![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Monday , May 05, 2003
- Author:
- Brent Justice
- Editor:
- Sean Quinn
- Google +1
Tyan Tachyon G9500 Pro Review
The 9500 Pro VPU is still very much around, and today we take a look at Tyan’s new Tachyon G9500 Pro that brings with it Tyan’s own 9500 Pro PCB design and hardware monitoring! Read inside to see how it stacks up with a reference ATI 9500 Pro and also to see if this card could be your next upgrade.
Hardware Monitoring (TGM):
So, what is TGM and how do you know if your Tachyon card has it? TGM stands for Tachyon Graphics Monitor and it is the hardware monitoring system that is built on the Tachyon series of video cards from Tyan. TGM 1.0 is currently only available on the Tachyon G9700 Pro video card. TGM 1.0 allows you to change the core and memory speed of the card on the fly and also displays details of the card's system information.
TGM 2.0 is new, and it is only available on the Tachyon G9500 Pro video card at this time. TGM 2.0 allows all of the features of 1.0 but also adds the capability to change the speed of the fan on the fly.
G9700 Pro TGM 1.0:
There were two versions of the G9700 Pro produced. The first version was released in late 2002 and included the robust cooling system. The second version was released in January 2003 and included the TGM 1.0 hardware monitoring system. Here is how you can determine if your G9700 Pro has TGM or not.
In the pictures above you can see that the TGM version has the fan wires that connect to the right side of the board. If yours looks like this, then you have TGM 1.0. Also, if your card supports TGM, there should be a logo stating such on your retail box.
If you have TGM 1.0 on your Tachyon 9700 Pro or TGM 2.0 on your Tachyon 9500 Pro, then you can download the software for it from this page.
G9500 Pro TGM 2.0:
TGM2.0 has the added ability of being able to change the speed of the fan along with all the features of TGM 1.0. This includes VPU temperature and Voltage, Memory Voltage and temperature, and fan speed.
These are the first three main tabs you will find in TGM 2.0 software on the G9500 Pro. VPU speed and memory speed are both shown and adjustable on the fly. When you enable hardware monitoring, you get a graph below that shows what the current fan speed is and the current VPU temp. This information updates every second and shows you graphically what your video card is doing. The Product Features tab gives you an overview of what your video card is capable of. Note the picture of the card on this page. Again, it does not match up with the HSF assembly on our card. The help page gives you a small FAQ about your card.
When you click the Details button from the first tab of the program, you get another window where you can select even more information to gather. Each item will show you a graph with the data the card is receiving live. Memory core voltage, memory I/O voltage, memory temperature, core voltage and core temperature as well as fan speed are all available for you to look at.
In the main Video Settings tab, if you check “Start fan speed manual-control mode” you will then be able to manually adjust the fan speed. You can simply change the speed of the fan with a slider from 3000 RPM to 5000 RPM. In reality the lowest I could get the fan is exactly 3169 RPM and the highest was actually 5357 RPM. There are good advantages of being able to change the fan speed. While this card isn’t as loud as a GeForceFX 5800 Ultra, it does still exhibit a slight whine at its maximum fan speed. If this whine is a bother to you, then you may change the speed of the fan until it no longer is. Of course, you will then need to keep an eye on the core temp, especially when playing games. Now, we could hear the whine since our test system is open on a desk. Inside a case, however, this fan will probably not be any more noticeable than your other case fans. A situation where you may notice it though is in a PC you have constructed for silent running.
In our own testing with the card down to 3000 RPM, we looped 3DMark03 for a while and the card did climb close to 140°F, and this is in an open system on a desk. Therefore, if you do redoce the fan speed, you need to watch the temperature when playing games, or turn the fan speed up manually.
You will notice in the Details window there is a button called Beep Test. If you click this button it will give you a beep test through the speaker to make sure it is working. So you may know what it sounds like yourself, we have provided a 10 second recording of the beep here.
Also, you may be wondering just how loud the fan is at high speed. We have set up a microphone in front of the fan and recorded its sound, manually cranking up the fan speed from 3000 RPM to 5000 RPM and back down again. You may download that 30 second recording here.
While that does sound kind of loud in the audio clip it is not near as loud as the NVIDIA FlowFX. You can hear the whine during normal operation, but from inside a case it will not be noticeable over your other computer noise especially when gaming. If it is, there is always the manual fan speed control.