XFX 9600 GT Alpha Dog Edition Review

Testing:

At OverclockersClub.com, we use a series of benchmarks to stress the graphics card. We will use a series of newer, as well as a few more seasoned, gaming benchmarks to show how well the Alpha Dog Edition of XFX's 9600GT compares to some of the other enthusiast video cards on the market. All driver settings and clock speeds will be left at factory default settings on both the CPU and GPU to minimize or eliminate any variables from impacting the results. The test system used in this review is listed below. After testing the card at stock speeds, I will overclock the video card to see what kind of performance can be gained.

• Processor: Intel Q6600 Core 2 Quad 266x9
• Motherboard:Abit IX38 Quad GT
• Memory: Mushkin HP2 6400 5-4-4-12
• Video Card(s): XFX 9600GT Alpha Dog Edition 171.16 Drivers
• Power Supply: Mushkin 650watt Modular Power supply
• Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 320GB SATA
• Opticals: NEC DV5700
• O/S: Windows Vista Ultimate Edition

Comparison Video Cards:

• Sapphire HD 3870
• Asus EN8800GT TOP
• Foxconn 9600GT
• XFX 9600GT

Overclocking:

Overclocked settings:

• XFX 9600GT 512MB Alpha Dog Edition 761/1069

Pushing for additional performance on a heavily overclocked manufacturer released video card is often akin to pulling a chicken's teeth. It just does not happen because the card's performance is already maxed out. With that in mind, I began leaning on the card and achieved a core clock of 761MHz, a boost of 21 MHz while gaining an additional 69 ticks on the memory. Both substantial gains for a mid range, already overclocked video card. The huge gains over stock speeds are just not there because the card's capabilities fall within the overclocked range the card is already running in. A performance increase is still a performance increase, no matter how you look at it.

Benchmarks:

• Video:

1. Crysis
2. Knights of the Sea
3. Bioshock
4. Call of Duty 4
5. World in Conflict
6. Call of Jaurez
7. 3DMark 06 Professional