Check out the bling on Inno3D's latest overclocked video card monster!
INNO3D is a relatively well-known name in the budget video card arena, providing cards at a very affordable price, and usually chucking in a few extras to sweeten the deal. With the release of this newly updated core and card, the company has pulled out all stops to impress - something that we've definitely noticed - though we did get a shock when we saw the box!
Being the same packaging as their GTX280/260's (albeit with a new sticker), the box still has the Company of Heroes mascot soldier, almost giving us a heart attack when we thought they were still bundling this incredibly over-bundled and over-included game. Thankfully, two stickers on the front caught our attention shortly afterwards, and we realised that it didn't have the most annoying game ever to be included in a box for the millionth time, but instead had a full copy of Far Cry 2 and Warmonger! The latter is a free download online, but it's still an awesome inclusion for people who may not otherwise know it exists, and is a fun demo of PhysX in the Unreal 3 engine.
We were suitably impressed by these inclusions, but even more impressed when we saw that the card was packed inside an antistatic bag, inside a cardboard box, wedged in foam, and then inside another box! You can be pretty damn sure that the card is going to get to you in very good condition, unlike some other cards that are merely held in with a cotton ball and some goodwill. All the usual video cables and such are also included.
The card itself is based on the GT200 core that has been shrink-rayed down to 55nm. Running at a core speed of 700MHz (a 52MHz bump), with memory running at an incredible 1280MHz (38MHz more) and 240 stream processors working at 1476MHz, this card has been given a very sizable overclock - definitely more than we'd usually expect of a card like this. One whole gigabyte of GDDR3 memory on a 512-bit memory bus compliments these specs, giving oodles of room for all the ones and zeroes you'd need to be content.
Physically this card is the same as the reference build, consisting of the aluminium fins and block, as well as the large squirrel cage fan and plastic shroud. What's probably most noticeable about this card is the sticker all over the front of it - gold and black and similar in quality to book coverings from primary school. Printed on this are ten rows of twenty three logos which, as well as the fan, give this card a total of two hundred and thirty one bloody logos - how many do we need!?!
Apart from the inundation of branding, there are two DVI ports, analogue video out, two 6-pin PCIe power connectors, and two SLI nipples allowing up to Tri-SLI. The heatsink does a good job, idling the card at 44 degrees and 59.4dBA, loading at 71 with 60.1dBA.
Performance is higher than the reference card in every test except the maximum framerate in GRID, gaining a couple of hundred points in Vantage, a hundred or so more in 06, and more frames across the board in Crysis. Annoyingly (and this has been displayed by the other cards in this series) there is a high pitched whining noise from the power regulation when very high framerates are being displayed, and those with sensitive hearing may get annoyed at this.
For a pre-overclocked card that not only comes with a recent game, and another title that most wouldn't have played otherwise, this is a great card and definitely meets our approval head-on, and leaves us begging for more.
Issue: 133 | February, 2012