nVidia GeForce 7600 GT 256 MB GDDR3 - Overclocking

As you know from my last entry i've successfully run some games on my "Frankenstein's Monster" DX9 Gaming Set, which contains nVidia GeForce 7600 GT GPU. It's time to check it's possibilities.
First thing i need to do is to download software, which will allow me to overclock my GPU. First i tried RivaTuner, but with many tries i just coudn't make it work with my GPU - software is unnable to detect my GPU driver.

Next step? MSI Afterburner. I've downloaded the program and after a short while i was able to run it without any problems. I'm using version 4.5.0, which is my favourite stable version.

Default settings for this GPU are:
Core Clock - 560 MHz
Memory Clock - 700 MHz

First i'm gonna run 3DMark05 on basic settings (resolution 1280x720) and check the points, to have something to compare to. Then i'm goona try to overclock Core and Memory by 10 MHz each ans check how high can i go. The starting level of points can be seen on the screen below.

Overclocking

Level 1
Core Clock - 570 MHz
Memory Clock - 710 MHz

Level 2
Core Clock - 580 MHz
Memory Clock - 720 MHz

Level 3
Core Clock - 590 MHz
Memory Clock - 730 MHz

Level 4
Core Clock - 600 MHz
Memory Clock - 740 MHz

Here i got my first problems - during second game i had Direct3D error, saying something about "buffer read error". I tried to run benchmark one more time and it started, but GPU Driver lowered Core Clock to stock 560 MHz. After a reset i tried to get those numbers again and it started normally, but this time i had an error which says, that device was lost:

I just think that around 590 MHz is probably the highest 7600 GT Core can do. I'll try one more time with 595 MHz to check the highest possible clock settings.

Core Clock - 595 MHz
Memory Clock - 740 MHz

Level 5
Core Clock - 595 MHz
Memory Clock - 750 MHz

Level 6
Core Clock - 595 MHz
Memory Clock - 760 MHz

Level 7
Core Clock - 595 MHz
Memory Clock - 770 MHz

Level 8
Core Clock - 595 MHz
Memory Clock - 780 MHz

Level 9
Core Clock - 595 MHz
Memory Clock - 790 MHz

After atrying to test Memory at 800 MHz GPU Driver set the Core back to stock 540 MHz, i tried once again (after restart) with Core on 595 MHz and Memory on 790 MHz. Results were the same as the first time. Looks like 595 /790 MHz is the highest i can get out of 7600 GT without changing the stock cooler.


Summary

I managed to overclock Core up by 6,25 % and Memory up by 12,85 %. The overall  3DMark05 score raised by 495 point (7,94 %). Looks like not so much, but taking it to games it's gonna make 65 FPS out of 60 FPS.

In reality improvement was a bit different. In CS:GO for example i had 60 fps, and now i am achieveing 75. It's 25% of improvement! On the other hand in Mirror's Edge i had 23 FPS, after OC it's 25 so it's only 8,7% of improvement. Nonetheless i have improvement and i am really happy about it.

Tomorrow i'm going to test 7600 GT with Pentagram Freezone GPU Cooler with copper head and bigger fan, maybe i can get a little more out of that card. Check back tomorrow!