The 8800GT chipset is awesome. It compares well to the 8800 GTX and 8800 Ultra, but
comes in at a much lower price point. The chart below shows the
comparison between the 8800 GT, GTX and Ultra. The biggest difference between the XFX
8800 GT Alpha Dog Edition in this review and the 8800 GT reference below is the
256MB instead of the reference 512MB. It turns out that the those missing 256MB
do make a difference when comparing actual gameplay between this
card and one with 512MB.
8800 Card Comparison
The card itself conforms to a single slot, which is a departure from a lot of the previous cards
that usually take up
two internal slots--for the card, the heat sink and fan. This is a welcome change for anyone lacking space in their case. I was thinking the fan would sound
something
like an airplane taking off in my case, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that, at stock, it was as quiet as some aftermarket fans. This
is due to the fact that at stock, the speed of the fan is at 29% of maximum. It's quite a bit louder at 50%, and unbearable at 99%.
The XFX 8800GT Alpha Dog Edition
3DMARK06
This card turned in solid scores when running 3dMark06. It scored 10,668 3DMarks straight out of the box.
3dMark06
3dMark06 Specifics
BENCHMARKS
Next I will look at real world performance with some of the more grueling games
out there. All of the games were played with the display settings
set at maximum. Crysis would only allow for High settings, so that is considered the maximum for these benchmarks. Also, whenever AntiAliasing is
enabled, Gamma Correct and Supersampling Transparency AntiAliasing is also enabled.
