Comparison of OCed 8600M GT DDR2 vs DDR3 with all other things kept equal

Having had my faulty 8600M GT DDR3 replaced by the inferior DDR2 card I thought I would push it to the limit and see how it fared vs the DDR3 card. Thought it would be interesting to see just what the differences were between the two.

With laptop in my sig and processor clocked at 3.15ghz with both cards I achieved:

5818 points with DDR3 (565/1400/900) Load temps 75C (IC diamond thermal paste used) (stock clocks - 450/900/700)
4975 points with DDR2 (580/1425/543) Load temps were 76C after 10mins ATI tool (whatever paste repair centre used) (stock clocks - 475/950/400)

Both cards were pushed to their absolute maximum with the exception of the shader on the DDR2 card as 1425 is the max in rivatuner. Possible means 5100 is possible on the DDR2 card.

Still shows a BIG difference between cards using DDR2 vs DDR3 memory. Even though this DDR2 card managed a pretty decent memory OC for DDR2 memory it still sucked compared with the other card.

IF GIVEN THE CHOICE ALWAYS GET DDR3!

As for mine sending it back lol

 

I understand your upset....I wonder why companies NEVER put DDR3 version by mistake, when replacing DDR2 GPU... hmmm. Real mistakes don't work just one way....

 

We have the same thoughts. LOL.
I am so upset with DDR2 GPU. It performance like been cut-down about 30% compared to the DDR3 version.

 

Interesting results...

DDR2 on the mid/high range GPUs is the bottleneck.

 

Exacly, I got 9650m GT witch is supposed to be 9600m GT on steroids, but still Asus decided to handicap it with DDR2 memory...cmon ASUS ...?What the hell?

 

That really sucks dude...

9650GT is quite powerful with its 32 unified shaders. DDR2 is THE bottleneck in your case.

 

Yeah, well at least I still can play everything at least near to very high - expect for Crysis, but that game is boring so there's nothing missed
I might OC my 9650m GT someday, I wonder how high it could go, currently I get 72-73 in stress

 

You have quite low temperature if you said the max temperature you get while stressing it is 72C-73C using ATItool.
But for real games play is different. You need to take note of that.
Because the processor is giving out heat too when you high-end games. So, your laptop environment will become hotter than usual. Everything will be affected(GPU, HDD and so on).

I will say you should try OC. But just be careful everytime.
Like mine, I have OC a lot(20-30%) as you see on my signature. The max temperature I got with no OC is 70-71C, after OC, it is 74-76C. It is just a little different in temperature. However, I do not plan to OC too extreme. Because sometime is not the temperature increase and caused GPU failure, it is the artifacting and unstable too(when crazy OC).

Undervolt CPU does help a lot too. It lowers the temperature of your CPU and your laptop environment together. So, the GPU got lower temperature too.
Undervolt GPU does help a lot as well. But it is very dangerous. OC is not very dangerous.

 

DarkSilver - Why do you think it's potentially dangerous to undervolt a GPU, assuming no artifacts present. e.g. My 9800m GS currently undervolted to 0.95v and I've tested it for stability with OCCT, Furmark, and AtiTool to make sure I don't get any artifacts. In fact, I am able to push this card to 600/1500/800 with that voltage and no artifacts for 25 minutes with ATITool.

 

Well, because undervolt of GPU means flashing the BIOS of the GPU.
It is considered as very dangerous for newbies. Faulty flashing or unlucky can cause the GPU to death.
I do plan to undervolt my GPU before. But when I see my GPU max temperature is only 7XC. So, I just leave it there and avoid risk of bad flashing.

 

Oh, I agree about flashing the GPU BIOS to wrong values, but I double check everything before flashing the GPU to certain clocks/voltages.

In your sig, I see your memory is at 470mhz. Can't you push beyond 500mhz?

 

hehe I used to overclock my 8600mGT in my dell vostro like that.
Seriously, I gained up to 20% more FPS in game(COD4) was totally worth it! I would always do it again!

 

I think the DDR2 9650M GT can get to over 700mhz on the core and score nearly 6000 in 3dmark06 if you can push it to the max. Considering the 8600M GT DDR2 can reach 5000 or just over if I were to push the shaders 6000 should be within your grasp. The 9650M GT DDR2 card is the only DDR2 card I would accept as an upgrade to the 8600M GT DDR3 haha

Asus at first tried to deny that they had put a different GPU in as a replacement. When I tried to tell him about the memory differences in the email the service rep told me they didn't touch the ram modules rofl. I had to email back and state very clearly what I meant as in GPU ram along with usage of plenty of bold font. Apparently he is looking into it with the repair centre.....2 weeks later I might have news who knows........

 

This is why I'm going to get a laptop with a GDDR3 GTX 260M. My DDR2 3650 just can't play Crysis on high.

 

I will be waiting for the 5XXX Ati cards. Maybe 6XXX until I get a new notebook

 

Iam thinking vidock once they can power the laptop lcd

 

Because we have some users here pushing his Nvidia GF 9500M GS DDR2's Memory Clock to 500Mhz from 400MHz. What he gained after a few days of happiness is a dead card. However, some of them are OK and live happily.
So, I set my Memory Clock at 470Mhz, just in case of anything stupid happen.

 

Back when I had my Vostro 1500 w/ DDR2, it always bothered me that my heaviest overclock maxed at 525 on the memory, and that still wasn't even near what the DDR3 version had at stock.

My e-peen was impotent.

 

I wonder you guys push the Memory Clock so much(about 30%) and not worrying about it?
I mean it is safe and does your GPU(you mentioned) still survive(please state the time)?

 

The biggest risk with the memory clock is the lack of a temperature sensor, unlike the core clock of the GPU. I share with you the same general question of how many of the defective cards were actually overclocked for a while. I oveclocked mine for a short period, but the real bonuses were so meager that I stopped. Luckily my card still works.

 

I also didn't even know what the heck an artifact was back then. I that all of those yellow things in ATiTool were a part of the test. And believe me, there were a lot of them.

I sold it to my ex-girlfriend (not a gamer), and it hasn't died yet.