AXLE GT 430 Classic Review

RHKCommander959 - January 26, 2011
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Testing:

To test video cards at OCC, we run them through a slew of game and artificial benchmarks. Settings are lowered in all the tests except for the 3DMark applications, to provide a more realistic scenario for the low-end cards since higher settings in these games would likely lag very badly. Only low-end cards are compared with each other and all testing methods were the same for each card.

Processor: Intel i7 920 @ 3.60GHz
Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth X58
Memory: Mushkin Redline DDR3 1600MHz 6-8-6-24
Video Card: ASUS EAH6870 DirectCU
Power Supply: Mushkin 800 watt modular power supply
Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 7200.12 1TB SATA
Optical Drive: LG DVD-RW
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Case: Hiper Osiris

Comparison Boards:

Overclocking:

AXLE GT 430 Classic 830/1660/820 MHz

Overclocking was decent for the AXLE GT 430, as the card responded strongly to the speed increases. Software voltage modification doesn't appear to be possible. The memory is only clocked at 700 MHz stock versus the 800-900 MHz speeds that other competitors are at, so performance at stock takes a hit compared to other GT 430s. Higher speeds were possible for the core, although it would freeze randomly during testing, so I lowered it to 830 MHz to make sure it was stable. Memory was near its maximum speed because at 830 MHz it would lock the system up.

Maximum Clock Speeds:

MSI's Kombuster utility was used to test stability and to put a constant load on the GPU for the purposes of testing maximum power draw and temperatures. The stability test was used to find a range of settings that are stable through a 15 minute run at 1920x1200 8xAA. The reported clock speeds are those that proved stable over a 15 minute test at 1920x1200, 8x AA, as well as a run through the benchmarks suite.