Published in Reviews

XFX Alpha Dog 8800 GT XXX Edition is fast

by on12 November 2007

Index

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Review: One pup definitely worth having

 

So far, we tested several Geforce 8800 GT cards based on the new D8P/G92 graphics chip. The results swept us off our feet, and it was about time to see a card with good price/quality ratio.

Geforce 8800 GT definitely earned its reputation; you get a rock solid Nvidia 65nm GPU at a great price. Since 8800 GT runs at 600 MHz core and 900MHz memory, this card will, performance wise, fit in perfectly between 8800 GTX and 8800 GTS cards.

Characteristics of this 65nm chip resulted in overclocked cards being much more common. By shrinking the chip, the working temperature also shrunk so overclocking shouldn’t be a difficult task. Many Nvidia partners walk that road and ultimately, the end users will also benefit from this, because a couple of bucks more buy you a faster card.

XFX 8800 GT graphics card is a typical overclocked 8800 GT card. We say typical because it’s no different from any Nvidia’s reference cards. The same goes for the cards that we’ve tested so far, such as Gainward BLISS 8800 GT and MSI 8800 GT OC; basically, it’s the same cards at different clocks. However, it’s the brand and the speed that will ultimately sell these cards to the buyer. We’ve proven that overclocked 8800 GTs perform well, so faster clocks should yield better results.

XFX Geforce 8800 GT Alpha Dog Edition card is definitely worth taking a look at, because the card runs 70MHz faster than reference design cards. We’ve recently tested a MSI 8800 GT card clocked at 600MHz, which is 60MHz more than reference design, and it firmly held its ground even compared to 8800 GTX. Since XFX is even faster, although not significantly, we should expect an even better result.

670MHz core speed is accompanied by 975MHz for GDDR3 memory. Alpha Dog’s Shaders run at 1675MHz, which is higher than 1500MHz stock speed by 160MHz. It’s clear that XFX really pushed this card, but given their “fast” reputation, it’s nothing new.

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The cooler and card design are unchanged, and we’ve got no complaints about that. Although 8800 GTX and 8800 GTS are dual-slot, this time around Nvidia opted for single slot design. Additional power is provided by one VGA 6-pin connector the specs indicate that TDP shouldn’t exceed 110W.

The cooler stays quiet, even during gaming. The driver lets you control the fan speed, although it’s not loud, not even in AUTO mode. Core temperature can reach up to 80 degrees Celsius, but simple fan speed increase will take care of that. At maximum RPM, the maximum average temperature is about 65 degrees, but in that scenario the small fan gets too loud.


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XFX Geforce 8800 GT is a PCI Express 2.0 card, fully compatible with all 16x PCI-E slots on currently available motherboards. However, if you’re counting on DirectX 10.1 and planning a long term investment, then think again - this card doesn’t support it. Still, due to the fact that most users still use Win XP DX9 platforms for gaming, this might not be that big of a deal. Still, DirectX 10 is slowly but surely becoming a standard and by not including DX 10.1 and Shader Model 4.1 support, Nvidia has missed the innovation train.

Still, all the good stuff that Geforce 8800 brings is here, but this time it’s combined with Nvidia’s new 65nm chip that runs much cooler, has a single-slot, features the new VP2 video engine, 112 ultra fast Shaders and excellent performance in gaming. The only thing missing is the Tri SLI support.

Geforce 8800GT features VP2 (Video Processor 2) within the chip. Up until now, it was exclusive to lower class cards from Nvidia, and wasn’t featured in G80 cards. This means HD Video acceleration with PureVideo HD support, as well as post processing entirely done in hardware, taking some load off the CPU.

Two dual-link DVI outs with HDCP are natively supported, which means there’s no need for a separate display chip – it’s embedded in the silicone. Two dual-link DVI’s support up to 2560x1600 at 60Hz.

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The XFX box emphasizes that the card runs at 670MHz and includes a copy of Company of Heroes. Alpha Dog 8800 GT can really fetch and serve up your games.

Apart from the card, the box contains:

* 2 x DVI to VGA connectors* 1 x S-Video to S-Video connector
* 1 x S-Video to Component connector
* 1 x Dual molex power to PCI-e power connector
* 1 x Instruction manual
* 1 x Quick install guide
* 1 x "I'm Gaming: Do not disturb" Door sign
* 1 x S-Video connector sheet
* 1 x Driver Disc
* 1 x Full Game Company of Heroes with DirectX 10 patch

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Testbed
 
Motherboard:
EVGA 680i SLI (Supplied by EVGA)

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo 6800 Extreme edition (Supplied by Intel)

Memory:

OCZ FlexXLC PC2 9200 5-5-5-18  (Supplied by OCZ)
        while testing CL5-5-5-15-CR2T 1066MHz at 2.2V

PSU:
OCZ Silencer 750 Quad Black (Supplied by OCZ)

Hard disk:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB SATA (Supplied by Seagate)

 

CPU-Cooler:
Freezer 7 Pro (Supplied by Artic Cooling)
 

Case Fans:
Artic Cooling - Artic Fan 12 PWM
Artic Cooling - Artic Fan 8 PWM




3DMarks

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Straight out of the box, XFX Alpha Dog runs at 670MHz core, 1675MHz Shader and 97MHz memory speed. The tables show that XFX is faster than the rest of the 8800 GT pack. However, it still performs a bit slower than 8800 GTX.

The MSI card is slower than XFX by 10MHz, and it reflects on the results. The last column shows the results of two 8800 GTs in SLI mode. We used Gainward’s 8800 GT and XFX’s Alpha Dog Edition card, and both ran at XFX’s speed – 670MHz.

In 3DMark03, SLI system beats one 8800 GT by 70 percent, and one 8800 GTX by 51 percent. However, in 3DMark06 this advantage sinks to about 13 percent. At these resolutions and settings, SLI system didn’t show significant performance increase. Nevertheless, SLI shows its real strength at higher resolutions where the twin card power really matters, so let’s move on to gaming results.



 

Gaming

We used the latest official drivers, and we opted for maximum detail setting.

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At higher resolutions 8800 GTX takes the cake, but Geforce 8800 GT OC cards follow closely. In this game, expensive 8800 GTX wins, but only by a small margin. New 65nm GPU makes good use of each and every extra MHz.

In Company of Heroes, SLI truly shines, and we clearly see – the higher the resolution, the better SLI performance gets. While the initial performance difference between a single 8800 GT and two GTs in SLI accounted for 9 percent, in the end it climbed up to incredible 63 percent in SLI’s favor. At 2048x1536 we see that SLI scores about 50 FPS more. Geforce 8800 GTX is about 50 percent slower than two 8800 GTs in SLI.

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F.E.A.R. can be a bit demanding, especially at high resolutions where memory plays an important role. Compared to 8800 GTX’s 328 bit interface, 8800 GT’s 256 bit memory interface exposes a weak point. Geforce 8800 GTX has more memory, but 8800 GT cards’ results aren’t half bad. Even the highest tested resolutions result in playable FPS. In this test, XFX beats MSI 8800 GT by 2 frames, or 4 percent, and stock 8800 GT by 6 frames, or 13 percent. XFX Alpha Dog Edition 8800 GT card’s core runs 11 percent faster than stock core speeds of 600MHz.

At 1024x768, SLI performs poorly, but high resolutions show this beast for what it really is. At 2048x1536, we see an almost 50 percent increase compared to 8800 GTX, and 80 percent increase compared to a single 8800 GT card.



 


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World in Conflict scores significantly less frames than the previous two games. Maximum detail settings have significantly and pleasantly improved the gaming, and resolutions such as 2048x1536 barely score playable FPS. In this game, XFX is no different from the other two 8800 GT cards, and we can honestly say that 8800 GTX isn't quite the champ, either.

SLI also scores lower than in previous tests. We see a 28 percent performance increase only at the highest resolutions. At lower resolutions, it performs just as subpar as the rest of the pack.

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Finally, we come to Crysis demo. It seems that the drivers were optimized for 8800 GT – either that, or the game really likes faster Shaders. At 1280x1024, with antialiasing and aniso filter on, we played the game with all the cards, but 8800 GT SLI outperformed them all.

Although 8800 GT scored better average FPS than 8800 GTX, minimum FPS didn’t go in 8800 GT’s favor. Geforce 8800 GTX’s minimum FPS was 22, whereas 8800 GT’s was 17.5 FPS.

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At given resolutions, XFX Alpha Dog was definitely the best card in this test.

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Conclusion


XFX Alpha Dog 8800 GT XXX Edition is one of the fastest 8800 GT cards we’ve tested so far. At 670MHz core and 1675MHz memory speed, this card has enough muscle to even beat 8800 GTX in certain tests. The card features 512MB of GDDR3 memory, but unlike 8800 GTX’s 348 bit, this card packs only a 256 bit interface. For this money, the quality is unprecedented. The only true problem, however, is the critical unavailability of these cards.

With their Alpha Dog, XFX have proven that 8800 GT can safely be overclocked to these speeds, but faster speed requires a better cooler. The card’s cooler can easily manage speeds over 700MHz, but only at maximum RPM.

Other than the frequency and the card sticker, this card isn’t different from reference design cards from Nvidia. In the box you get Company of Heroes with DX 10 patch, and that tells you that you might want to consider installing Vista – if you already haven’t, that is.

These days we see more and more DirectX 10 games, so switching OS’s is not a bad idea.

We tested two 8800 GT cards, and they scored really well – we’d go so far as to say that it’s a better choice than buying a single Ultra or GTX card. However, again there is a problem with availability, so getting one of these babies will prove to be a difficult task, let alone going for two.

Whether your OS of choice is XP or Vista – XFX 8800 GT XXX is a great card, and it will definitely make your day. We recommend this card to anyone who desires more than reference 8800 GT cards.

 

 

Last modified on 13 November 2007
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