nVidia 8600 GTS and 8600 GT - Foxconn and XFX
The Cards - XFX 8600 GT XXX Edition
Published: 18th May 2007 | Source: XFX | Price: |
Now onto the 8600 GTS's little brother, the 8600 GT. With lower clockspeeds, lower clocked shaders and less memory bandwidth this is only a slightly slower GTS. To complete the picture:
| XFX "XXX" 8600 GTS | Foxconn 8600 GTS | Reference 8600 GT | XFX "XXX" 8600 GT | |
| Stream Processors | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 |
| Core Clock (MHz) | 730 | 675 | 540 | 620 |
| Shader Clock (MHz) | 1595 | 1450 | 1180 | 1355 |
| Memory Clock (MHz) | 1130 | 1000 | 700 | 800 |
| Memory Amount | 256 GDDR3 | 256 GDDR3 | 256mb GDDR3 | 256mb GDDR3 |
| Memory Interface | 128-bit | 128-bit | 128-bit | 128-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec) | 32 | 32 | 22.4 | 22.4 |
| Texture Fill Rate (billion/sec) | 10.8 | 10.8 | 8.6 | 8.6 |
Packaging
The packaging on the XFX "XXX" Edition 8600 GT is almost identical to the GTS card. With the cartoon cyber-dog on the front and some nVidia information on the back. I didn't mention it in the 8600 GTS close look but the box is actually pretty compact, although still well protected.
The box is bound to stand out on retail shelves, as mentioned previously.
Again the XFX 8600 GT is protected by a clear plastic layer so you shouldn't have any problems at all with couriers unless they run over it (don't laugh - that happened to someone I know - Ed). A different approach to Foxconn but a pretty decent job of protecting the card.
Package
The package with the XFX 8600 GT is:
* Driver CD
* Installation Manual
* S-Video to S-Video Cable
* DVI to VGA converter
And...that's it.
Package
The package with the XFX 8600 GT is:
* Driver CD
* Installation Manual
* S-Video to S-Video Cable
* DVI to VGA converter
And...that's it.
I have to admit I was rather disappointed with the bundle here seeing as it's XFX's flagship "XXX" Edition, even if it is only the 8600 GT. Hardware-wise again XFX are missing anything to connect up the card to an HDTV, which would have been a big bonus and is something Foxconn have obviously thought of already.
The card itself
This is more like an XFX card! With the black PCB and the green DVI ports this is a nice looking card. It's also a pretty tiny card even compared to the 8600 GTS.
The card itself
This is more like an XFX card! With the black PCB and the green DVI ports this is a nice looking card. It's also a pretty tiny card even compared to the 8600 GTS.
Again the dogtags adorn the cooler and again XFX have gone for the stock nVidia-designed cooler on the 8600 GT. This card again uses mostly solid state capacitors and this time has no PCI-e power dongle.
The black PCB on the XFX 8600 GT XXX Edition gives the card a real air of something special which is why I was so confused when their 8600 GTS had a green PCB.
Again the 8600 GT features dual Dual Link DVI ports supporting two lots of up to 2560x1600 with HDCP. Notice the lime green colour on the DVI ports, excellent.
Specifications
The little 8600 GT XXX Edition doesn't do too bad at all.
The Cooler
Again XFX uses the stock nVidia cooler and again it's not a bad looking little thing.
Specifications
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The little 8600 GT XXX Edition doesn't do too bad at all.
The Cooler
Again XFX uses the stock nVidia cooler and again it's not a bad looking little thing.
The fan is about the same loudness as the GTS cooler and again doesn't spin up too much so it's not too bad. Temperatures were idle 50°C and load 77°C. Strange that a lower clocked core would get hotter, but then the cooler is a bit smaller so it does make sense.
Now onto some benchmarks
Now onto some benchmarks
Most Recent Comments
Nice roundup Kemp, good show.
looks cool, i just wish XFX had done the same with the GTS as the GT, the black PCB does look damn nice
Quote:
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Originally Posted by name='ionicle'
looks cool, i just wish XFX had done the same with the GTS as the GT, the black PCB does look damn nice
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Agreed, it really makes the card feel a little bit more special.
However at a £100 price-point you can't complain about the 8600 GT
However at a £100 price-point you can't complain about the 8600 GT
Ye the Black does make it look good maybe in future they will make more cards that use different colours:rotfl: :rotfl:
Amazing review! Really good read!
They are very nice cards.. darn small!
They are very nice cards.. darn small!
An XP driver bringing these capabilities is currently being developed by nVidia.
A certain teacher peering over my shoulder asks if this should read Vista ?
An excellent pov of the midrange cards imo, great point about the performance per $$$ too. Scope for self improvement varying too.
I can see me buying some of these for people, and to be fair based on the review I wouldn`t necessarilly buy the same card for all of them
Also included is full hardware decoding of H.264 video as well as VC-1 content. I could not test this in this review as I am using Windows XP Professional for the tests and not Vista. An XP driver bringing these capabilities is currently being developed by nVidia.
Nope
Trust me, I went through this thing for about an hour Haha nice1, she won`t like that
EDIT: edited
EDIT: edited
For one thing, I think that should be he For another, he asked me to do so (well, look through it anyways)
For another, he asked me to do so (well, look through it anyways)Meh I`m turning the lappy off, if she wants to post she can get her own freakin account!
Yes thanks to WC who managed to take over an hour reading through and checking the review at 1AM this morning!! Honestly I like my sleep
No really cheers mate
Hope you guys liked the read
No really cheers mate
Hope you guys liked the read
I don't know what ATI is doing but nVidia is about to eat into a big portion of their pie. If those prices equate to about $100 to $150 they really are good bang for the buck. That said, I myself wouldn't settle for less than a 8800GTS 320MB, seems like the best card out there for the money; 8600 cards do get a lot chopped off, so while the price is agreeable to the performance it may be a bit too little for a gamer to accept.
TJS
TJS
Nice reviews there
The only thing I don't get is if they really are worth buying? Going from say a 6800gs card and up to 150quid to spend, is it worth going for a 7900ish or 8600gts or even a 8800gts?
I know theres going to be no difinative answer for that, as either card is a big step over my current one. Any thoughts?
Cheers
The only thing I don't get is if they really are worth buying? Going from say a 6800gs card and up to 150quid to spend, is it worth going for a 7900ish or 8600gts or even a 8800gts?
I know theres going to be no difinative answer for that, as either card is a big step over my current one. Any thoughts?
Cheers
Quote:
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Originally Posted by name='Kempez'
Yes thanks to WC who managed to take over an hour reading through and checking the review at 1AM this morning!! Honestly I like my sleep
No really cheers mate Hope you guys liked the read |
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by name='ali_james'
Nice reviews there
The only thing I don't get is if they really are worth buying? Going from say a 6800gs card and up to 150quid to spend, is it worth going for a 7900ish or 8600gts or even a 8800gts? I know theres going to be no difinative answer for that, as either card is a big step over my current one. Any thoughts? Cheers |
What I find interesting, pricewize, is that these cards are hitting the scene @.. well I`ve just had a quick look-see and u can get an MSI 8600 something for £90, up to an XFX XT £150.
Now each step-up in price seems to co-incide with a big of a clock step-up as standard to the cards, and around midway ~£120 - are cards that u could probably pur-chase and clock much better than the more expensive ones.
But - think again - EXPENSIVE, we`re only talking about £30.
It seems to me that market-wize they`re making these cards for a spread of purchasers that would like to say their card is `overclocked` (although straight out of the plastic, but it sounds good) ; overclockers who will buy a kinda midrange and do the rest themselves ; and of course the cheapest I can find section.
What supprizes me most tho is that on release the prices are as low as they are. AND u can see 8800s coming down... is a G90 based card that close ? or are they really trying to spank ATi ?
I`m sorry, but I only see 3 choices of card for machines I may build:
1) heavy gameplayer - 8800
2) likes games, plays quite a bit, nothing intense - on the net alot - 8600
3) desktop - cheapo or onboard tbh. but £90... 8600 over an 8500 ??
Havent even given ATi a thought ??!?
Now each step-up in price seems to co-incide with a big of a clock step-up as standard to the cards, and around midway ~£120 - are cards that u could probably pur-chase and clock much better than the more expensive ones.
But - think again - EXPENSIVE, we`re only talking about £30.
It seems to me that market-wize they`re making these cards for a spread of purchasers that would like to say their card is `overclocked` (although straight out of the plastic, but it sounds good) ; overclockers who will buy a kinda midrange and do the rest themselves ; and of course the cheapest I can find section.
What supprizes me most tho is that on release the prices are as low as they are. AND u can see 8800s coming down... is a G90 based card that close ? or are they really trying to spank ATi ?
I`m sorry, but I only see 3 choices of card for machines I may build:
1) heavy gameplayer - 8800
2) likes games, plays quite a bit, nothing intense - on the net alot - 8600
3) desktop - cheapo or onboard tbh. but £90... 8600 over an 8500 ??
Havent even given ATi a thought ??!?
I bought the XFX 8600GTS standard version clocked at 675MHz and it is a big improvement for playing games in 1280x1024 compared to my previous 7800GT.
You can OC the XFX 8600GTS very easily at the same clock as the XXX version 730MHz and even push the GPU up to 775MHz (similar OC Kemp did to the XXX version in the review), thus you can save some bucks on the purchase.
You can OC the XFX 8600GTS very easily at the same clock as the XXX version 730MHz and even push the GPU up to 775MHz (similar OC Kemp did to the XXX version in the review), thus you can save some bucks on the purchase.
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