OCSystem's R9700 Pro Level III SE - More benchmarking and conclusion
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Benchmarks Continued
If anything, the [H]UT2k3 Benchmarker is certainly thorough and we have many different maps that were benchmarked from which to choose from. Lets take a look at the DM Asbestos numbers first.
As you can see, the OCSystems R9700 continues to lead the way, and pulls ahead even further at higher resolutions thanks to the added bandwidth of the OCS R9700 Level III SE. Below we'll see this same map but with 4X FSAA and 8X Ani enabled.
With some pretty hefty FSAA enabled we are still seeing some great performance out of both cards and of course the OCS R9700 Level III SE pulls ahead in all 3 resolutions. What's amazing is how playable this map is even at 1280 x 1024 with this level of FSAA. At 1024 x 768 we are averaging 163FPS which is more than playable however we did see a dip down to as low as 28FPS at some points during the map. Still, with an overall average of 163FPS at 1024 and 109FPS at 1280, that's pretty impressive. Lets break it down by the numbers
Cooling Part 2
Heatpipe technology has come a long way and the Zalman ZM80A does a great job of keeping this card as cool or cooler than the stock ATI heatsink, even without any sort of active cooling. I wanted to give some temperature performance numbers here so we can see if running the card cooler I have is actually effective. I think you might already know the outcome but for comparison purposes, lets checkout the numbers.
Clearly the card runs MUCH cooler with some sort of active cooling available. Even I wasn't prepared for the impact it would make however. Even under load, the HSF is so efficient that it's dissipating heat almost immediately from the VPU as cool air from the Global WIN 120mm blows across it. My suggestion? It is essential to get some sort of active cooling for the Zalman heatsink. While it will run w/out it, I simply do not suggest it.
Here are a few shots I took of the compu-nurse digital thermometer and where I attached the temperature sensor. It was the closest flat portion on the HSF that I could get to the VPU.
Overclocking
You didn't think we would run this card through the wringer and not see how much higher we could push it did ya? As we know, stock ATI Radeon™ 9700 Pro's come clocked at a stock 320MHz Core and 310MHz Memory or 620MHz DDR. The OCSystem Enhanced Radeon 9700 Pro Level III SE comes clocked at 415MHz Core and 365MHz Memory or 730MHz DDR. Of course at such a high clock speed, I was unsure how much room we had left for overclocking. Running 3DMark2k1 SE as a test bed, I was able to clock the card up to 425MHz Core and 380MHz Memory with no problems whatsoever. Moving up to 427MHz Core started to give random artifacts, but would still let a 3DMark test run finish. Moving to 430MHz Core caused the 3DMark to either lockup or dump back to desktop. So while there is a very small margin for overclocking increases with this card, that is simply to be expected considering it already comes clocked at extremely high speeds and runs completely stable.
OCS R9700 Enhanced compared to standard R9700 Pro
And finally, here are 2 screenshots of both 3DMark2k3 and 3DMark2001 SE Build 330 showing the fruits of our labor. Impressing even further the capabilities of this excellent card. Doing a search and compare of "approximate CPU and Video card" on FutureMark's ORB shows this particular card is easily in the top of it's class as seen below.
3DMark2k3 Search
3DMark2k1 SE Search
There haven't been nearly as many 3DMark2k3 submissions so what's really impressive here is the search on 3DMark2k1 SE. Not only is this the fastest score with a 3GHz CPU, it's the fastest score by quite a long shot. OCSystem shows a 17,700+ 3DMark2k1 SE on their website for this card and from what I can tell, that should be easily attainable for anyone with a similar setup, throw in a few tweaks and you can easily get an 18,000+ score. Want to compare your scores to those above? Click on your choice below.
3DMark2003
3DMark2001 SE Build 330
Conclusion
What can we say? The numbers simply do not lie. The OCS Enhanced R9700 Pro Level III SE is easily the fastest card ever tested here at OCAddiction. The nVidia GF FX has been released and should be in the retail market soon, but even when that happens, you can rest assured, it will not be as fast as the OCS R9700 Pro Level III SE. It may be a bit cheaper however, but it will also be much louder, and I simply do not see it outperforming the card we have worked with here today. Maybe one of the reasons the GF FX has been officially dumped is because even a stock ATI R9700 Pro performed very close to the GF FX, and a card like the OCS Enhanced R9700 SE should easily outperform even nVidia's current best efforts.
With the release of Doom ]|[ pending, both ATI and nVidia are scrambling to show their very best product on game day, this we can count on. But as it stands now, the OCSystem Enhanced Radeon 9700 Pro Level III SE is simply the best card your money can buy today.
Finally. I know there will be some concerns regarding OCSystem's customer service due to a less than favorable reseller rating. I have seen and heard a few complaints from readers here and there, but at the same time, I have also heard quite a few positive notes regarding the company. I cannot account for bad experiences that others may have, but what I can do, is comment on my personal experiences with this company, and those have been very good. I purchased this card myself and from beginning to end have had a very good buying experience and I am also completely happy with the product I received. As we all know, overclocking is not a specific science and many problems can arise when companies begin to sell "pre-overclocked" items. But from what I can tell, OCSystem has a very good system in place and the products we have used here have been of very good quality such as the OCS R9700 Pro Level III SE. With a card that comes clocked so high above factory specs, my initial reaction was "is this for real?" Trust me, this card is the real deal, and currently, there is nothing else out there that will give you better performance.
Lets finish off the review with a couple of highs and lows.
Highs
Super fast card that has no match for performance
Gargantuan heatsink that will keep your VPU cool if used properly
Care taken in assembly and GeIL copper premium thermal compound used
Lows
That concludes the review and as far as the 2 lows that shown, both are even somewhat debatable. While yes, this card does command quite a high price, so do other items which are the fastest or best in their class, such as CPU's, Memory, etc. If your simply looking for the fastest video card out there, and willing to pay a bit extra for it, then this card is definitely for you. One question you have to ask yourself though, is how LONG will this card remain at the top of the heap. With reports on nVidia's GF FX successor and reports of the R9900 due out soon, it may be worth the wait. You'll have to decide that for yourself.
*The card comes very close to taking up that first PCI slot but if push came to shove, you could more than likely get a card in there, but if you chose to do so, the Zalman heatsink may be very close to, or even touching that card, and this can't be a good thing. So while it's not recommended, it could be done.
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