Overclocking the FC-PGA Coppermine: Part 2

As the test scene moves to 3D gaming, the 133MHz FSB scores from the BX platform are nonexistent due to the inability of our test TNT2 cards to properly work at the increased AGP bus frequency. But on the bright side, the 1/2 AGP divider provided for by the Apollo Pro 133A allows for scores at the 133MHz FSB but also the 150MHz FSB to be presented.

The 550E at 825MHz is loving the attention it's getting because of the apparent lack of competition from the BX chipset. There is virtually no way you're going to be able to run an AGP card reliably at 100MHz on a BX board (150MHz FSB * 2/3 AGP divider = 100MHz), thus making the 825MHz setting we achieved impossible unless you are using a board with official support for the 133MHz FSB.

The 750MHz clock achieved with the 500E using the 150MHz is also very impressive. While our PC133 SDRAM had no problems working at the 150MHz FSB setting, the beauty of the Apollo Pro 133A chipset is that you can run your memory at 33MHz lower than the FSB, meaning at 150MHz your memory could be running as low as 117MHz. This opens up quite a few new overclocking avenues for those with memory that just can't make it at the higher FSB settings.

And if it ends up being that your chip won't handle the 750/825MHz settings, the 140MHz FSB setting leaves the 700/770MHz settings open for experimentation.

As the TNT2 is fill rate limited at the 1024 x 768 x 32 setting, all of the scores end up coming out the same.