|
Leadtek WinFast A250 Ultra TD
|
Posted: May 27, 2002
Written by: Davey McWatters
Leadtek WinFast A250 Ultra TD
Installation
Installation of the card was as easy and any graphics card. One thing you must remember is that GeForce4 Ti4600 based cards are relatively large. However, you should have no trouble fitting the card in most mid size PC cases. Leadtek includes a CD with their utilities like WinFox and appropriate drivers for the card. I would, however, recommend you to go on the Internet and download the latest drivers for the card.
It is usually best to remove any previous video card drivers from the system before installing new once. This is especially true when changing GPU manufacturers such as ATi to nVidia. Most users choose to install nVidia Detonator drivers simply because they perform the best in most cases. Unless you need support for a specific function only supported in the manufacturer drivers, you are most likely better off downloading drivers from nVidia’s site at http://www.nvidia.com.
Software
Like with all other Leadtek graphics cards they bundle WinFox along with their drivers. WinFox allows you to change your screen resolution, display properties, and access a few different control panels. Some of the most useful features of this utility are the overclocking utility and the VGA bios flash utility.
Inside the advanced tools area of WinFox you will notice several different things. Many of which you will probably not need to use. The most useful feature is the overclocking utility so we will discuss it in more detail later. The other utilities allow you to adjust your colors and adjust the image on your monitor. They also include a screen saver if you are the type of person that likes to use screen savers. One of the weirdest features is the Tea Break Utility. It lets you select the amount of hours you wish to work before taking a break. As soon as the timer runs out up pops a little message telling you it’s time to take a break. Many people will probably never even find a use for this little tool, but it’s there if you need it.
Most manufacturers these days are including their own overclocking utilities with video cards. It almost looks like they are encouraging you to overclock. Leadtek includes a utility that is straightforward to use. It allows you to adjust both the core and memory clock speeds of the card. I actually prefer to use coolbits for my overclocking. It does the same job and you don’t have to look at all the blinding colors :P You may choose to use either, they do the exact same thing.
If you’re graphics card is malfunctioning or causing you problems in general a BIOS update may be your only hope to remedy the problem. Leadtek has included a utility to make flashing your VGA BIOS from Windows simple. It allows you to both save your current bios and flash to a new version. Keep in mind, a bad flash can render your video card useless, so always be careful when flashing any type of BIOS.
Overclocking
By the looks of the card, it appears that Leadtek has designed this card to be a strong overclocker. With the addition of the extra large heatsink that covers not only the core but also the RAM chips and two fans to cool both the core and memory sufficiently. The truth to the matter is, it overclocks well, no doubt about that. However, our card doesn’t overclock that much better than other GeForce4 Ti4600 based cards that don’t have RAM sinks.
We were able to get our cards core to 320Mhz and the RAM to 735Mhz while still being stable. As you can tell, it is a decent overclock but many other available GeForce4 Ti4600 cards can overclock well. With that said, there isn’t a overclocker’s dream card available so to speak, as they all overclock nearly the same.
Next Page
|
|