So although ATI are taking all the top spots in the graphics card game at the moment, NVIDIA have their own offerings that promise good performance at a reasonable price. One such card is the mid-range GeForce 9600 GT OC edition from Galaxy, which we managed to get hold of today. As you all know the GeForce 9600 GT series are very popular and are those series that are selling well due to their good performance and attractive price range. To make this card even more attractive you have to add just some overclocking settings and you are good to go. And that is just want Galaxy has done with their overclocked version and keeping the price in check for the big public. - XSReviews

Galaxy GeForce 9600 GT OverClock Graphics Review

The Galaxy GeForce 9600 GT box is pretty attractive, as far as boxes go, with an icey blue color scheme framing the open mouthed head of a white tiger. There's an overclocked bit of text to let you know that this is no ordinary GeForce 9600GT, and a large Xtreme tuner logo to back this up. The back of the box has a couple of screenshots to the capabilities of the card alongside some feature blocks and a few multilingual specifications. The GeForce 9600 GT itself, follows on from the visual theme of the box, with a brigh blue wave scene. Okay the waves aren't visible on the box, but there we go following our wave.

Also on the shroud sticker is a small Galaxy logo with their website underneath. The fan is a coaxial jobby, and sits above the the pulse width modulator area. It pulls air across the heatsink beneath it and from beneath the card. This air is then pushed over the internal heatsink. From the rear of the GeForce 9600 GT, the internal heatsink is clearly visible, situated underneath the wave shroud. On the rear PCI bracket there are twin DVI ports. On top of the card, there's a single SLI bridge port. This really allows the connection of two GeForce 9600 GT cards together, for extra performance and gaming pleasure.

Using RivaTuner to keep fan speeds up and adjust clocks, we were able to raise the frequency from 675MHz core and 2000MHz memory speed, to 750/2250MHz respectively. This overclock might not be the biggest around, but it gives a nice little performance bump. And who can complain about extra GPU power, for free? The GeForce 9600 GT OC version from Galaxy isn't a bad card by any means. It's performance is pretty good, but not special, it's not too loud but not particularly quiet. It's price however, has gotten pretty damn good and since this card's release six months ago, as it came down much in price tag.

While more modern cards from both camps have begun to show up, the GeForce 9600 GT, especially one that overclocks a little beyond it's overclocked setting isn't a bad buy for $125. Also, thanks to the SLI bridge, there's always the possibility of adding a second one later on for a bit of extra performance. Bottom line, while the GeForce 9600 GT OC edition from Galaxy is hardly the best card out there, it does its job well at a very reasonable price, so if you're on a bit of a budget, check it out.