XFX GeForce 6800 GS XXX Edition Review --- TheThirdMedia Hardware

Introduction

At the beginning of each new product line from chip makers like ATI or NVIDIA, there is almost always a homogeneous look to all the graphics cards across manufacturers. From their appearances to their performance, every other card is practically a clone of the reference card except for superficial customizations like logos and bundled software/accessories. In this fast-paced market, manufacturers are forced to rely on the reference design, restricting themselves to testing and feedback for the sake of being able to be the earliest to market. Any innovation that follows usually occur later in the product life-cycle, when manufacturers have had sufficient time to test their own innovations. How is any such vendor going to distinguish itself from the countless others in the market?

The tried and true answers: building up a distinct branding, price competition or catering to a select but profitable niche market. These are but some of the common strategies used in the industry. Motherboards vendors for example, face the same dilemma and companies like ABIT concentrate heavily on the enthusiast segment with more adventurous products. For graphics, we find parallels in HIS and BFG, which offer overclocked versions out of the box. XFX is another vendor that has taken this path, with almost all their products overclocked by default. This strategy has put it firmly into the enthusiast camp. Today, we shall examine their newest product based on the recently introduced GeForce 6800 GS, the XFX GeForce 6800 GS 256MB XXX Edition.

With such a mouthful of a name, the XFX GeForce 6800 GS 256MB XXX Edition is the ultimate version of the GeForce 6800 GS. The XXX logo on the box reminds us of a certain Hollywood movie but we are more concerned with what is inside the X-shaped package. To avoid over-using the name, we will henceforth refer to this card simply as 'XXX Edition' throughout this article. XFX also has a less powerful version of the GeForce 6800 GS known as the Extreme Edition, so try not to be confused between the two when shopping. They are both overclocked, but the XXX Edition is the most powerful in the family. Here then is a glimpse of its distinctive packaging and the technical specifications:

XFX graphics cards are typically overclocked to give that xtra edge over the competition.

XFX GeForce 6800 GS 256MB XXX Edition Technical Specifications

GraphicsEngine	NVIDIA GeForce 6800GPU Stock 3D GPU clock= 485MHz Stock 2D GPU clock= 350MHz 12 pixel renderingpipelines 5 vertex pipelines(geometry engines) 256-bit DDR memorycontroller CineFX3.0 Shading Engine Vertex Shaders Support for DX9.0 Vertex Shader 3.0 DisplacementMapping VertexFrequency Stream Divider (GeometryInstancing) Infinitelength vertex programs (supported inhardware) Pixel Shaders Support for DX9.0 Pixel Shader 3.0 Full pixelbranching support MultipleRender Targets (MRTs) Infinitelength pixel programs (supported inhardware) Texturing EngineFeatures Up to 16textures per rendering pass Support for 16-bit and 32-bit floating pointformats Support forsRGB texture format for gamma textures DirectX andS3TC texture compression Full128-bit FP Precision Graphics Pipeline Native supportfor 32 / 64 / 128 bits per pixelrendering modes UltraShadow IITechnology (accelerates shadowcomputations) Intellisample 3.0Technology 16x AnisotropicFiltering Adaptive TextureFiltering Rotated GridAntialiasing Fast antialiasingand compression performance Loss-less Color,Texture and Z-Data Compressionalgorithms (in real time) Fast Z-clear High-resolutionCompression Technology (HCT) increasesperformance at high resolutions. Advanced Video andDisplay Functionality Dedicated on-chipvideo processor MPEG videoencode and decode WMV9 decodeacceleration Advancedadaptive de-interlacing High qualityvideo scaling and filtering IntegratedNTSC/PAL TV encoder support resolutions upto 1024x768 with built-in Macrovision copy protection DVD and HDTV-readyMPEG-2 decoding up to 1920x1080iresolutions Dual 400MHzRAMDACs that support resolutions of2048x1536@85Hz Dual DVO ports forinterfacing external TMDStransmitters and external TV/HDTV encoder Microsoft VideoMixing Renderer (VMR) nViewMulti-display Technology Digital VibranceControl (DVC) 3.0 NVIDIA High-PrecisionDynamic-Range (HPDR) Technology Advanced thermalmonitoring and thermal management
GraphicsMemory	256MB Graphic DDR SDRAM Default memory clock =550MHz (1100MHz DDR) 256-bit memoryinterface
RAMDAC	Dual integrated 10-bitper channel 400 MHz DACs thatsupport resolutions of 2048x1536@85Hz Integrated 165 MHzTMDS transmitter (DVI 1.0 compliant andHDCP ready)
Connectors	1 x analog VGAconnector 1 x DVI-I connector 1 x 9-pin mini-DINconnector
Drivers& Software	Driver support forWindows 98 / Me / 2000 / XP FarCry
OtherInformation	16-lane PCI Expressexpansion slot required PCIe Molex power connector required



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