XFX Alpha Dog 8800GS XXX Edition Review

With 64 additional Shader Processors and 64-bit wider memory bus, the NVIDIA 8800GS looks like promising as a replacement for the 8600GTS. The question begets: Is it really worth the upgrade from the G84 or is NVIDIA trying to liquidate excess G92s that don’t the cut to become 8800GTs?

With the big 2 in the graphics accelerator market concentrated on slugging-it-out lately, it would hardly come as a surprise if moderate-light gamers have been feeling left out. Most of the options available to the average Joe would have been limited to the likes of the HD2600 and the 8600GT, both of which would be considered archaic by now. The refresh of the HD2600 in the guise of the HD3650 is barely doing better than the 8600GTS, the onus thus fell on NVIDIA to deliver a card that bridges the gap between the G84 and the 8800GT. Their answer was simple, cripple the existing G92 based 8800GT, and launch it as the 8800GS. With 32 less stream processors and a 64-bit narrower memory bus, the G92 8800GS does not sound very promising on paper. Indeed, the 8800GS is seen as somewhat of a stop-gap measure whilst production and availability of the 9600GT ramps up. That said, if you have been on a look-out for a piece of the G92 pie but remain unwilling to pay the 8800GT prices, the 8800GS may very well suit your taste buds when the 9600GT prices are still horribly inflated at the moment. Today, we will take a look at a 8800GS offering from XFX, the Alpha Dog XXX Edition no less, which is overclocked right from the factory. Would it prove to be a worthy replacement for the likes of the 8600? Read on to find out.

They prominently declare that the GPU is clocked to 680MHz.

XFX installed a window for inspecting the goods before the purchase!

It is not just 32 less Stream Processors on the 8800GS and this is also an overclocked model, so lets look at the basic specifications before we move on to strip the card naked. XXX pictures anyone?