XFX XXX Edition 640MiB card appearance and thoughts
The GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB DDR3 XXX Edition is, on paper, the fastest of XFX's trio of current GeForce 8800 GTS cards. Reference cards are clocked in at 500MHz, 1200MHz, 1600MHz for core, shader, and memory, respectively. The XXX SKU raises those speeds to 550/1500/1800, thereby bringing a healthy dose of overclocking to the three clock parameters that largely define comparative performance.
But looking at it you wouldn't surmise it's a super-duper edition. The card is reference in all respects, and going by the overclocking performance of other stock-clocked GTS cards - with 600MHz+ common - the core speed should be a cinch to achieve. We're more impressed by the increased shader and memory clocks. Speaking of the latter, XFX is using faster-than-default, RoHS-certified 1.1ns GDDR3 memory to achieve the effective 1800MHz clocking.
The extra speed, on all counts, is harnessed without having to use a second PEG connector. Remember, the core's not quite at GTX speeds and the memory, 640MiB, is connected via a 320-bit interface and not the 384-bit present in the GTX.
As with its bigger brother, the GTS supports dual-link DVI on both ports and has built-in HDCP support, for perfect playback from HD-DVD and Blu-ray sources. The 8800-series are the only current DX-10-compliant GPUs on the market, as well.
Nothing much to report on the back. Interestingly, the GTS SKU only has a single 'golden finger' for SLI usage, whereas the GTX has two.
Summary
XFX's GTS XXX is reference in appearance but packs in considerably more power than a default-clocked model. We're glad to see that no major cooling modifications have been made to achieve the higher clocks. After all, if the general heatsink/fan combination is good enough to effectively cool a higher-clocked GTX card; the GTS, even overclocked, should be no problem.[advert]
