Overclocking the ASUS V3400 TNT and results of the newest drivers/bios

The new ASUS V3400TNT Tweak tool v1.0b BETA (image - Download) gives a simple way to overclock the V3400TNT. I made a couple of benchmark runs to see what increase you can get with overclocking (Systeminfo):

At first, I use the 3DMark 99 Benchmark, that allows a detailed interpretation of the results:

On the left side, you can see the results Iīve made with drivers v1.01 and Biosverion 2.04.14. Then the results of drivers v1.02 and Bios 2.04.17 follows. After that, the fast memory access setting is used and at the end I overclock the card and also use the fast memory access setting. The card is driven with 98 MHz Chipclock and 118 MHz memclock here - The 'Test settings' button shows me that there are no higher values possible without errors.

The reults show that the memory-performance was decreased with the v1.02 driver release. With setting the fast memory access setting, you can enable the faster settting of the previous driver again. The results made with overclocking show you a increase of the values, but thereīs the risk of an instable system. But values of 95/115 should work stable for longer times.

Another testrun was made with Quake2 v3.20 in 800x600:

You can see a increase of the values as in 3DMark 99 runs. Crusher and Massive1 are Quake2 Timedemos that were saved during a Quake2 multipleayer deathmatch. The big action in these timedemos needs more CPU/3D card power. So you have a smaller increase at all - but 3fps in massive1 are clear!

So, what can you get through overclocking? One thing is that you know that you get the best performance from your system. The increase is not very high but: If the performance is available without the risk of an isntable system, you should use it -  If you doesnīt overdo it!
If you donīt care of these few fps, you can also use the normal settings that offer enough performance. The best values for Overclocking are: 95 MHz TNT clock, 115 MHz MEMclock and the fast Memory timings - but donīt expect to see any wonders!

Note 09/12/99: With Powerstrip you can get Overclock the card higher than 98/118. I didnīt test yet if this does result in higher results. It seems that the ASUS tewak tool uses other memory timings than Powerstrip. There was also the overall score missing in the 3DMARK99 results.

RIVA Station 1998 - Lars Weinand