Coming off the ridiculous overclock that the Inno3D 7600GST allowed, I was pretty psyched about pushing the XXX cards to their limits. I had visions of 700MHz cores and 1.8GHz memory that would allow for graphics so awesome my eyes would bleed.
But sadly, it seems that XFX has already found the limits of both the 7600 core and the GDDR3 memory that keeps those cores fed. Using CoolBits and the auto detect settings, the drivers actually underclocked the core to 592MHz (down from 596MHz) and bumped the memory from 1618MHz to 1622MHz. When I tried to put the card at 610MHz/1650MHz, CS:S crashed and 3DMark06 wouldn't go past the first test.
Perhaps other cards will have more luck, but for me, I'm not going to go any higher than the stock speeds the cards shipped at, but even still, that is definitely NOT something to be upset about.
CONCLUSION
The results speak plainly for themselves. XFX has put together a 7600-based card that is nothing short of stunning in the way it performs. Pushing the core and memory to their utter limits, the 7600GT XXX Edition cards provide a level of gaming that has finally allowed me to retire my trusty 6800GTs. I'm going to miss them as they have served me so well for so long, but passing up two cards are powerful as these would be a huge mistake.
The XXX Edition cards are for the budget gamer who wants SLI but can't afford to go with the higher-end 7900GT, GTX or the 7950GX2 but still wants all the features those cards offer as well as a taste of the performance. For less than $200, half the price of a single 6800GT when it first came to market two summers ago, performance that often rivals a pair of those 6800GTs is available. I cannot say how impressed I am with these cards, especially considering their mid-range placement on the GeForce 7-series family tree and I cannot recommend them highly enough for anyone coming from a previous generation of cards looking to get awesome performance but not break the bank.
Thanks to XFX for these cards and all the work they've done to make such an impressive offering.
