XFX GeForce 8800GT 256MB XXX Edition Video Card Review

Power Consumption and Conclusions

Power Consumption

For testing power consumption, we took our test system and plugged it into a Seasonic Power Angel. For idle numbers, we allowed the system to idle on the desktop for 15 minutes and took the reading. For load numbers, we measured the peak wattage used by the system while running the game World in Conflict at 1600×1200 with medium graphics quality.

Power Consumption Results: When it comes to power consumption the XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB Alpha Dog XXX Edition did really well during gaming as the system consumed less power than either of the Radeon HD 3800 series cards. The Radeon HD 3850 256MB card and Radeon HD 3870 were both more efficient at idle though, which is worth pointing out. The XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB consumes 30W less than the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB, which goes to show how much power memory ICs use.

Final Thoughts:

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB video card was never designed to compete with higher end graphics card as it only has 256MB of memory. When NVIDIA briefed the media they showed performance charts with resolutions of 1280×1024 and 1600×1200 when it came to the performance numbers. That right there, goes to show you that this video card is aimed at those with 20″or less monitors running 1600×1200 and lower resolutions. Even at smaller resolutions the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB had a hard time keeping up with the Radeon 3850 and Radeon 3870, which are both priced at or under what the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB is available at. The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB faces tough competition thanks to the Radeon 3800 series and it only clearly beat the Radeon 3800’s in Bioshock. Be sure to consider what games you play the most and the performance of the cards on them when you make your next purchase.

XFX has done a wonderful job with their XXX Edition video card for the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB series. Their improved cooler is a nice touch that makes their GeForce 8800 GT video cards stand out from the rest. It’s tough to make a video card stand our from the crowd, but XFX has been finding ways to make it happen. The black PCB makes it by far one of the sexiest video cards we have ever seen, which is a plus for those that want their system to look as good as it performs. The bundle with the XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB Alpha Dog XXX Edition was solid and it was nice to see the game Lost Planet included with the bundle. The 650MHz core clock and 1.6GHz memory clocks on the XXX edition are nice as it’s a card you can plug in and just run. Users don’t have to download third party applications and flash the BIOS to overclock, which is nice and worth the money if you aren’t comfortable doing this yourself.

XFX also has a great warranty program where they will repair and service your GeForce 8800 GT Series Graphics Card for as long as you live. Even for those of you who know how to push our cards to the limits, if anything goes wrong, XFX will service it free of charge. All you have to do is register the card with XFX online. If you ever decide to sell or give the card away to someone, XFX will still honor the protection plan for the second owner as well. They just need to register the card with XFX. You get the protection AND the added value of being able to pass along a full warranty. XFX is one of the few companies that has a no BS warranty and that is a big thumbs up for those that like to overclock or have bad luck with computer hardware.

When it comes to pricing the XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB Alpha Dog XXX Edition (PVT88PUDD4) that we reviewed today runs $229.99 plus shipping over at Newegg and is in stock at the time of writing. It also has a $10 mail-in rebate right now, so that brings the price down to $219.99 plus shipping. If you’re looking for a graphics card with the latest DirectX 10 features and only play games at lower resolutions (1024×768 – 1600×1200) then this card should be on your short list of cards to consider.

Legit Bottom Line: The XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB Alpha Dog XXX Edition Brings is factory overclocked and features a sexy black PCB that performs just as good as it looks at lower resolutions.