Closer Look at XFX GeForce 7600 GT

The XFX GeForce 7600 GT graphics card, the opponent to the volt-modded EVGA GeForce 7600 GS, comes in a green-colored box with a picture of a very stylish doggy:

The box contains:

• Graphics card in a plastic box to protect it from damage during transportation
• Disc with drivers and games (Armored Fist 3, Delta Force Land Warrior, F-16 multirole fighter, F-22 Lightning 3)
• Installation guide and a product description
• TV cable
• DVI → D-Sub adapter

I took the card out of its box and… could I have seen that all before? It reminded me of the EVGA e-GeForce 7600 GT CO, but on a closer inspection I could only mark the same color and overall design of the PCB, and a similar-looking cooler. There are some exciting things in the GeForce 7600 GT 256MB I haven’t seen on other cards. First of all, it uses a non-standard PCB:

The power section has moved away from the connectors to the far edge of the PCB, but the core and memory regulator circuit hasn’t been changed.

It means the card can be volt-modded in the standard way. The XFX card is equipped with two DVI outputs. There is a special ledge on the card’s mounting bracket a sticker with the serial number is attached to:

I don’t quite grasp the purpose of the metal cloth between the bracket and the TV output:

I doubt it helps suppress interference in the signal sent to the TV-set.

An aluminum bar with the manufacturer’s logo goes along the edge of the card to prevent the PCB from bending. XFX seems to suggest that the user installs a heavier cooler and overclocks the card!

The card carries four 1.4ns memory chips from Samsung for a total of 256MB.

The GPU is cooled by a copper cooler (thin copper ribs are soldered to the copper base). The noise, or rather the howl, the fan emits at the maximum speed is rather irritating. You will certainly want to replace it with something more efficient and quiet if you value your acoustic comfort.

The default frequencies of this GeForce 7600 GT are slightly higher than those of the reference card: 570/725 (1450) MHz. I reached 680/850 (1700) MHz when I overclocked the card with its native cooler and without any modifications.

Now let's move on to the actual performance tests of our modified solution and compare the results against those of the GeForce 7600 GT.