Leadtek WinFast PX7600 GT TDH

Overclocking:

We overclocked Leadtek's WinFast PX7600 GT TDH using NVIDIA's coolbits registry hack. This should give an indication of how well Leadtek's PX7600 GT TDH overclocks, but please bear in mind that your own mileage may vary. We cannot guarantee that manufacturers aren't sending us samples that overclock particularly well.

The stock clocks for Leadtek's 7600 GT are 560/1400MHz. We were able to overclock it to 607/1544MHz without any problems with stability - that is an 8% core speed increase and a 10% memory clock increase. These clock speeds are higher than the default frequencies on BFG Tech's GeForce 7600 GT OC and we found that it outperformed the BFG Tech card at the higher frequencies as you would expect.

Value:

Scan is selling Leadtek's PX7600 GT TDH for £121.01 including VAT - based on the prices of other GeForce 7600 GT's sold at Scan, the price seems to be pretty competitive, especially when you factor in that Leadtek has added an improved cooling solution. BFG Tech's GeForce 7600 GT OC sells for £129.95 including VAT on Dabs. However, this card comes with the reasonably noisy reference cooler. On the other hand, ATI's partners are selling the Radeon X1800GTO for anywhere from £125 including VAT - if the cooling solution is anything like the one on the ATI reference design (which is usually the case), it'll be pretty noisy.

Final Thoughts...

Leadtek's WinFast PX7600 GT TDH performs just like any other GeForce 7600 GT clocked at the reference clock speeds. However, Leadtek has changed the cooling solution for something a bit more substantial. The cooling solution is quiet and works well - it's much better than the reference cooler, in our opinion.

Both the ATI Radeon X1800GTO and BFG Tech's GeForce 7600 GT OC were both very loud during gameplay, whereas Leadtek's PX7600 GT TDH remained reasonably quiet. To us, this is as important as higher detail gameplay on a mid-range card, and when the graphical advantages are small, we would opt for the quieter card and overclock it slightly to attain the same gaming experience on-screen.

One downside to Leadtek's card is that it doesn't feature a HDCP crypto-ROM, but then we are pretty sure that there are no HDCP complaint GeForce 7600 GT's on the market at the moment. The lack of a second DVI-to-VGA converter could be considered an oversight - it may not be a big issue for anyone who has a pair of digital flat panels, but it could be a problem for anyone else.

Aside from the modest clock speed differences, the only reason to opt for BFG Tech's GeForce 7600 GT OC over Leadtek's is the true lifetime warranty that BFG Tech bundles with all of its video cards. If you consider a warranty longer than two years to be an important factor, it could sway your purchasing decision away from Leadtek's card. If the warranty isn't an issue, there is no reason not to add Leadtek's WinFast PX7600 GT TDH to your short list.