I knew TNT2s weren't that fast, but...

[Allio]

Powerstrip gives my never-tampered-with TNT2 M64's (yes, I know, it's pathetic 😛) clock speeds as 100mhz core / 110mhz memory, but everywhere I've read says that the default for a TNT2 is 125/150. 100/110 sounds more like a TNT speed to me. I realise that the TNT2 M64 was the lowest of the TNT2 series, but are those clock speeds normal? I'd love to clock them a bit higher, but the cooling on my card is virtually non-existant (crummy heatsink). Any ideas on what I should do?

 

[hans007]

there are 2 kinds of tnt2 m64, but they both get detected as tnt2 m64.

the tnt2 "vanta" is exactly the same chip, just clocked at 100/110.

 

[holdencommodore]

When I had a TNT2 M64, it was clocked a 125/125. I managed to overclock it to 160/150. I think you must have a Vanta. You will be better to overclock the memory of the card, you'll probably be able to push the core to around 130MHz.

Cheers

 

[Allio]

Ah, cheers. I got this card off a friend and was just told that it was a 'TNT2'. It being a Vanta would explain a few things. Thank you for your quick replies 🙂

 

[holdencommodore]

Yeah, mine says "TNT2 Series". You'd never know it was a M64, unless you looked really carefully at the memory or took the HSF off.

Cheers

 

[Brian48]

The Vanta or m64 was the "MX" of the TNT2 series. A real POS, but the regular TNT2, especially the TNT2u, was/is still not a bad card. They lack a lot of today's features, but they scaled very nicely with really fast processors.

 

[Allio]

Makes me want to get one of those sparkly new geforce 4s even more :frown:

well, i o/ced it a little and got about 15 extra fps in a cs timerefresh... not bad for free performance.
i'll try more later. I'm not terribly scared about sending this card up in flames if you know what I mean 😉 gives me an excuse to replace it.

 

[The_Lurker]

The TNT2 Vanta was clocked lower, whereas the M64 was clocked lower and only had a 64-bit memory bus whereas the normal TNt2's use 128-bit memory bus.

 

[Allio]

currently running pretty stable @ 130/145 😀

not a single artifact or crash so far. I'll try 130/150 but already i'm waaaay into the red :Q

 

[hans007]

the vanta and the tnt2 m64 are exactly the same chip. the vanta might have been lower yield, MAYBE. vantas usually didnt come with heatsinks, thus the lower clock speeds.

 

[spanky]

if possible, please get a new video card. u owe it to yourself 😉

 

[Allio]

hans: by my o/cing results I'd have to agree with you 🙂

spanky: don't have to tell ME twice... i'm sick of running all my games in 640x480 or 800x600 🙁 but there's other stuff my comp needs too, and possibly more, like a sound card. guess i'll just start saving 😛

 

[spanky]

sblive could be had for $25 over in fs/ft...

at least get a gts pro... which runs in the neighborhood of $50 in FS/FT...

 

[holdencommodore]

I think that you've done really well to get that much o/c out of a Vanta. If you have a old 486 CPU fan, you could try screwing it into the heatsink. This is what I've done on my MX200, and I've totally maxed out the coolbits utility in the nVidia drivers. You could even cut up a old 486 heatsink and stick them to the memory chips!

If you want a low cost soundcard, you could go for a card with the C-media 8738 chip. They are much better then what the price implies!

Have fun! 🙂

Cheers

 

[Allio]

142/158 with no problems whatsoever... i'm quite impressed with that result for a card with a heatsink about 2 mm thick. It raised my 3dmark 2001 result at default settings from 591 to 873, lol. I do have a few 486 fans... maybe I'll try sticking one on and cranking the speed up to cover that last 3 mm of o/c bar 😀

i'd kill for a gts pro, but they're still incredibly expensive here in NZ - $200 at least when you can get a mx 420/440 for less than that. I'll have a looksee. thanks for all your suggestions guys 🙂

 

[holdencommodore]

I know what you mean about the prices - i'm from Australia, and the GTS is still quite expensive.

You could possibly do better with a GF4 MX440 card. They offer about GTS speeds, but cost less (at least in Australia they do). I've seen the MX440 for around $150AUD

Cheers