory and 318MHz on the GPU! I know I've
just told you that but I like saying it!
And at this rather impressive speed 3DMark looked
a little something like this :
Default Clocks
(250/550)
318/710
In the past it was pretty much the case that if
an overclock held up through a couple of 3DMark runs then it
was going to be stable for just about everything. That however
was before UT2003 arrived on the scene! The only was I could
run the benchmarks without any stuttering was to lower the card's
core clock back down to 310MHz making for 310/710. Still, it
is a Ti4200 remember! Here's how the results looked at 310/710.
Ti4200P Turbo 250/550
Ti4200P Turbo 310/710
Conclusion :
At a price of £134.99 (+VAT) from OCS
the Ti4200P Turbo weighs in at just over £13 more than
their standard Ti4200 model and some £34 less than their
Ti4600. Compared to the MSI Ti4600 it actually comes in a full
£64 cheaper though the MSI does have a better bundle.
At this price there's really no good reason for not recommending
the Albatron Ti4600P Turbo over the alternatives. Throw in the
games, a full copper cooler which you'd pay Thermaltake around
£15 for to add one later, a copy of WinDVD, very nice
RAM sinks and its all round good looks and you have one of those
rarities in this industry where the specs are concerned.....lamb
dressed as mutton, albeit some of the best looking mutton I've
seen in a while! (no I'm not partial to sheep before you ask).
The only worry on my part is the fan. Although
it may be just the way it's designed and built and it could
very well have 20 years of sterling service ahead of it, it
just feels a little, well, cheap I suppose is the best word.
There's more play in the spindle than I'm used to seeing and
it does give off a low, almost prop driven aircraft like drone
that isn't offensively loud and could as I said be perfectly
normal but I'm stating my reservations here to cover my back.
This small niggle aside I really liked this card
and would have no reservations in giving it a wholehearted thumbs
up. The value of the card of course becomes a moot point if
you've no intentions of overclocking it, in this case you'd
be better off saving a little cash and getting a standard Ti4200
but otherwise I think its merits are beyond dispute. If a Ti4200
was on your shopping list then beg, steal or borrow the extra
cash and get this one, if there's an equal to it out there I've
not seen it yet.
So
with the upper memory limit found it was time to see if there
was anything more in the GPU. And indeed there was, a final
stable speed of 318MHz was reached before things went awry.
That's 710MHz on the memory and 318MHz on the GPU! I know I've
just told you that but I like saying it!
