XFX 9600 GT XXX Alpha Dog Edition 740M 512mb
The card - a closer look
Published: 7th April 2008 | Source: XFX | Price: £114 |
The XFX Alpha Dog XXX Edition 9600 GT - close in
Last time I looked at the 9600 GT it had a 3rd party cooler installed on it. This time, we're looking at the stock cooler from XFX. The Alpha Dog edition is based around a black PCB with a card-keeper-esque bracket to make sure that the whole thing doesn't flex too much.
You'll notice that the cooler spreads all the way across the memory modules for the card, perhaps because they're running at a swift 2000Mhz.
XFX have used all high quality Japanese capacitors for the card which gives it an air of quality. The XFX logo on the side of the card also shows a nice level of detail in the card.
The card requires a single 6PIN PCI-e power.
The card has two Dual DVI HDCP enabled outputs, as well as the usual TV-out S-Video. This is what we have come to expect, although I was slightly surprised HDMI wasn't included on the card itself. Still, there's a converter in the box that works just fine.
The Cooler
The cooler on the XFX 9600 GT Alpha Dog XXX Edition is the stock Nvidia cooler. With a copper base and copper fins it should do the trick to keep the GPU cool. Running at around 35°C idle and 58°C load, the card certainly does keep the GPU cool and does it's job very well.
BUT (you knew it was coming!), the cooler is obnoxiously loud at pretty much all times. Recording the sounds at idle and at load I uploaded them for you to hear:
As you can hear, the card is very loud and even though it is bound to be a little quieter inside a case (the test setup is on a bench), it is whiny enough to get very annoying. This is slightly disappointing considering Nvidia's partners generally have been doing pretty well keeping these cool cards quiet.
Most Recent Comments
Nice review Matt.. Detailed as ever.
Neither of the 9600s are for me, but its good to see XFX bringing out an Alpha Dog editions as like you said it needed a little boost from stock to bring it in to a decent bracket.
Neither of the 9600s are for me, but its good to see XFX bringing out an Alpha Dog editions as like you said it needed a little boost from stock to bring it in to a decent bracket.
Great review m8. £114.. I mean we call it a "mid range" card, so arguably it`s a higher-mid-range for the 9 series, but the nVidia cards at present are all over the shop imo. - unless you forget about the 8 series completely.
Personally I like to compare the x6xx card with x6xx in the same series and the series below - only cos mid range is mid range - but it competes with the 8800GT in many respects, including it`s ability to clock better, and supposedly SLI better. `Would u SLI 88GT or 96GT ?`, many would say 96GT if that were the choice.
Then again also, XFX pushing the card very well imo.
Personally I like to compare the x6xx card with x6xx in the same series and the series below - only cos mid range is mid range - but it competes with the 8800GT in many respects, including it`s ability to clock better, and supposedly SLI better. `Would u SLI 88GT or 96GT ?`, many would say 96GT if that were the choice.
Then again also, XFX pushing the card very well imo.
good review 
medeocre card....hmm
medeocre card....hmm
It's a mid-range card, of course it's mediocre!
the 8600GT was quite exceptional, performance and feature wise
this is...medeocre, in comparison to the 9800GTX
wheras the 8600GT was just a cut down version of the 8800GTX
this is...medeocre, in comparison to the 9800GTX
wheras the 8600GT was just a cut down version of the 8800GTX
Quote:
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Originally Posted by name='ionicle'
the 8600GT was quite exceptional, performance and feature wise
this is...medeocre, in comparison to the 9800GTX wheras the 8600GT was just a cut down version of the 8800GTX |
i do read them, but i also owned a 8600GT, great card it was too...
looking at the comparison of this to the 9800GTX it doesnt perform aswell as an 8600GT would when compared to an 8800GTS 320mb, IMO
unless you think i'm wrong ofcorse?
looking at the comparison of this to the 9800GTX it doesnt perform aswell as an 8600GT would when compared to an 8800GTS 320mb, IMO
unless you think i'm wrong ofcorse?
The 9600 GT performs a fair amount better than the 8600 GT would, even when taking into consideration the generation cards.
i dont doubt that, the point i was making, was the gap in performance between the 86xx and the 88xx is probably less than between the 96xx and the 98xx
And I don't think that's true...which is the point I was making
ahh, okay, so they're closing the gap performance wise? ...hmmmm....that doesnt make good business sense
they should all increase, all levels of cards, but only by the same amount, in the same...incriments....otherwise one level will get too high/too low, and merge into another...
they should all increase, all levels of cards, but only by the same amount, in the same...incriments....otherwise one level will get too high/too low, and merge into another...
Strange how the admiration for a review changes once you have written one.
Nice one dude great read.
Nice one dude great read.
Thanks mate
damn u guyz bang out reviews fast. nice review tho. wasn't likin the stock 9600 much but this looks better
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