PNY 9600GT - GOD,Good,Bad or Ugly??

 

PNY VCG96512GXPB

Place of buy:-Some place in America

Date of buy:-Some time in July 

Price:-$150

I had a $150 budget for a mid-range graphics card.In India i was getting XFX 8600GT for $139(Rs 6000) so i told my friend to get a XFX 9600GT through his uncle in America.8800GT was out of budget for me and 9600GT filled the gap between 8800GT and 8600GTS so i emailed the newegg link for XFX 9600GT Extreme Edition which had the same price as standard edition.XFX gone mad with over 14 9600GT's in the lineup with Standard(650,1800)Extreme XT(680,1900),XXX(700,2000),XXX Alpha dog(740) Editions.Each of the models has its variants with difference in game bundle(Call of duty 4 or Company of Heroes),RAM and accessories.

-Standard model(4 variants) is available in plain 512MB,plain 512MB with CoH,with 1024MB DDR3 with either CoD4 or CoH;
-Extreme XT(2 variants) is available with CoH standard accessories,or with CoH better accessories bundle.
-XXX Edition(2 variants) is available with CoH,with CoD4
-XXX Alpha dog is available with either CoD4,CoH or Assasin's Creed...XFX confuses more with different model numbers for each

...but for my some reason my friend couldnt get a card through newegg and i ended up with a PNY 9600GT.So lets take a look at it......and i got lucky

Specs and chipset comparison table here and here


  
The package and accessories

 

The card is protected in a plastic enclosure and includes basic/standard accessories.Verto sounds a overclocking range but its plain vanilla 9600GT with stock speeds.The package includes:- an installation CD,quick installation guide,2 DVI->D-SUB/VGA convertors,S-Video Cable,Molex->PCI-E convertor,HDTV cable

Ripping it apart

SAMSUNG K4J52324QE-BJ1A rated for 1000Mhz

The cooling is just average when compared to other 9600GT's.Its all aluminium and uses a Chiefly Choice fanCC6010S12H(Chiefly Choice+W*L*H+S for sleeve bearing+12V+H for HighSpeed) with 4000RPM speed and 15.15CFM air flow.The card uses a reference cooler and its idle temp is around 44C.


Memory Chips

The Samsung chips are rated for 1Ghz and easily overclocks to the rated frequencies.There is no cooling on the memory chips so dont expect it to overclock further .


Warranty for America:XFX offers the best warranty options while PNY offers one year warranty which can be extended to three years if you register on their site.In India i wont be getting any warranty so i wont lend it to anyone

Pros

• Conclusion:Good
  
• The USP of this card is its price.This card is one of the cheapest 9600GT's.
• Average overclocking.Overclocked Speeds :- 725/1000 (Not final,if you want you can bring this to cons).Its completely idiotic to pay more for factory overclocked cards...you pay more for what you can do yourselves..plus the card's been already overclocked so it wont overclock that much.
  
•  There is no point in complaining the accessories bundle or the cooling part since its one of the most affordable 9600GTs.Entry level cards in this range from other brands offer the same bundle.
• Attractive SLI option.
  

Cons

• Limited warranty options when compared to XFX and game bundle.

EVGA 9600GTs and Palit 9600GT Sonic with HDMI and Displayport will be an attractive option too.

9600GT around the Web
AnandTech  Bringing Competition to Midrange  The GeForce 9600 GT Raises NVIDIA's Sub $200 Bar
Toms: Nvidia's GeForce 9600 GT Tested Conclusion
Ars Technica: reviews the NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT
LegitReviews:EVGA, Palit and XFX GeForce 9600 GT Video Card Review
EVGA e-GeForce 9600 GT SSC Review
LegitReviews:PNY Verto GeForce 9600 GT Video Card Review (June 5.2008)
Tweaktown:PNY Verto GeForce 9600GT Graphics Card
LegitReviews:Albatron GeForce 9600GT-512X Video Card Review
PCPER: BFG GeForce 9600 GT 512MB Review - NVIDIA G94 Tested
Fudzilla:XFX does three 9600GT's.htm 
Fudzilla:Zotac officially launches DisplayPort 9600GT 
Fudzilla:Zotac 9600GT has six outputs
Fudzilla:9600GT shrunk to 55nm
Fudzilla:Galaxy's low-profile 9600GT is available
Fudzilla:Sparkle 9600 GT with a dual-fly cooler 
Fudzilla:Asus OC Gear also with 9600GT
Fudzilla:MSI N9600GT Diamond has 2GB of GDDR3 with Turbo button, Hybrid Freezer and Dr Mos
Fudzilla:MSI's 9600GT Hybrid Freezer is overclocked
Fudzilla:Vvikoo has 9600GT Turbo in copper
Fudzilla:Gainward 9600GT 1024MB likes overclocking 
Fudzilla:Sparkle puts 1GB on 9600GT 
Fudzilla:XFX 9600 GT 700M XXX play hard tested
Tweaktown:XFX GeForce 9600GT XXX Alpha Dog Edition
Techtree:XFX 9600GT XXX Edition
GeForce 9600 GT Triplet
Shader Clock Overclocking Tutorial 
Update 31st August: Amdzone: 24 XFX PVT96GYDF4 GeForce 9600GTs Overclocked



About the card

This card sucks . It is dead within 8 months. Never overclocked.Cabinet always open. Looks like it died of overheating after dust buildup in the heatsink.

I dared to ignore this