Core Volt-Mod

The core voltage is the main problem because it is a mere 1.1V by default in 3D mode on each GeForce 7600 GS regardless of the manufacturer, as opposed to the GeForce 7600 GT’s 1.35V. It is due to this difference rather than to the lower clock rate that the GPU on GeForce 7600 GS cards generates so little heat that some models even come with passive GPU coolers. The GPU and memory voltages are regulated by two identical linear regulators from Intersil, ISL6549. To increase the voltage, you should solder one lead of a 10,000Ohm variable resistor to leg 4 of the chip marked in the picture and the other lead to the common wire (make sure the resistor is set at its maximum resistance before doing that!):

I used the point in the bottom corner of the PCB:

Now you can reduce the resistance to increase the core voltage (if you set the variable resistor at a resistance of 3,200Ohm, the core voltage would grow to 1.7V).

Use the capacitors marked in the picture below to monitor the voltage:

Warning! Some resources recommend using 50,000Ohm resistors to perform the above-described modification. The outcome won’t change for that, but I must warn you that the core (and memory) voltage begins to grow up rapidly after a certain threshold which is about 4,000Ohms. So, if you use variable or trim resistors with a bigger rating than mentioned above, you make it harder for yourself to accurately set up the necessary voltage. Be careful as an extra turn or even half a turn of the resistor may send your graphics card to its ancestors!