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XFX GeForce 9600 GSO XXX Edition - More Than Meets the Eye

By Kenny Yeo - 17 Oct 2008

You Can't Rebrand a Leopard's Spots

You Can't Rebrand a Leopard's Spots

With NVIDIA's rebranding, the 9600 GSO is now being positioned a rung lower than the GeForce 9600 GT (based on the price), though we have seen here from this XFX that it is capable of outdoing the 9600 GT in the right circumstances. More importantly, considering the wide margin in performance between the XFX and its intended rival, the Radeon HD 4670, it is perhaps safe to say that the 4670 is in its own league and price-range and has some ways to go before it can stand up to the GeForce 9600 GSO, despite it being a 'crippled' GPU. It also shows that ATI is in dire need of a GPU to fill in between the HD 4850 and HD 4670, because frankly, the gap is pretty wide. Good thing is that their answer is coming quite soon, on the 23rd October to be exact. More detail on that next week.

Now, what about price of the current 9600 GSO cards in question? NVIDIA says the GeForce 9600 GSO will retail for about US$79, so as to remain competitive with the 4670, but a quick look around Newegg indicated that GeForce 9600 GSO cards were mostly going for around the US$90 to US$100 mark. As for the XFX GeForce 9600 GSO XXX Edition, we were informed that it would retail for around US$120 (S$175), which might sound expensive at first, but if you think about it, it is actually quite good value for money for the right users, that is.

Keep an open mind here, the GeForce 9600 GSO might be a less powerful version of the 9600 GT, but it does cost less too. And XFX's take on the card shows that with a bit of overclocking and a lot of luck, one can overclock it to and even exceed GeForce 9600 GT (~S$190) levels of performance. The results of our benchmarking test shows clearly that unless you really crank up the game quality and resolution settings, the GeForce 9600 GSO is more than capable of matching and surpassing the more expensive GeForce 9600 GT.

Although much of the credit must go towards the folks at XFX, NVIDIA's GeForce 9600 GSO seems to have what it talks to mount an NVIDIA counter-attack with its impressive performances here. The only thing going against it is its high operating temperatures, no thanks to its puny cooler.

However, that's not to say the GSO is without its flaws. Its limited memory bandwidth and 384MB frame buffer fails the GPU at higher settings and while not everyone will run at more intensive settings, modern games like Crysis will naturally stress GPUs with less than sufficient memory and that is something higher clocks can mitigate only to a certain extent. Even in other games that aren't as stressful as Crysis, anti-aliasing performance is a problem to the GSO due to its reduced raster operation units, lower memory bandwidth and limited frame buffer. One has to really decide on the kind of resolution and quality level they intend to game before making an informed decision in this crowd of options.

Nevertheless, there were many moments when the XFX GeForce 9600 GSO XXX Edition appeared a very decent mid-range alternative. Benching this card was a joy because it felt somewhat like finding a hidden gem in the jungle. Crippled it may be, but the GeForce 9600 GSO still has life in it. Interestingly, the GeForce 9600 GSO is also available in a 768MB flavor, which was something that the XFX GeForce 9600 GSO XXX Edition should have had, apart from a better cooler. That would have allowed the card to continue its fine performance in the more intensive tests.

As it stands now and however unlikely it may be, the XFX GeForce 9600 GSO XXX Edition may well be quite a mid-range bargain if you can ignore its flaws. The ball is now squarely in ATI's court to fill in the gap in its lineup.

Price Update!: We just received word from XFX that the XFX GeForce 9600 GSO XXX Edition will retail for US$110 (S$162), making it even greater value for money and a serious proposition for those looking for a capable mid-range card. This change in pricing should be reflected in retail soon.

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