XFX 9600GT 512MB Alpha Dog Edition

Josh Collins discovers the difference between alpha and beta.

Last month Palit won the 9600GT 512MB crown with its, well, 9600GT 512MB. What made it a success though were not only the features but also the price point and performance on offer.

With a hard act to follow, XFX has brought in the big gun, the XFX 9600GT Alpha Dog Edition, with the core overclocked to a strong 740MHz from the reference clock of 650MHz found on last month’s submission. The overclocking doesn’t stop there. The memory has been cranked up to 1000MHz (2000MHz effective) and the shader pushed up to 1850MHz – that’s 225MHz above the reference clock.

With the extra grunt at hand, the card, in Crysis, pulled an extra three FPS above the average and maximum FPS of the reference clocked card from last month and one FPS higher in minimum FPS. The gains were obvious as well in 3DMark06 and 3DMark03 with 1.4k and 4k point gains witnessed in both.

While these may seem like mediocre numbers in these high detail settings, when the details in Crysis, for example, are reduced from the ‘very high’ settings we test at down to the high and/or medium settings, this extra pixel processing power could be the difference between unplayable, playable and actually enjoyable.

The old stock of this card comes bundled with Company of Heroes – that’s what our sample happened to have – but the refreshed game bundle now features Assassin’s Creed which brings the package up to a whole new level with a newer title attached.

So, XFX has the performance and the bundle sorted, but the overall value when bringing the price into consideration leaves room for debate. Weighing in at $265, the card is $50 more than a reference clocked version at time of print. This means when compared rather bluntly, you pay $50 extra and get a pre-overclocked card and Assassin’s Creed. For some this may be enough to warrant it but no doubt, others will still opt for the cheaper solution, ignore the game and overclock the card themselves.