The HWM offices are getting inundated with videocard samples, and from the pile, we pick one of the better looking packages – the XFX 9800GX2. There are a couple of reasons why the XFX was an easy pick out of the many other cards – one, it’s a 9800GX2 based card, and two, it looked nice.

                                             Much better packaging than cartoon-based competition.

With our recent review of the Asus 9800GX2 TOP, you could say that it would be somewhat redundant, to a certain extent. And you would be right – allow me to explain why. The XFX 9800GX2 is a stock-clocked card running at 600MHz Core, 2000MHz Memory, and 1500MHz Shader speeds. It sports the same housing, fan and general measurement of the reference Nvidia design (and the Asus branded 9800GX2 for that matter). The only difference is the manufacturer’s sticker on the front and rear of the card, which in this case sports the XFX name and logo, and a stylized, machine-inspired #9.  So what’s to make this card a desirable product, and a candidate for today’s blog?

                                             While still a hulking piece of rectangular circuitry, the theme at least contributes a bit of flair.

                                             Vents and louvers all around.

Simply enough, the overclocking performance of this card – rumored of and tested to be true during our testing session, proved to be the point that made us editors all excited. Remember that Asus’ TOP version of the card, which we did not attempt to overclock (unfortunately), had clock speeds of 670, 2130, and 1675MHz for core, memory and shader.  The XFX on the other hand, even marketed as a standard 9800GX2 was proven to be capable of much higher clocks – 690, 1700, and 2200 clock speeds to be precise. A review on another website claimed amazing overclocks (in fact a bit higher than our own – must be because of Philippine humidity and temperature) and we simply had to test it out ourselves.

                                             As usual, both a 6 and 8-pin power connector is required. Note indent design and your PSU before purchase.

Riva Tuner was used, and mimicking the published test, we set the fan speed to 100% (which is very noisy by the way) and proceeded to find the upper limits of the card, doing so in 10MHz increments. As a side note, the mention of the local temperature is important – and as a precaution, we aimed a regular stand-fan at our open-air test bench. Do note that your results may vary, depending on your local conditions and the card that you got.

                                             The (tiny) door to SLI. Don't lose it! Rear design features the XFX name.

We are glad we did test it, as this is like witnessing a Guinness World Record session unfolding, as this overclock makes this card the absolute fastest consumer graphics card on the planet at this moment – never mind that this “record” will surely be superseded in the very near future. For those not yet in the know, we give you a quick overview of the card’s other features: 65nm GPUs offering 256 stream processors each, 1GB (2x 512MB) of GDDR3, and a 512-bit external memory bus  (technically two 256-bit pipelines with a PCI Express 2nd generation controller running the two cards in SLI.) HDMI is on-board, and this card supports dual link- meaning two 2560 x 1600 screens can be used together. This card also supports Hybrid Power – the ability to put the videocard on standby when non-graphics intensive work is being done. The computer then relies on on-board graphics to power the computer when the GX2 is on standby. This feature is especially useful in a videocard that demands a lot of power to deliver its amazing performance.

                                             Two DVI connectors,indicator lights, an HDMI port, and a small exhaust vent populate the rear.

Specifically, a minimum of 580W PSU is recommended by Nvidia, and XFX goes one further by recommending 630W for a single card, and nearly 700W or higher for an SLI setup. This is one serious videocard for the serious gamer with some serious money to burn, both during purchase and during operation. Other than these points, there’s really nothing else to differentiate this card from the competition. No really. I just can’t explain why I’m still wide-eyed from looking at the overclock numbers, and why I’m still pumped up and itching to test another game benchmark.  Look out for the results in an upcoming issue of HWM, and  savor a few more pictures of the card next.