Sowhen I foundthisbeefylookinggraphicscarddiscardedby a bunchofold, wornoutseeArtiemonitorsofthelocalrecyclingcenter, I wasprettyexcited.
Afteraskingpermissionfromthestaff, theysaid I couldhaveit, anditwouldturnouttobethefirstoftwoofthesecards I foundinthelastcoupleofmonths, thoughthesecondmorerecentfind I hadtopay £10 for I wasactuallyholdingoff, testingthisdumpfindcarduntil I couldlocate a secondmatchingmodelforSL I purposes.
Butwhen I finallymanagedtotrackonedownthisweekend, itturnedoutthatitdidn't quitefunctionasitshouldcrashingafterinstallingthedrivers.
Atthatpoint, I thoughtwemightaswelljustfirethisoneuponitsownbecauseupuntilthismorningit's stillremaineduntested.
Sowhatisit?
Well, itappearstobe a ZapotecGTX 285 ampadditionWhenitlaunchedinJanuary 2009 itwasthefastestsingleGPU.
Youcouldbuyand a $380 or £315.
Itsatquitereasonablypricedamong a marketthatseemedtobefocusingonJulGPUSolutionsthatweKnowthatdidn't last.
Whilethereferenceversionofthecardfeatured a 648 megahertzcoreclockand 12 42 megahertzmemoryclock, thisamplifiedversionfeaturedspeedsoff 702 and 12 96 megahertz, respectively.
Themostsensiblethingtodo, I feltbeforeanythingelsewastoseeifitworked.
Andtodothat, I stuckitintheriseand 5 1600 systemandruncrisis.
Itmadeperfectsensethatthisshouldbethefirstthingtotry, afterall, inearly 2009 whenthiscardreleasedcrisiswouldhavestillbeen a gototitleforbenchmarkingandreviewsiteseverywhere.
Playingitonthiscardreallyhitmewith a waveofnostalgia, and I couldjustpicture 14 yearoldmesittingtheretryingtorunitonwhat I canguaranteeyouwasmuchweakerhardwarethanthis.
Itwassuch a realisticdepictionofmypastInfact, thatcrisisevencrushedmysystemandsent a nosignalmessagetomymonitorarethememories.
Itwasthenclearastowhythisthingwasthrownoutinthefirstplace, but I betyoujustneeded a bitof a cleantodothat.
I neededtotakeitoutside, buttherewas a bitof a problem.
You'reinthestudiodayaswell.
Graphicscards.
Openingthemupis a verysimpleprocess, butonethatcanmake a lotofdifference.
Thetemperatureandperformance.
Youmayremember a coupleofvideosagohowduststoppedmynewlyacquireddecadeoldPCfromeventurningonon.
Whiletheeffectson a graphicscardmightnotbethesame, hightemperaturesinGamecanleadto a systemcrashorshutdown.
TheGT 200 B chiponthiscardisprettybig, soitwilltake a littlemorethan a P inthiscase, forgoodmeasure, I alsocleanthefanoutwith a canofcompressedair, whichmanagedtoexpel a fewclumpsofdustwiththecarbacktogether.
I wantedtoseeifwecouldoverclockitanyfurtherbeforejumpingintosomegames.
As I'd comeacross a coupleofolderreviewswherebythereviewerhadbumped.
Thisspeedsupevenfurther.
Thiswas a CEhigh, as I couldgetit, butitwasn't tolast.
Andwhen I startedplayingGrandTheftAutofive, thesystemcrashedagain.
Thistime, atleast, I knewthatwastheresultofanunstableoverclock.
So I loweredthingsbackdowntotheiroriginalyetfactorytweakedspeedsandtriedagain.
Becauseoftheageofthiscard, itwasinevitablethatwe'd see a lotofthisthisonDSA.
Moreofthis.
Despitehowcoolitlooks, it's limitedsoftwarewisetoMicrosoftdirects x 10 ap I soitcan't runmanynewgames.
I decidedtotarget 60 framespersecond, loweringtheendgamesettingstotryandhit 60 FBSasoftenas I could.
Andconsidering I wasstartingwithFortnight, I thoughtthismaybe a bitmoredifficultthan I hadinitiallyanticipated.
Tomysurprise, though, thegameactuallyaveraged 60 framespersecond, withthelowestsettingson a 12 80 by 7 23 D resolutionscalingsettingaswell.
Althoughyoucouldprobablyturnthingsup.
A littlebitof 30 framespersecondisbetterforyou, I foundthesesettingsgenerallyworkbestanyway, becausetherewillstillbesomemomentsofslowdown, asyouapproach, say, a builtuparea, orlookover a builtupareafrom a distance.
Whenyougettosaidarea, though, theframeratewillstabilizeandhoveraround 60 to 70 f.
P s.
I wouldthinkthedropsareduetotheonegigabyteoftheRam, whichis, ofcourse, DDRthree, a czwell, whichismuchslowerthanmodernJewDDRfivememory.
I thendecidedtoplay a littlebitmoreoftheoriginalcallofdutyblackops, a gamethat I'verecentlygotbackintoononeofmyfavorinthisSiri's bothsingleandmultiplayeryield a similarresult.
Soifyou'relookingfor a prettytenseandscaryhorrorsurvivalgameandhave a oncetopoftherange D X 10 GPUlikethisone, restassuredyou'llbeabletoplaythison, mostlikelythesequeltothiswithprettydecentsettings.
As I wantedtobesure, I couldshowyouwhatthebestskyrimexperienceon a cardlikethislooklike.
It's a prettybigmap, soexpectperformancechangesdependingonwhereyouare.
But 56 framespersecondwastheaverageovermyonehourplaytimethatconsistedofjustwalkingaroundattackingyards, runningfromguardsandgenerallybeing a nuisancetomostoftheingame n pecesroamingtheworld.
Lookslike I'llbestartingwhat's probablymine.
9/100 playthroughoffthisgameverysoon.
Finally, inGrandTheftAutofive, I hadtoturnthingsdownto 900 p withinnormalsettingsinordertomaintain a closeto 60 f p s experience.
It's a fewyearsoldnow, thisgame, butthatmeansitcontinuestobeplayableon a widerangeofhardwarethatsupportsdirect X 10 10.1 ondirect X 11.
Ifyou'rehappywith a closerto 30 framespersecondexperience, thenyoucouldprobablyturnthingsuptoohigh, though I'd recommendleavingauntyAliasINGandanyoftheadvancedoptionsturnedoffinthegraphicsmenu, aswellasturningtheresolutionupfirstbeforeadjustingtherestofftheoptions.
Sointhisnewlittlesegment, I wanttotalkaboutanybehindthescenesissues I hadthatmaynotnecessarilyapplytoeeveryusedGTX 285 outthere, thatthingsyoumightwanttobeawareoff.
Nonetheless, onething I noticedwastheloud, whiningsoundthatemittedfromitduringhighloadscenarios.
Afterlaunchingthegameinsteam, I wouldjustget a blackscreenandthen I'd havetopresscontroldeletebeforesigningoutofthesystemandsigningbackinagaintoresolvethings.
Asidefromthat, I encounterednootherseriousproblemsexceptthemorerecentcarthat I boughtcrashingwhenthedriverswereinstalled.
Thoughthat's probablyjust a signofanabsolutelyknackeredpieceofhardwarethat's beenrunningin a PCfornearly 10 years, constantly, ratherthananissuethatmightbecommonlyexperienced.
Withthatsaid, I encounterednootherproblemswiththiscard, anditworkedasitshouldthroughoutmygameplayteststoday.
Remember, though a cardlikethisisn't onlylimitedbydirect X 10 butalsoit's onegigabyteofDDRthree V ram.