GeForce 8800 series round-up

XFX GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB XXX Edition:

Core Clock: 550MHz
Shader Clock: 1500MHz (according to RivaTuner)
Memory Clock: 1800MHz
Warranty: 2 years (parts and labour) in Europe
Price (as reviewed): £322.98 (including VAT)
Latest UK Pricing
Latest US Pricing


Like BFGTech and Leadtek, XFX has also undergone a box art redesign with its GeForce 8800-series line-up, but the underlying box design is essentially still the same as it was back when we reviewed the company’s GeForce 7950 GT 570M Extreme card last September. The masked character that used to be a prominent part of the company’s box art is now right on the edge of the box, while the rest of the design is rather clean but reasonably functional at the same time.

The card is packed securely in an anti-static bag and then surrounded by foam to ensure the card isn’t damaged in transit. The bundle is in line with what the other partners offer too, coming with just the bare essentials. There’s a driver / utility CD, a user manual, a quick install guide, a pair of DVI-to-VGA converters, an S-Video cable and a component dongle. The notable omission is the six-pin PCI-Express power adapter that is required to use the card.

The hardware itself looks like a fairly standard GeForce 8800 GTS with XFX’s branding and the differences aren’t apparent until after you’ve plugged it in and started playing some games. Going back to the branding though, the art work is clean and is almost a duplicate of what you see on the box.

Personally, I like the design, but again though, aesthetics are down to personal preference and it’s not going to matter once the hardware is in your machine. What I would have liked to see on the card is some kind of identification to say that this particular card is an XXX Edition and not just another reference card with a sticker. The information is on the box, so there’s no excuse for it not being on the card itself too.

XFX’s card has had a similar clock speed increase to the BFGTech card, with the core clock increased by exactly the same amount, which equates to a 10% increase. The memory clock has been pumped up by roughly the same amount – instead of running at the default 1600MHz, it’s running at 1800MHz, which is a 12.5% enhancement. What is interesting is that the stream processor clock appears to be running up at 1500MHz, according to RivaTuner’s clock monitoring utility – that represents a fairly hefty 25% increase.