Bundle, accessories and warranty
I'd rather not say what Foxconn's art department was probably 'on' when designing the packaging. Something a little stronger than caffeine, perhaps?
The indulgent hyperbole is justified for once. In the words of Tony Tamasi, the GeForce 8800 GTX is 'wicked-fast'.
You can evaluate how early our retail sample was from the CD-R containing NVIDIA's ForceWare drivers.
Software-wise, Foxconn adds in VirtualDrive PRO version 10, RestoreIT version 7 and a USB gamepad with analogue and digital control. Ryszard noted that Virtual Drive PRO 10 knackered a test system when installed. I ran into a similar issue on another test system, so caveat emptor.
A couple of DVI dongles are usual fare. Retail examples will include two power connectors and not the one you see above. Saving the hardware bundle somewhat, there's a useful S-Video-to-HDTV-out breakout box, too.
We've seen how little package differentiation is present between AIBs, so it's nice to see Foxconn include a value-adding extra. Rather than a triple-A game that we'd hoped would ship with GeForce 8800 GTX, to show off its enormous power, Foxconn bundles in a surprisingly decent, configurable gamepad that's not a mere afterthought or throwaway. The fact remains that the bundle is pretty generic other than the gamepad.
Warranty and pricing
Every Foxconn card ships with a standard 2-year warranty that starts as soon as the card is shipped to you. It's handled by the retailer from which the card is purchased from. However, should you sell the card on during the 2-year period the warranty is not transferable to the new owner. We don't like that at all; the warranty should be based on the product itself and not on ownership.Foxconn's pricing for its GeForce 880 GTX FV-N88XMAD2-OD is scheduled to come in at around £470 inc. VAT, a little above other partners' efforts.
Foxconn's new to this particular industry and, as such, needs to offer something the likes of ASUS and XFX don't, to pull customers away from established names with a loyal following. We appreciate that Foxconn's a multi-billion-dollar company so it's unlikely to fold anytime soon, but it just becomes another name in the homogeneous world of retail graphics, rather than set it on fire as we'd hoped when we first heard of its decision to enter the lucrative graphics-card market. That's my opinion, of course, and I'd like to hear yours in the HEXUS community. Whatever your thoughts, having another name in the mix pushes up competition and, hopefully, price down. We wonder which AIB is going to fall by the wayside if Foxconn continues to expand its GPU catalogue? Betting ends!
