Foxconn 9800GTX Extreme OC

INTRODUCTION

NVIDIA has a rather interesting way of doing business.  They usually do not throw the one-two punch that Intel does with their processor line-up; rather, NVIDIA generally releases some good products followed up by some mediocre (occasionally bad) ones.  Look at the history of NVIDIA and we can all remember the GeForce 5800 dust buster that was quickly rectified by the subsequent release of the GeForce 6 series.  Despite the fact that NVIDIA is enjoying the performance crown at the moment with the 9800GX2 and has a good mainstream market share with the 8800GT/GTS, and a budget card contender with the 9600GT, they seem to leave a gap in between.  This is what prompted NVIDIA to release the 9800GTX on April 1, 2008 to fill the gap.  Although the 9800GTX is priced close to $400, its performance gain over the 8800GT/GTS makes it hard to recommend.  Maybe this is NVIDIA’s “April Fool’s” joke to everyone who has bought the card.

Fast forward one week later to April 8, 2008, and notice that NVIDIA partners - such as XFX, EVGA, and Foxconn - have released overclocked versions of the card.  Despite the lackluster performance gain over the 8800GTS at stock speed, the overclocked 9800GTX has will potentially offer some significant performance increases and justify the premium price over the cheaper 8800GTS. This is what we aim to find out in today’s review.

Bjorn3D has previously reviewed the performance difference of the stock 9800GTX versus various high-end and mainstream graphic cards: namely the 8 series cards (review).  We are fortunate to receive the Foxconn GeForce 9800 GTX Extreme OC card which features clock speed of 780/1900/2360 (core/shader/memory) as opposed to the reference speed of 675/1688/2200. Today, we will put this card against other mid-range graphic cards ranging from the last generation G80 to current generation G92 cards and even the HD card from AMD.

Foxconn: The Company

For those of you who are new to the computer enthusiast arena Foxconn may not be a corporate name that you are readily familiar with. On the other hand those of you that have been around for a while are probably very familiar with Foxconn motherboards. My guess is that most of Bjorn3D's readers are not aware that Foxconn is one of the extremely small number of manufacturers that actually make and assemble NVIDIA based graphics cards as well for all the other companies that market them. Chances are you've already owned a Foxconn manufactured card and never even knew it. You probably aren't aware that in addition to motherboards and graphics cards Foxconn also manufactures: cases, coolers, barebones computer systems, power supplies, card readers, and wireless cards.

Foxconn is the registered trade name of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., a global leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of advanced computer, communications, and consumer electronics components, including motherboards, graphics cards, CPU coolers, barebone systems, and chassis for personal computer desktops and servers. With over three decades of demonstrated manufacturing excellence, Hon Hai sets the standard in the industry for product quality and reliability, customer support, and value. In 2005 Hon Hai had sales of $25 billion (USD).

The Channel Service Division (CSD), part of the PCE Business Group of Hon Hai, is Hon Hai's worldwide organization for servicing channel customers. Guided by the mantra "The Art of More", CSD is dedicated to making it simpler and more affordable for its customers to offer superior information systems to their consumer and enterprise customers. CSD serves a network of distributors and OEM customers in Asia, EMEA, and the Americas.