The Results- NVIDIA Based Cards
GeForce 2 GTS based cards
|
Card
|
SBA
state
|
133
MHz
|
148
MHz
|
133
MHz SBA off
|
148
MHz SBA off
|
|
Absolute
Multimedia Outrageous GeForce 2 GTS
|
Enabled
|
Fail
|
Fail
|
Pass
|
Pass
|
|
Disabled
|
Pass
|
Pass
|
|||
|
Disabled
|
Pass
|
Fail
|
|||
|
Disabled
|
Pass
|
Pass
|
|||
|
Enabled
|
Fail
|
Fail
|
Pass
|
Pass
|
Many of the GeForce 2 GTS cards tested did not enable SBA by default. This is most likely a product of evolution, where more and more manufacturers realized that it caused more problems than it solved. This can especially be seen when comparing these cards to the TNT2 Ultra cards, all of which enable SBA by default.
The GeForce 2 GTS cards all functioned properly with SBA disabled. The one exception was the ELSA Gladiac which failed to run at our 98 MHz AGP bus speed.
GeForce 256 DDR based cards
Similar to the GeForce 2 GTS cards, the GeForce 256 DDR based cards had SBA disabled for the most part, as seen below.
|
Card
|
SBA
state
|
133
MHz
|
148
MHz
|
133
MHz SBA off
|
148
MHz SBA off
|
|
Disabled
|
Pass
|
Pass
|
|||
|
Disabled
|
Pass
|
Pass
|
|||
|
Disabled
|
Pass
|
Pass
|
|||
|
Enabled
|
Pass
|
Pass
|
The one GeForce 256 DDR based card with SBA enabled, the Leadtek Winfast GeForce DDR Revision B, had no problem completing our tests at either 133 MHz or 148 MHz on the FSB. All the other cards had this feature disabled, once again most likely due to the fact that it seems to cause more harm than good.
GeForce 256 SDR based cards
As we progress back in time, we find that more and more cards with SBA enabled begin to appear. No longer are SBA cards a dying breed in GeForce 256 SDR based cards, but 50% of the cards tested had this feature enabled. Below are the results from our overclocking tests.
|
Card
|
SBA
state
|
133
MHz
|
148
MHz
|
133
MHz SBA off
|
148
MHz SBA off
|
|
Disabled
|
Pass
|
Pass
|
|||
|
Creative
Labs 3D Blaster Annhilator
|
Enabled
|
Pass
|
Pass
|
||
|
Enabled
|
Pass
|
Pass
|
|||
|
Disabled
|
Pass
|
Pass
|
As was the case with the GeForce 256 DDR, we find that SBA really does not seem to effect a GeForce 256 SDR based card's ability to perform in an overclocked AGP slot. Too bad this does not prove to be the case throughout all the video cards tested.
Quadro based cards
The Quadro, a professional version of the GeForce 256, is really only to be found in ELSA's Gloria II card. Targeted at the graphic designer, the Gloria II comes with SBA turned on. Let take a look at how it survived in the tests.
|
Card
|
SBA
state
|
133
MHz
|
148
MHz
|
133
MHz SBA off
|
148
MHz SBA off
|
|
Enabled
|
Pass
|
Fail
|
Pass
|
As we saw and noted with the GeForce 2 GTS, the maximum bus speed that a card will run on seems to be dramatically increased by disabling SBA. In the case of the Gloria II, turning SBA off allowed for the card to run in our 98 MHz AGP bus.
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