XFX 9600 GT XXX Alpha Dog Edition 740M 512mb

 

The 9600 GT wasn’t my favourite GPU when it came out. The lack of clock speed and the fact that it wasn’t as competitive in pricing as it should have been was a little disappointing.

 

The good news is that there’s been a few drops in pricing since the 9600 GT came to light and this speedy XFX 9600 GT Alpha Dog XXX 740M Edition is a super fast super charged version that you can pick up for as little as £114 @ Dabs.

 

That gives a new focus on price and performance and shows that Nvidia’s partners were aware that the stock 9600 GT was simply clocked too slow. It’s also worth mentioning that XFX are bringing out a 1GB version of the 9600 GT, which should be at an even more competitive price point.

 

The one major downfall of the XFX card is that the cooler is quite frankly: appallingly loud. Whilst the 9600’s are pretty cool anyway, even using Rivatuner slows the fan down to a minimum of 25% which is totally unacceptable noise-wise. This is a total shame as the card is a decent performer apart from this and the cooling capabilities of the cooler are very good.

 

I’m giving the XFX 9600 GT Alpha Dog XXX Edition 740M 512mb an OC3D Recommended Award, along with a Value Award, perhaps with a proviso that you replace the cooler with something a little more friendly to the ears.

 

 

The Good
+ Good performance per £
+ Great bundle
+ Decent looking

The Mediocre
* Still not blinding performance

The Bad
– Awfully loud cooler

 

 

  

 

 

Thanks to XFX for the review sample

 

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