The XFX 8800GT Alpha Dog Edition XXX ... could this be one of the fastest 8800GT cards on the market?

INTRODUCTION 

XFX specialise in producing graphics cards for gaming and high-end systems. They are a division of PINE Technology, which is based in Hong Kong. Founded in 1989, PINE Technology designs, develops, manufactures and distributes high-quality digital audio and video devices for PC, as well as other computer peripherals. Here's some information about the company, taken from their website.

"XFX, one of the best nVidia Graphics Card partners, is a leader in video game graphics and video cards. XFX offers an expansive array of nVidia GeForce graphics cards and nVidia nForce motherboards. XFX is currently a global volume leader for NVIDIA graphics cards. nVidia is presently the worldwide leader in programmable video game and production graphics processor technologies.

XFX dares to go where the competition would like to, but can't. That's because, at XFX, we don't just create great digital video components--we build all-out, mind-blowing, performance crushing, competition-obliterating video cards and motherboards. Oh, and not only are they amazing, you don't have to live on dry noodles and peanut butter to afford them. XFX is a division of PINE Technologies, a leading manufacturer of state-of-the-art processing components."

Since the release of Nvidia's latest G92 GPU last month, you can be sure that most of Nvidia's main partners including XFX were among the very first, to get their new Geforce 8800GT cards out. Nvidia's new G92 GPU have been getting rave reviews from around the globe, offering 55nm technology and better performance than its older sibling ... the 8800GTS (which uses the older G80 GPU). Incidently, Nvidia have also released their newer and better verison of the 8800GTS, using the new G92 GPU. It'll be interesting to see the differences between the two. In the meantime, we have the 8800GT from XFX to contend with.

Nvidia's new G92 GPU uses the latest 65nm technology, and offers 512Mb of DDR3 ram, 112 stream processors, 256-bit memory interface, 57.6 Gb/sec bandwidth and a massive texture fill rate of 33.6 billion/sec. It's pretty impressive to say the least ... offering one of the best performance/price ratios. And over the past few weeks, manufacturers have been snapping up all of Nvidia's G92 GPUs for their 8800GT cards. In fact there's a massive shortage right now, which has in effect pushed the prices of the 8800GTs up.

Thanks to XFX and Specialtech, we'll be taking a look at the XFX GeForce 8800GT 512Mb DDR3 XXX Alpha Dog Edition. This graphics card is different from your standard 8800GT. It's not based on Nvidia's standard reference designs ... like the ones you'll find from other manufacturers. The XFX GeForce 8800GT 512MB DDR3 XXX Alpha Dog Edition, utilises an overclocked G92 GPU core @ 670Mhz (the default is 600Mhz), with memory also overclocked at 1.95Ghz (the default is 1.8Ghz). So, you can see ... we have ourselves a very fast, factory overclocked 8800GT that could be quite impressive.

          

In this review, we'll be testing the XFX GeForce 8800GT XXX Alpha Dog Edition, with several GPU intensive DX10 games with both 4xAA and 16xAF options enabled, as well as your usual 3D Mark 2005 and 2006 tests. Our test rig includes an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ default 2.4Ghz, Abit IX38 QuadGT motherboard, OCZ PC2-8500 DDR2-1066 2Gb Kit, Coolermaster Real Power M700 PSU and a 19" Samsung monitor that output 1600x1200 resolution. All-in-all, a decently spec'd system for DX10 gaming.

OK, lets not waste any more time and see how well the XFX GeForce 8800GT XXX Alpha Dog Edition performs against other cards on the market.