iXBT Labs - Computer Hardware in Detail Affiliates      Advertise
		HOME  REVIEWS All categories  NEWS

ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti4200 OTES, ASUS V8420S Video Cards Review Tweet Contents Peculiarities of the ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti4200 OTES and ASUS V8420S video cards  Testbeds, test tools, 2D quality  Information on performance of video cards of the GeForce4 Ti 4200 class  Conclusion It's still far from the launch of so long-awaited and revolutionary NVIDIA's NV30, that is why card makers who use processors from this Californian company have to look for other ways of increasing the demand for their products based on the NV25 chips, including both expensive GeForce4 Ti 4600 based solutions and widely popular Ti 4200 ones. As you know, the intermediate version of Ti 4400 left the stage, and production of such cards and chips was ceased.  The Ti4200 based solutions poured onto the store shelves in large quantities, and only very small or faithful to ATI firms didn't bring into production. In such conditions even brand-name companies are in desperate straits because of the hard competition, as there are lot of companies that offer almost copies of the reference cards at much smaller prices. And one of the ways to attract attentions of customers is to use something unusual. The first thing that the manufacturers did was usage of the faster memory. Many card makers liked the 3.3ns memory which is currently used at higher frequencies. We have already examined several such cards.  You can get thorough information on the Ti 4200 (as well as on the whole GeForce4 Ti line) from our reviews devoted to the GeForce4 Ti cards.    Theoretical and analytical videocard reviews, containing functional analysis of NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti GPU: NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti review MSI GF4Ti4600 on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti - concerns anisotropic filtering in the 3DMark2001 SE, and new Advanced Pixel Shader Test from this packet. Leadtek WinFast GeForce4 Ti 4600 on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4600 - tests based on the Vulpine GLMark with anisotropy enabled. Gainward PowerPack GeForce4 Ultra/700XP and Ultra/750XP Golden Sample on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4400/4600 - Codecult Code Creatures and Novalogic Comanche4 Benchmark. Chaintech A-GF61 SE on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4600 - dependence of the performance on a CPU speed (AMD Athlon 750, 1000 MHz, Athlon XP 1250, 1666 MHz; in Serious Sam II, Return to Castle Wolfenstein). Creative 3D Blaster GeForce4 Ti 4400 on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4400 - dependence of the performance on a CPU speed (Intel Pentium III 1000, Pentium 4 2000, 2200 MHz; in Serious Sam II, Return to Castle Wolfenstein). ASUS V8440 and V8460 on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4400 and 4600 - dependence of the performance on a CPU speed (Intel Pentium III 1000, Pentium 4 2000, 2200 MHz, AMD Athlon 750, 1000 MHz, Athlon XP 1250, 1666 MHz; in 3DMark2001 SE). ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4400 - AA operation in the 3DMark2001 SE. Palit Daytona GeForce4 Ti 4600 - operation of anisotropy on different platforms based on the 3DMark2001 SE (Game1, Game2). Joytech Apollo Bloody Monster II GeForce4 Ti 4600 - examination of anisotropy on different platforms on the 3DMark2001 SE (Game3, Game4). S/U/M/A/ Platinum GeForce4 Ti 4400 DVI and GeForce4 Ti 4600 SE - examination of anti-aliasing on different platforms in 3DMark2001 SE (Game1, Game2). Triplex Millennium Silver GeForce Ti 4600 - examination of anti-aliasing on different platforms in 3DMark2001 SE (Game3, Game4). Leadtek WinFast A250LE 64 MBytes and Gainward Powerpack Ultra/650XP 128 MBytes on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 S/U/M/A/ Platinum GeForce4 Ti 4200 64 MBytes, GeForce4 Ti 4200 SE 64 MBytes, GeForce4 Ti 4200 SE 128 MBytes - examination of anisotropy in Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Serious Sam: The Second Encounter. S/U/M/A/ Platinum GeForce4 Ti 4200 64 MBytes, 4200SE 64 MBytes and 4200SE 128 MBytes - examination of anisotropy in 3DMark2001 SE, RtCW, Serious Sam: TSE. Sparkle GeForce4 Ti 4400 and GeForce4 Ti 4600 cards Albatron GeForce4 Ti 4200 128MB, Sparkle GeForce4 Ti 4200 128MB and Gainward Powerpack Ultra/650XP GS 64MB on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 - analyses of the Nvidia's quick anisotropy under the 30.* drivers in 3DMark2001SE.  Galaxy 3G Graphic GeForce4 Ti 4200 64MB, MSI GF4Ti4200 VIVO 64MB, Triplex Millennium Silver GeForce4 Ti 4200 64MB on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 - operation of VIVO on such cards of the GeForce4 family, and performance in Unreal Tournament 2003 DEMO final release  One of the ways to draw attention to the improved cards on the GeForce4 Ti 4200 is usage of the PCB from Ti 4600. We have already studied such cards from S/U/M/A/ and Albatron, as well as from ASUSTeK. Today we will take a look at one more such solution.  The developers from ABIT have erected a really unique construction...  Cards ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti4200 OTES  ASUS V8420S 128MB    ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti4200 OTES  The card has AGP x2/x4 interface, 64 MB DDR SDRAM located in 8 chips on both PCB sides.  The card comes with Hynix memory of 3.6ns access time which corresponds to 275 (550) MHz. The GPU works at 275 MHz which is also an increased frequency of the Ti 4200. This is in fact a 64MB version of the Ti 4400.  ASUS V8420S 128MB  The card has AGP x2/x4 interface, 128 MB DDR SDRAM located in 8 chips on both PCB sides.  The card comes with Samsung memory of 3.3ns access time which corresponds to 300 (600) MHz, but the memory is working at 275 (550) MHz. The GPU runs at 260 MHz. A similar card was described already in the review of the GeForce4 Ti Deluxe line of ASUS. But at that time it was a redesigned PCB, but now... see below.    Comparison with the reference design, front view  ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti4200 OTES  Reference card NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200  ASUS V8420S 128MB  Reference card NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4600    Comparison with the reference design, back view ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti4200 OTES  Reference card NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200  ASUS V8420S 128MB  Reference card NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4600    The ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti4200 OTES has a very intriguing design, though the PCS is virtually built on the reference one. Only the VGA's place is taken by a tubular radiator.  This card takes place in the main unit dedicated for two slots. The card has a bracket twice wider than a usual one:  The d-Sub and TV-out are laid out on the daughter card, and the connectors are taken to the "second" bracket:  The daughter card is connected to the main board with such long pins:  I must say that 2D quality is not affected by such construction, if you have a good cable and a high-quality monitor.  Let's take off this bulky cooler  and have a more careful look at it. And remove the chip as well:  The base of the copper heatsink is well polished:  The principle of operation of such complicated device is quite simple: the chip heats up the heatsink base which is soldered to a tube with certain liquid:  When heated, the liquid evaporates, and its vapor carries heat to the tubular radiator on the fan's left. This fan is cooled down with a strong air flow created with a turbine-like fan with the liquid condensing in the tube, and the process starts anew.  Thus, the cooling system is located not above the chip but aside. An air flow carries out the heat outside the system unit which is then exhausted through a hole in the lower part of the bracket. Hence the name of OTES: Outside Thermal Exhaust System.  Such a complicated construction needs good fastening:  Well, it is attached with 4 bolts and some kind of a hook on the back. The heatsink base is firmly pressed to the chip and the heatsink is fixed in a definite position.  I decided to try such a cooling method and measured the chip's temperature with an external thermo sensor which is traditionally delivered with certain boards:  The ASUS's board is based on the PCB from Ti 4600 and differs from earlier released solutions from ASUS in its yellow color. Such boards are based on the 8-layer design which makes them very stable at high frequencies.  And now we are turning to the cooling devices:

ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti4200 OTES
As I explained above, the turbine-like fan creates a strong air flow which passes through the tubular heatsink. The flow is created by a high-speed fan rotating at 7200 rpm. The noise level of such system resembles that of the ThermalTake Volcano 6Cu+. This is an unpleasant side of this device though the developers claimed reduced noiseness.
ASUS V8420S 128MB
Such a device could be seen a lot of times before. Besides, the ASUS V8420 Deluxe card had the same design of the cooler. This has both an attractive exterior and a high performance level due to a large cooling area.

ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti4200 OTES
Here we can find a user manual, a CD with drivers and utilities (including WinDVD), adapters and extenders for TV-out (an effective semitransparent design), DVI-to-d-Sub adapter.
ASUS V8420S 128MB
2(!) user manuals, CD with drivers and utilities, ASUS DVD, 3 complete games and 6 demo versions, S-Video-to-RCA adapter, DVI-to-d-Sub adapter.

ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti4200 OTES
Such a luxurious card is put in such a poor box! It seems that the designers have spent all their efforts on developing the card.
ASUS V8420S 128MB
ASUS's typical box with a yellow stripe. Note that it informs about 25% increase in frequency, though  275 (550) MHz for memory and 260 MHz for chip differ from 250 MHz certainly not by 25% :-). By the way, 550 is written in really large figures.

That's all about peculiarities of the cards.

Overclocking

Note: 

• in course of overclocking you must provide additional cooling, in particular, for the card (first of all, for its memory):

 



• overclocking depends on a definite sample, and you shouldn't generalize the results of one card to all video cards of this mark or series. The overclocking results are not the obligatory characteristics of a video card.

Test system and drivers

Testbeds: 

• Pentium 4 2530 MHz based computer: 
• Intel Pentium 4 2530 MHz; 
• ASUS P4T533 (i850E) mainboard; 
• 512 MB 32bit RDRAM PC4200; 
• Seagate Barracuda IV 40GB; 
• Windows XP. 
• Athlon XP 2000+ based computer: 
• AMD Athlon XP 2000+ (1666 MHz); 
• Soltek 75DRV5 (VIA KT333); 
• 512 MB DDR SDRAM PC2700; 
• Seagate Barracuda IV 40GB. 

In the tests we used NVIDIA's drivers of v40.41. VSync was off, S3TC was off in the applications. 

Test results

Before we start examining 2D quality I should say that there is no a complete technique of objective estimation of this parameter because: 

1. Almost all modern 3D accelerators can have 2D quality much dependent on a certain sample, and it's impossible to trace all cards; 
2. 2D quality depends not only on a video card, but also on a monitor and a cable; 
3. Besides, certain monitors do not get along with certain video cards. 

The OTES is very efficient, but its noise level might outweigh its advantages. 

Test results: information from the 3Digest

Such cards were tested infinite number of times and their scores and diagrams can be found in our 3Digest. Note that the ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti4200 OTES was as fast as the GeForce4 Ti 4400 though the ABIT had 64MB instead of 128. 

For the performance estimation we used: 

• Return to Castle Wolfenstein (MultiPlayer) (id Software/Activision) - OpenGL, multitexturing, Checkpoint-demo, test settings - maximum, S3TC OFF, the configurations can be downloaded from here

 
• Serious Sam: The Second Encounter v.1.05 (Croteam/GodGames) - OpenGL, multitexturing, Grand Cathedral demo, test settings: quality, S3TC OFF 

 
• Comanche4 Benchmark Demo (NovaLogic) - Direct3D, Shaders, Hardware T&L, Dot3, cube texturing, highest quality

 
• Unreal Tournament 2003 Demo v.927 (Digital Extreme/Epic Games) - Direct3D, Vertex Shaders, Hardware T&L, Dot3, cube texturing, default quality

 
• 3DMark2001 SE Pro (MadOnion/Remedy), Game2 "Dragothic" - DirectX 8.0, Hardware TCL, multitexturing, LOW Details, DXTC OFF, double buffering, 24-bit Z buffer

 
• 3DMark2001 Pro (MadOnion/Remedy) - DirectX 8.0, Hardware TCL, Game1, Game2, Game3, Game4, Low, High detail levels

 
• RightMark Video Analyzer v.0.4 (Philip Gerasimov) - DirectX 8.1, Dot3, cube texturing, shadow buffers, vertex and pixel shaders (1.1, 1.4). 

4. Summary diagrams of performance of the video cards on the latest drivers for September 2002

The overclocked cards are marked with red color, the sign o/c (overclocked) is followed by the frequencies reached.

• 1. Return to Castle Wolfenstein - maximum quality settings
• Windows XP 
• Tests on Athlon XP 2000+ (1666 MHz), 1024x768 
• Tests on Athlon XP 2000+ (1666 MHz), 1280x1024 
• Tests on Athlon XP 2000+ (1666 MHz), 1600x1200 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1024x768 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1280x1024 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1600x1200 

 
• 2. Unreal Tournament 2003 DEMO b.927 - standard settings
• Windows XP 
• Tests on Athlon XP 2000+ (1666 MHz), 1024x768 
• Tests on Athlon XP 2000+ (1666 MHz), 1280x1024 
• Tests on Athlon XP 2000+ (1666 MHz), 1600x1200 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1024x768 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1280x1024 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1600x1200 

 
• 3. Comanche4 DEMO 
• Windows XP 
• Tests on Athlon XP 2000+ (1666 MHz), 1024x768 
• Tests on Athlon XP 2000+ (1666 MHz), 1280x1024 
• Tests on Athlon XP 2000+ (1666 MHz), 1600x1200 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1024x768 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1280x1024 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1600x1200 

 
• 4. Comanche4 DEMO (min-max) 
• Minimal and maximum performance marks (Windows XP) 
• itogi-video-c4-min-1024-32.html 
• itogi-video-c4-min-1280-32.html 
• itogi-video-c4-min-1600-32.html 

 
• 5. 3DMark2001, Game2 Low Details (Dragothic) 
• Windows XP 
• Tests on Athlon XP 2000+ (1666 MHz), 1024x768 
• Tests on Athlon XP 2000+ (1666 MHz), 1280x1024 
• Tests on Athlon XP 2000+ (1666 MHz), 1600x1200 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1024x768 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1280x1024 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1600x1200 

 
• 6. Serious Sam: The Second Encounter 
• Windows XP 
• Tests on Athlon XP 2000+ (1666 MHz), 1024x768 
• Tests on Athlon XP 2000+ (1666 MHz), 1280x1024 
• Tests on Athlon XP 2000+ (1666 MHz), 1600x1200 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1024x768 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1280x1024 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1600x1200 

 
• 7. 3DMark2001 
• 7.1. 3DMark2001 standard test
• Windows XP (September 2002) 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1024x768, 3D Marks 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1024x768, Game1 Low 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1024x768, Game1 High 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1024x768, Game2 Low 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1024x768, Game2 High 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1024x768, Game3 Low 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1024x768, Game3 High 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1024x768, Game4 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1280x1024, 3D Marks 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1280x1024, Game1 Low 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1280x1024, Game1 High 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1280x1024, Game2 Low 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1280x1024, Game2 High 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1280x1024, Game3 Low 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1280x1024, Game3 High 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1280x1024, Game4 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1600x1200, 3D Marks 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1600x1200, Game1 Low 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1600x1200, Game1 High 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1600x1200, Game2 Low 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1600x1200, Game2 High 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1600x1200, Game3 Low 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1600x1200, Game3 High 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1600x1200, Game4 

 
• 8. iXBT RightMark Video Analyzer 
• Windows XP 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1024x768 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1280x1024 
• Tests on Pentium 4 2533 MHz, 1600x1200 

Conclusion

1. The ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti4200 OTES is a very interesting solution but it has both strong and weak points. Unfortunately, it's impossible to get rid of the noise, there are no ways to reduce the fan's speed (though it would hardly help as noise is born by an air flow in the tubular radiator). But if such noise is not critical for you, compared to efficiency of a video card and of a main unit (for example, if your computer case is very little and tight) which is located far under the desk, the card will be a good choice. The price doesn't exceed $200 (for the second half of October). 
2. The ASUS's card can't be considered new as we already saw a similar solution. However, apart from the advanced Ti 4200 based Deluxe version the company release an ordinary card as well (with the suffix S). Recently we had a chance to see an identical card from Albatron which had only a bit slower core. At the same time, the card from ASUS is dearer by just $10-15 compared to the Albatron's one ($200-205 for the second half of October). 

Highs:

• Very good performance in 3D games (up to the level of Ti 4600 and higher in the overclocked mode!); 
• High build quality of the tested samples; 
• Increased frequencies of the cards (the ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti4200 OTES has it equal to the Ti 4400); 
• TV-out provided; 
• All necessary adapters provided; 

• The ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti4200 OTES has a too noisy cooling device. 

Write a comment below. No registration needed!

Article navigation:

AMD Phenom II X4 955, Phenom II X4 960T, Phenom II X6 1075T, and Intel Pentium G2120, Core i3-3220, Core i5-3330 Processors Comparing old, cheap solutions from AMD with new, budget offerings from Intel. February 1, 2013 · Processor Roundups

Inno3D GeForce GTX 670 iChill, Inno3D GeForce GTX 660 Ti Graphics Cards A couple of mid-range adapters with original cooling systems. January 30, 2013 · Video cards: NVIDIA GPUs

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 An external X-Fi solution in tests. September 9, 2008 · Sound Cards

AMD FX-8350 Processor The first worthwhile Piledriver CPU. September 11, 2012 · Processors: AMD

Consumed Power, Energy Consumption: Ivy Bridge vs. Sandy Bridge Trying out the new method. September 18, 2012 · Processors: Intel

i3DSpeed, September 2013 Retested all graphics cards with the new drivers. Oct 18, 2013 · 3Digests

i3DSpeed, August 2013 Added new benchmarks: BioShock Infinite and Metro: Last Light. Sep 06, 2013 · 3Digests

i3DSpeed, July 2013 Added the test results of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 and AMD Radeon HD 7730. Aug 05, 2013 · 3Digests

Gainward GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST 2GB Golden Sample Graphics Card An excellent hybrid of GeForce GTX 650 Ti and GeForce GTX 660. Jun 24, 2013 · Video cards: NVIDIA GPUs

i3DSpeed, May 2013 Added the test results of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770/780. Jun 03, 2013 · 3Digests

ASUS Launches R9 200, R7 200 Series, Matrix R9 280X Graphics Cards Oct 08, 2013

Apacer Launches SATA SLC-lite SSD solutions Oct 08, 2013

ADATA Introduces a Stylish External HDD HC630 Oct 08, 2013

Samsung Introduces New Wireless Multiroom Speakers Oct 04, 2013

WD Gives Consumers a Cloud of Their Own Oct 03, 2013