Leadtek WinFast GeForce 256 DDR Revision B

Overclocking

When our eyes first met the huge heatsink on the WinFast GeForce 256 DDR Revision B, our minds instantly thought of overclocking. Having such a large heatsink and efficient fan, we suspected that the card could go high, and Revision B did not disappoint. After significant testing, the card was able to reach the very high core speed of 160 MHz, a speed only matched by the Creative Labs 3D Blaster Annihilator Pro. Even at this high speed of 40 MHz above stock, the heatsink stayed relatively cool and the processor completely stable. Any attempts to raise the core speed further resulted in artifacts on the screen. As stated earlier, it seems that the oversized heatsink considerably diminishes the heat stress placed on a processor at high speeds. Instead, the limiting factor found in the WinFast GeForce 256 DDR Revision B is most likely the core quality. As the purity of the silicon sheets used to make the processors vary, so do the maximum overclocked speed. There is no telling how far your card can go, but at least you can rest assured that heat is not going to play a very significant role.

We have seen the Infineon SGRAM chips used vary in overclocked speed from 326 MHz to the 348 MHz reached by the the WinFast GeForce 256 DDR Revision B. The overclockability of the RAM chips is almost completely dependent on chip purity and the variations in overclocked speeds shows this fact. The 348 MHz was reached by overclocking the 166 MHz rated chips to 174 MHz on each half clock cycle, resulting in an actual speed of 174 MHz x 2, or 348 MHz.

At a maximum core speed of 160 MHz and memory clock speed of 348 MHz, the WinFast GeForce 256 DDR Revision B was able to tie for the fastest core speed and surpassed the pervious high memory clock speed of 345 MHz. While individual results are sure to vary, rest assured that the heatsink on Revision B will leave you with the best stock heatsink seen on any GeForce cards yet.