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Albatron 7600GS AGP
Graphics Card Review - Introduction 2
Gripen 19 Sep 2006
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The AGP 7600GS requires a molex power connector which is not required in the
PCIE version. Another disadvantage is that SLI is not supported. The card has
layouts for GDDR3 memory drawn out on the pcb, so an AGP 7600GT might use the
same pcb.
The card comes with a simple heatsink with a small fan(reckon it's 40mm or
less). It provides totally no air flow to the HSI chip which can run pretty hot
when stressed with 3D apps/games. During testing, I found that the core runs at
57C idle & up to
76C in ATI Tool artifact tester. As my
7600GT does not even exceed 60C under load, I suspected poor cooler contact with
the gpu or a dead fan. The fan was spinning when I checked so I set off to
remove the cooler.
The cooler was very tightly attached to the card and I had to put in some effort
to remove the cooler. Upon removal of the cooler, I found the reason. The cooler
was attached on with a pink thermal pad! No wonder the gpu runs so hot. Although
the thermal pad probably need some time to burn in, I would urge any owners of
this card to consider replacing the thermal pad with thermal grease if you are
experiencing high temperatures.
FYI the card(with thermal pad) hung with a endless beeping noise when I tried
playing DOW: Dark Crusade demo for more than 40 minutes with heat being the most
likely cause. The card was tested in a closed case with two 92mm fans(1 intake,
1 exhaust) at a room temperature of 27C-30C.
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