![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Thursday , December 04, 2003
- Author:
- Brent Justice
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Tyan Tachyon G9800Pro-M Review
Read inside for our review on Tyan’s latest graphics card based on ATI’s 9800Pro VPU. We compare it against three other cards, the 9800XT, 9600XT and 9500Pro using realworld gameplay evaluation.
TGM and Software:
As we mentioned earlier the hardware monitoring feature this card exhibits is a huge selling point for this video card. The software that controls and illustrates this data is known as the Tyan Graphics Monitor. Version 3.1 of this software is available from the CD provided. However, if you browse over to Tyan’s TGM site you will see that the current latest version is 3.2. Therefore this is the version we installed and tested with.
When you pop the CD into your drive you are presented with selections of software you can install. In the first menu you have options to install the Graphics Driver and DirectX 8.1 along with the Graphics Monitor. If you click on Graphics Driver you have the option to install drivers on their whole ATI line of video cards right from this CD. The Catalyst version included on the CD is version 3.4. Therefore it is best to go to ATI’s site and download the latest drivers which are currently Catalyst 3.9.
The CD also comes with some ATI DX9 demo’s if you want to see just what all the fuss is about concerning DX9.
As we mentioned above we are using the latest TGM version 3.2. The first tab in the interface is labeled Video Settings. From here it shows you the current core and memory speeds and gives you the option to overclock if you wish. When you check “Enable Hardware Monitor” your video card will be monitored in real time with the hardware monitoring feature. In the graph at the bottom shows you the current fan speed and the temperature of the VPU. If you want to see more information you would click on the Detail button which brings up the other information seen below.
You can click on each Item in the scrolling box to get information on that item as it is being monitored. The FAN speed can be adjusted manually if you wish from a Maximum speed of 5300RPM down to 3000RPM. When we pulled this slider down to the MIN position our card started beeping at us telling us the fan speed was too low, as we brought it back up to half way on the slider then it said we were OK.
You can look through the rest of the pictures; they show you current voltages and temperatures and what the safe ranges of operating are.
Test Setup:
ABIT IC7-G (i875P), Intel Pentium 4 3GHz “C” operating at 800MHz FSB, 2 X 512MB Corsair XMS PC3200LL TwinX Dual Channel DDR400, Maxtor 40GB ATA/133, Windows XP Professional SP1 with DirectX 9.0b.
Tyan Tachyon G9800Pro-M – Operating at default clock speeds 380/680 using Catalyst Driver 3.9 (WHQL).
ATI Radeon 9800XT – Operating at default clock speeds 412/730 using Catalyst Driver 3.9 (WHQL.)
ATI Radeon 9600XT – Operating at default clock speeds 500/600 using Catalyst Driver 3.9 (WHQL.)
ATI Radeon 9500Pro – Operating at default clock speeds 275/540 using Catalyst Driver 3.9 (WHQL.)