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Leadtek 7600GT: Single card and SLI

I won't go into a whole lot of detail about the specs of the Leadtek 7600GT as you can look those up on the web. Instead, I thought I would provide a few results before and after going SLI. This should give people a few ideas of what the card is capable of - with a VERY limited CPU :)

I'll explain how to set up the SLI system with a minimum of fuss.

I will also explore the different modes of SLI - how they affect performance and the pros and cons.

Finally, I am going to swap systems and show you the impact that the rest of the system has on your SLI gaming experience. So, lets go...

2 x Leadtek 7600GT SLI

System Specs

  1. MOBO: DFI LP UT nF4 SLI-DR Expert - Rev. AA0 (11/02/2005 BIOS)
  2. CPU: AMD 939 3700+ San Diego CCBWE 0549WPMW
  3. 234MHzx11=2.574GHz 5:6 2-2-2-5-7 1T - 1.536V - Prime Stable
  4. RAM: G.Skill 1GBFR (2x512) (TCCD) - 2.92V
  5. HSF: Stock AMD Cooler
  6. VPU: 2 X Leadtek 7600GT (SLI)
  7. PSU: Enermax Noisetaker 600W (34A 12V rails)
  8. HDD: WD 300Gb SATA
  9. DVDRW: Pioneer 111d
  10. CASE: Thermaltake Armor - Aluminium
  11. LCD: Viewsonic VA912-4
  12. KBM: Logitech MX3000
  13. OS: Win XP Pro SP2
  14. Chipset driver: 6.86 WHQL
  15. Forceware: 93.71

Benchmarks

3dMark06: 5241 - compare
3dMark05: 10289 - comapre
3dMark03: 22886 - compare
3dMark2001: 30223 - compare
Aquamark3: 93873
Battlefield 2142 Demo:
Avg FPS: 47

Max Clocks

VPU: 605 MEM: 1670

Conclusion

Pretty damn happy :) . No issues with installation. It was a piece of cake. Love the performance in all applications. BF2142 is a favourite and 1280x1024 with eye-candy is very smooth.

Pretty good for $209ea (MSY). I got one on eBay for $180 new. Good card in the "value" segment.

Here is the installation process. I did it on the DFI Expert.

  1. Un-install the nVidia Forceware driver
  2. Choose yes to restart
  3. Turn off PC
  4. Put 7600GT in the second PCIe slot
  5. Place the SLI bridge between the two cards (orientation is unimportant)
  6. Enter the BIOS and enable a 2x8xPCIe lane configuration (across the cards) and save
  7. Enter safe mode.
  8. Use DriverCleaner to clean with "nVidia"
  9. Re-install Forceware drivers
  10. Choose yes to restart
  11. YOU HAVE SLI
  12. Choose to enable the multi-GPU option in the Forceware driver

My system is proving to be very CPU-limited. I was having trouble getting 3d06 to respond to overclocking and optimisations. Then, I OC'd the CPU from 2.55 to 2.64Ghz and saw a +150 3dmarks jump in '06. So, could do with a new, fat CPU, but otherwise All Smiles :thumbup:

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Single 7600GT: Pre SLI-results

Max Clocks

VPU: 608 MEM: 1666

Benchmarks

Benchmarks with no eye candy and everything off except trilinear filterting...

3dMark06 - 3506
3dMark05 - 7001
3dMark03 - 14418
3dMark2001 - 28376
Aquamark3 - 84926
Battlefield 2142 Demo -
Avg FPS: 26

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Leadtek 7600GT PICS

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SLI PICS

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