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In the Forums... |
Posted: October 10, 1999 Written by: Dan "Tweak Monkey" Kennedy Estimated Retail Price: $218 US from Price Watch Overclocking One of the benefits of using a Voodoo3 is the overclocking ability. The Voodoo3 2000 was probably the best for this, but the 3000 was pretty good too. How about the 3500? Well, I really didn't even want to overclock this card. Not only because it's so expensive but also because the card is extremely hot at its default clock speed of 183 MHz. Even the TV Tuner is hot enough to literally burn your hand if you grab onto it while it's operating. When I first plugged this baby in, my whole case heated up. I think 3dfx definitely should have put a fan on this card. For this speed, a heatsink does not seem to do the job. Okay, on to the overclocking! I do not recommend that you overclock this card because of the reasons I mentioned above! I tried 200 MHz first, assuming that since the Voodoo3 2000 can usually survive a 25% or so clock speed increase, the Voodoo3 3500 could reach less than 10%. The card crashed immediately after entering Windows. So I tried 190 MHz, a 4% clock speed increase. Most programs ran without problems, but Quake 2, Q3Test, and Unreal Tournament all crashed immediately after starting up. If you can't increase the speed by 7 MHz without a crash, you shouldn't overclock the card; end of story. Conclusion As a reviewer, I have to evaluate a product from a consumer's view. Well, if I paid for the Voodoo3 3500 TV, I would probably be pretty happy. The performance and features are definitely incredible, and I'm a sucker for TV and FM. My biggest complaint is that the card runs too hot. If 3dfx would have spent a few more bucks and put a fan on it, the card would have been more stable and overclockable. I guess I can always try adding The Card Cooler or something similar to cool the card, but like I said... it should have been included. And I really wish an antenna was included for the FM. I had to dig around in the garage looking for some spare cable to make my own. [+] Good
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