Insane overclocker! PALIT GeForce 7300GT AGP

UPDATE: September 2024 - This post definitely needs a slight revision, including a faster testing platform and the GeForce 7600 GT (DDR3) added to the comparison charts. All charts below seem a little outdated by now.

There is a reason why this graphics card is quite popular for retro PC computers: its incredible value for money. So what makes it so special?

This particular PALIT VGA card is equipped with very fast 256MB DDR3 memory modules made by Qimonda, with an access time of 1.4 ns (in some versions, 1.2 ns). The default memory clock is set to 500 MHz but can be easily overclocked to 700 MHz (effective 1400 MHz). The GPU core clock can also be set much higher than the default 400 MHz—up to 560 MHz, which matches the core and memory clock values of the GeForce 7600 GT.

While it can't reach the performance level of the 7600 GT due to the lower number of rendering units (TMU/ROP), in practice an overclocked 7300 GT easily beats any 7600 GS by a significant margin.cant margin.

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PALIT GeForce 7300GT AGP is available as Single or Dual slot solution. Dual slot version has obviously bigger heatsink. Both are equally good overclockers.

For overclocking, I used the very simple Nvidia nTune applet. The settings can be adjusted directly within the graphics card’s control panel—super easy and problem-free.

Test System: AMD Athlon XP 2500+ 1.8Ghz, 2.5GB DDR400, WindowsXP 32bit SP3

GPU-Z default on the left, overclocked on the right

I chose 4 games for the test. Used FRAPS to measure average FPS during the same 30 second sequence of the game.

The scores are definitely bottlenecked by my relatively weak CPU, but one can expect much better scaling and higher results on faster systems (such as the Athlon 64 X2 or Intel Core 2 Duo). Unfortunately, faster systems are not yet ready for testing.

And how does the overclocked PALIT compare to the regular “classic” version of the GeForce 7600 GS 256MB DDR2 AGP?

Here, I compare it to the Gigabyte GeForce 7600 GS. It is clocked at 400/800 MHz but has a more powerful pipeline architecture.

Overclocked 7300GT despite having fewer texture and shader units is few % faster than 7600GS. Thanx to much higher DDR3 memory bandwidth.

What about the temperatures and noise when overclocked?

According to my data, when overclocked. temps are only 3 Celsius higher than default. And fan is doing very good job being pretty silent all the time.

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Conclusion: This PALIT card is especially appealing to those who appreciate a solid performance boost at a reasonable price and aren’t afraid to overclock. An additional bonus is its very quiet operation and relatively low temperatures under load. It fits nicely into a fairly robust Windows XP system.

Check the current availability here: https://tinyurl.com/yrd69nsp