LOSTCIRCUITS

Software Bundle

The software bundle is not overwhelming, aside from the CaliforniaGraphics version of HalfLifeII, Sapphire bundles CyberLink's PowerDVD XP4.0 suite, the Redline overclocking utility and the obligatory driver CD. With respect to the latter, having the drivers in one of the most recent versions at hand is great but keep in mind that the shelf life of the one or the other box will go well beyond one or even two or three driver release versions. The Catalyst version included on the CD was 3.9, which is arguably one of the newer versions, on the other hand, there has been a whole slew of newer versions released since, starting from the 3.10 version to an entirely new fourth generation release with the 4.2 revision as the most current. We were using the 4.1 Catalyst driver suite for all benchmarks.

Redline

Bundled with the Sapphire RADEON 9600XT is the RedLine Tweakutility built by INFormal Software. Redline is not a shareware and requires a registration key provided on the CD sleeve. Installation of Redline adds a tab to the taskbar that will pull-up on right-click and either get to some shortcuts or else open a configuration screen.

           

Above: Software Bundle Overview --- Right-Click on the icon in the tray to pull-up the redline utility, with a listing of the different supported games and benchmarks. Additional configuration can be done after opening the utility with separate tabs for OpenGL and D3D.

      

Below: The different games can also be selected within the "Profiles" menu. --- A separate overclocking menu allows adjustment of core and memory speed on either a global or else a "by game" basis, in this case, we were using the UnrealTournament Benchmark.exe for selective overclocking --- The last tab opens a system information menu to display the graphics and system details.

       

Selecting e.g. 3DMark2001SE in the Profiles menu marginally increased the performance with the emphasis being on marginally. Interestingly, only the scores that are weighed for the benchmark results, that is, the games, showed a small difference in results, whereas the other scores remained unaltered.

Redline or not redline, that is here the question! The differences were consistent over several runs. One issue we found somewhat confusing was the fact that the same term applies to several different functions, for example, there is a "Game Utility" menu and there is a "Game Utility box" within the Overclocking menu. The latter is the one into which one needs to right-click in order to specify any given game or benchmark for selective "by game overclocking". What this means is that under standard operating conditions, the RADEON can be run or even underclocked and only for specific applications will the overclocking utility kick in. With the exception of the "by game overclocking", RedLine is very similar to the standard ATI control panel, including the overclocking utility but it is still an interesting addition to the bundle.

TombRaider Angel Of Darkness

With respect to gaming, Sapphire bundles TombRaider Angel Of Darkness, not the visually most appealing game in the world but a definite time waster which delayed the posting of this review by at least one day...

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