top of page
Search
  • Writer's pictureclassic vga

Insane overclocker! PALIT GeForce 7300GT AGP

Updated: Jun 2, 2019

There is a reason why this graphics card is so wanted for the RetroPC computers. Simply because of its incredible value for the 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 access time 1.4ns (in some versions even 1.2ns). The default memory clock is set for 500Mhz but can be easily overclocked to 700Mhz (effective 1400Mhz). The gpu core clock can be also set much higher than default 400Mhz up to 560Mhz. That's exactly same core/mem clock values as GeForce 7600GT.

While it can't reach performance level of 7600GT because of lower amount of rendering units (TMU/ROP) in reality overclocked 7300GT easily beats 7600GS by significant margin.

So let's take a look at this card and its performance below.


 

PALIT GeForce 7300GT AGP is available as Single or Dual slot solution. That kind of design slightly affects the cooling section - dual slot version is bit more efficient temp wise and much safer "overclocker".


For overclocking tool I used very simple nTune applet from Nvidia. Settings can be changed within control panel of the graphics card. 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.

Overclocking GeForce 7300GT results obviously in better performance overall but in this particular set of games the difference is not as big as I expected. The scores are definitely bottlenecked by my relatively weak CPU. But one can expect much better scaling and bigger numbers on faster systems /Athlon 64 X2, Intel Core 2 Duo/ and maybe with different range of games more sensitive to higher memory bandwidth /Half Life2, NFS SE, Call of Duty/.


But how does PALIT compare to regular "classic" version of GeForce 7600GS 256MB DDR2 AGP? Like for example Gigabyte 7600GS. It's clocked only 400/800Mhz but has more powerful pipeline engine.


As you can see, overclocked PALIT GeForce 7300GT is few % faster than higher model in the lineup which is 7600GS. And despite having less rendering pipelines and vertex/pixel shaders easily pulls ahead of the latter.


What about the temperatures and noise when overclocked?


Overclocking doesn't seem to affect temperatures that much compared to default. Only 2-3 degrees more according to my tests and less than 60C under heavy load which is a very respectable result for such an old graphics card. Especially that cooling fan is hardly audible during this process. The card is pulling up to 80W from the whole system and I must say PALIT did really an excellent job at the cooling department to dissipate this amount of heat.


 

Conclusion: This card is especially interesting for those who appreciate quite robust performance for reasonable price and don't afraid to overclock. Additional bonus is very quiet operation and relatively low temperatures under stress. It's perfect fit to any Windows XP or Windows 7 build. However haven't tested in Win98SE yet :)


Feel free to comment or discuss the topic below. For any mistakes found in this post I apologize in advance :-)


For current availability and prices check out the classicvga store here!

http://bit.ly/2HB2JMd

180 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All
bottom of page