Albatron 8800GT-512X Graphic Card Review

The Albatron 8800GT-512X is finally here at goldfries, let’s see what this baby is capable of!

The Appearance

The Albatron 8800GT-512X looks pretty much like other 8800GT out there, it reminded me of XFX’s 8800GT too.

I like the low-profile heatsink of the 8800GT, the length of the card is just a little less than the ATI 2900XT cards.

Nothing fancy about this card. Note the “trademark” Albatron logo on the fan. Nice touch on that one!

The card comes with 2 DVI output and 1 S-video output. The heatsink is enclosed in a sleek looking black shell.

The Bundle

– Power connector
– HDTV-out
– S-Video cable
– 2x DVI-VGA converter
– Composite TV Video Cable
– Installation guide & driver CD.

Card Details

Here’s a summarized detail of the card.

GPU	8800GT
GPU Code Name	G92
Memory Type	DDR3
Memory Bandwidth	256-bit
Memory Capacity	512MB
Core Clock	600
Memory Clock	900
Shader Clock	1500

More details at the official product page

Test Setup

The computer setup used for this review.

Processor	Intel E2140 Overclocked @ 3.2ghz
RAM	2x 1GB Kingston DDR2 667 @ DDR2 800
Motherboard	ASUS P5K-E
Cooler	Xigmatek HDT-S963
Monitor	20″ Dell Ultra-sharp Wide-screen LCD
Operating System	Windows XP (SP2)
Driver Version	ForceWare Release 169 (Version: 169.21)

The Performance & Overclocking

The Albatron 8800GT-512X runs at 600Mhz core clock and 900Mhz memory clock. Shader clock is at 1500Mhz.

As usual – this baby will be subjected to some overclocking. I had a harder time overclocking the Albatron 8800GT-512X. Usually I’ll test all overclocking with 3DMark06 and after that, they usually past the rest of the test. Unfortunately in this case, it didn’t work quite well. I was able to pass 3DMark06 with more than 1000Mhz memory clock but it just refuses to work with F.E.A.R

After countless rebooting (yes, you know why……..) I eventually settled at 720Mhz core clock, 950Mhz memory clock and 1800Mhz shader clock. Pretty decent overclock here.

Now, let’s have a look at the test results

3Dmark06

Default setting.

Core / Memory	Score
600 / 900	10962
720 / 950	12135

Lost Planet : Extreme Condition

Graphic Detail : Maximum

Core / Memory	Resolution	Snow (Average)	Cave (Average)
600 / 900	1680 x 946	25.1	35.6
720 / 950	1680 x 946	27.3	39.0

F.E.A.R.

Graphic Detail : Maximum

Core / Memory	Resolution	Average
600 / 900	1680 x 1050	68
720 / 950	1680 x 1050	76

Company Of Heroes : Opposing Fronts

Graphic Detail : Maximum

Core / Memory	Resolution	Average
600 / 900	1680 x 1050	41.1
720 / 950	1680 x 1050	54.3

The card runs at 53°C on idle and 80°C on load. When overclocked, the card idles at 53°C and 84°C on load. Readings were taken when ambient temperature was around 25°C.

I’d like to make a note that the above overclocked speed was done when the ambient temperature was around 21°C. At 25°C ambient temperature, the above overclock settings face stability issues. So yeah the card has potential, the limitation lies in the environment and cooling system.

This issue is confined to Albatron alone. If you check out the rest of the brands like XFX, ASUS, Leadtek and others, you’ll see that their heatsinks are practically the same.

Conclusion

It’s a nice graphic card. A little on the hot side (8800GT cards are hot in general, regardless of what brand you’re using) so you should take a little more care on managing air-flow of the casing. 🙂

I’m pleased that the card performs well when it comes to computer gaming and it’s well worth the purchase, considering you’re getting a lot of framerates compared to cards that cost nearly double the price just a few months back.

The card retails at around RM 900. Stay tuned as there’s a new promotion from goldfries.com for this 8800GT. 🙂