XFX GeForce 8800 GT Alpha Dog Edition
The top dog from XFX for the GeForce 8800 GT, so to speak, is its Alpha Dog edition and it comes with rather high clock speeds, 670MHz for the core and 1950MHz DDR for the memory. You'll know that it's not quite the top compared to its peers but nevertheless, it's not something to sneer at. Outwardly, this XFX card is like most GeForce 8800 GT cards, with the difference being XFX's own decal. The bundle is generally on par with the better offerings we have seen, though Company of Heroes included here seems slightly late compared to the newer expansion found in the ASUS TOP graphics card. However, what could really kill the deal for most consumers is its price tag of S$499, which is quite a chunk of cash more than most of its competitors. XFX however has a custom black PCB version of this upcoming to replace the reference version, but that doesn't really change our opinion much.
Here's what you'll get in the XFX package:-
Driver CD
Quick installation guide
Company of Heroes (full game)
S-Video extension cable
2 x DVI-to-VGA adaptors
7-pin mini-DIN to Component dongle
6-pin Molex power connector
XpertVision GeForce 8800 GT 512MB
If the two-slot cooler on the Palit Sonic is not suitable for any reason, XpertVision presents another alternative. As some of you should know, both brands are two faces belonging to the same parent company and while the Palit version tries to be different, this XpertVision looks to follow the NVIDIA design down to the letter. So, with the exception of the decal, this is yet your standard issue GeForce 8800 GT. The clock speeds are standard also while the bundle is identical to the one we saw on the Palit.
XpertVision's list of accessories:-
Driver CD
Quick installation guide
Tomb Raider Anniversary (full game)
DVI-to-VGA adaptor
6-pin Molex power connector
7-pin mini-DIN to Component/S-Video dongle
Zotac GeForce 8800 GT AMP! Edition
When you're a relatively new brand in a competitive field, you'll need every drop of flair to attract the jaded attentions of consumers. That is probably why Zotac's AMP! edition of the GeForce 8800 GT comes with bright orange LED fans that light up when it's running. A simple, but eye catching move that's mostly overused by hardware manufacturers but it does help the Zotac stand out from the many reference boards on sale now. And this distinction goes beyond the gimmicky LEDs, for this AMP! edition comes overclocked to the same extent as ASUS' TOP. Yes, this card is the joint leader with the more famous ASUS on paper, with a core of 700MHz and a memory clock of 2000MHz DDR. Unfortunately, Zotac was unable to match ASUS' resources when it came to the included bundle and the lack of any applications or games meant the ASUS TOP still had the edge. However, a very competitive price of US$299 could still make this the choice for consumers and makes it harder to choose between the two.
Zotac's bundled accessories:-
Driver CD
Quick installation guide
DVI-to-VGA adaptor
6-pin Molex power connector
7-pin mini-DIN to Component/S-Video dongle
Test Setup
Testing all ten graphics cards were conducted on the same system, configured with an Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 (2.66GHz) processor installed on an Intel D975XBX 'Bad Axe' motherboard. This system was outfitted with 2GB of low latency HyperX memory modules from Kingston running in dual channel mode. Although these cards are all DirectX 10 capable, we have not yet transitioned to Windows Vista and hence Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 and DirectX 9.0c was used instead. The operating system and all the games used in our benchmarking were installed onto a Seagate 7200.7 SATA hard drive.
The following table summarizes the relevant clock speeds for the graphics cards tested. Where possible, we have also included the local retail price in Singapore dollars as conveyed to us by the manufacturers or distributors. (In case you need any more reminders, the standard clocks for the GeForce 8800 GT is 600MHz for the core and 1800MHz for the memory.)GraphicsCard Core Clock Memory Clock StreamProcessor Clock EstimatedRetail Price ASUSEN8800GT TOP 700MHz 2000MHz DDR 1750MHz S$469 GigabyteGV-NX88T512H-B 600MHz 1800MHz DDR 1500MHz S$409 Inno3DGeForce 8800 GT OC Edition 650MHz 1900MHz DDR 1625MHz S$449 LeadtekWinFast PX8800 GT Extreme 680MHz 2000MHz DDR 1700MHz S$449 ManliGeForce 8800 GT 512MB 600MHz 1800MHz DDR 1500MHz Price NotAvailable MSINX8800GT-T2D512E-OC 660MHz 1900MHz DDR 1675MHz S$429 PalitGeForce8800 GT Sonic 650MHz 2000MHz DDR 1625MHz S$406 XFX GeForce8800 GT Alpha Dog Edition 670MHz 1950MHz DDR 1700MHz S$499 XpertVisionGeForce 8800 GT 512MB 600MHz 1800MHz DDR 1500MHz S$419 ZotacGeForce8800 GT AMP! Edition 700MHz 2000MHz DDR 1700MHz US$299
All the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT cards here were tested using ForceWare 169.02 drivers. Unless stated otherwise, the game settings used in all the benchmarks were set to the maximum, with anti-aliasing (AA) the only difference between two sets of results. For games like Unreal Tournament 3 demo that lacked in-game settings for AA, we used the NVIDIA Control Panel to force AA. Given that these cards are of enthusiast class despite their almost mainstream prices, we have tried the benchmarks at higher resolutions of 1600 x 1200 and above. We have used the included time demos and/or benchmarking tools found in these games to garner our results. The following benchmarks were used:
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