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Along the way, we decided to test 4 and 5 quads as well. This way, we'll get some idea just how high memory clock do we need to have parity between pixel processing and memory bandwidth. In addition to that, by testing with different number of quads, we can get some idea what's the best core and memory clock combination that offer such parity. All of these numbers are in frame rates per second.


While there are variations between results, we can see that for the most part, we need to have at least a 100 MHz difference between the core and memory to maintain optimal combination of pixel processing and memory bandwidth. That's true whether the card has 4, 5 or 6 quads. If we have less quads, the memory clock must be even higher than 100 MHz to maintain that parity - with 5 quads we have to run at 500 / 1300 MHz to keep up with 6 quads running at 500 / 1200 MHz/ That's a 150 MHz difference. For 4 quads, that will be 500 / 1350 MHz or 500 / 1400 MHz (or a 200 MHz difference).

This fact can be seen in another way: even higher memory clocks can provide us with even higher frame rates. It makes sense - we saw earlier that the GeForce 7 still has some elbow room with AF. AF needs lots of bandwidth due to the amount of texture samples. However, there's a limit to that - we will likely only see around 4 to 5 fps at most with each 100 MHz increase in memory clock. That increase will also likely be smaller on higher clocks. If we have to speculate, it's very likely that if we were to use the standard core clock of ASUS EN7800GTX TOP, we will probably get maximum performance with 1550 MHz memory clock (if possible). Another example of this assumption is the GeForce 7800GTX 512 core and memory clocks - 550 / 850 MHz (or 1700 MHz effective) - a 300 MHz increase.

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