GeForce 8600: DirectX 10 For The Masses

[bgerber]

Nvidia launches another set of graphics cards bringing the features of DirectX 10 and a new PureVideo engine to sub $230 consumers.

 

[blueeyesm]

The phrase "what have done for me lately" is not misplaced as we should expect a lot from the people we shell out hundreds of dollars to in computer hardware.

"What have you done for me lately"

As punishment, go listen to Janet's latest album.

😛

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Linky no worky !! :?

Folks try this one maybe;
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/04/17/geforce_8600/

And seriously WTF !?! Only 3Dmk05, Doom3, FEAR and Oblivion?

And at least publish the composite sub scores of 3Dmk05 !!

Oohh final bungholiomark score on a card known to have exagerated 3Dmark results!?! C'Mon! :roll:

If you guys need more software let me know I can send you a few titles.

 

[crazypyro]

mid range DX10 card is nice and all, But when in the hell is the mid-range cards going to adopt 256bit interface, since the high-end is moving beyond 256bit?

 

[Anoobis]

I guess my X1800XT is still a good card then.

 

[tamalero]

Linky no worky !! :?

Folks try this one maybe;
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/04/17/geforce_8600/

And seriously WTF !?! Only 3Dmk05, Doom3, FEAR and Oblivion?

And at least publish the composite sub scores of 3Dmk05 !!

Oohh final bungholiomark score on a card known to have exagerated 3Dmark results!?! C'Mon! :roll:

If you guys need more software let me know I can send you a few titles.

they sold their souls to nvidia, thus only driver optimized programs for benching 😉

 

[meljor]

according to anand`s review the gts can hardly keep up with the x1950 pro! and it should beat the 7900gt and x1900`s? :lol:

only in the most heavy games it can keep up with the x1950 pro.

this series is a joke (at these prices) because they are too slow for dx10 i think.

initial rumors said it would have 64 streaming processors. too bad they don`t have it because 32 turn into screaming processors since they can`t handle future games.

hopefully they lower the price for the 8800gts 640mb soon or release a 8800/8900gs so i have a upgrade path....

``YES! i bought a dx10 card for 200 dollars! no, i can`t play higher than 1024x768 because it will stutter....................!!! :roll: ``

 

[sabenfox]

After reading the review, personally i think these two new cards suck. They are ok for someone who is not really interested in eye candy, but to see the x1950 beating out the NEW 8600, please...

 

[stemnin]

Hopefully, the 8600 will do better in dx10, because those benchies just show that it's not worth it imo.

What's up with the bad link lol, someone finds it too hard to copy and paste without adding the letter "e" 3/4 of the way through..

 

[celewign]

Lol, my X850XTPE is beaten by a 8500...

sigh.
-cm

 

[MrCommunistGen]

"Radeon 9800 has basically two memory densities 128 and 256 as well as a few models like Pro, XT and XT Platinum Edition."

Actually the 9800 had a vanilla, Pro, and XT... I hate it when big articles make simple mistakes... now on to reading the rest of it!

-mcg

 

[celewign]

Ape, why didn't Cleeve do this review? This is right up Cleeve's alley. I'm not saying that Mr. Polkowski made a poor review, but this sort of thing is Cleeve's cup of tea. <restatement of previous sentence>
-cm

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

they sold their souls to nvidia, thus only driver optimized programs for benching 😉

Yeah, maybe.

And as for the price listed, who's saying $229 is the high side, the GTS is selling for $249 at BestBuy;

And yes that US$, the guy who took the pic works for the BB in MO.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1178431&highlight=8600GTS

C'mon, talk about playing down the negative for a positive review.

Anyone dumb enough to pay full price at BB should take advantage of the 90day return policy and buy elsewhere.

For about $150-179 I'd recommend it for anyone building a new PC, but for over $200 I would say they are a waste of money and people should wait for their store to drop their prices to reflect the reality of their performance level.

this is the X1600 all over again, mediocre performance being pawned off as golden.

 

[Shizamaaur]

That's horrible... I really was expecting better performance... hmm I wonder what the new low end ATI cards can do? :twisted:

 

[grabeck]

Why would you guys even bother posting benchmarks for the 8600's if you don't use a DX10 O.S. to do them with???

This is moronic! period! take these results with a grain of salt... really, they are worthless without a Vista O.S.

If the 8600's blow with Vista just as bad... so be it, but you guys have offered us NOTHING in the way of information today!

 

[hannibal]

Low and middle range cards allways have been bad when compared to old high end cards. They are not for heavy gaming, they are mean to be cheap and even cheaper to produce. It's busines... The next generation of middle range cards are actually very suitable. I remember days of the comming of new and proud DX9... same thing then, same thing now.
So, if you want good and cheap... wait second generation, because new cards have to compete somehow first generation lower high end cards...

 

[icepop456]

Why would you guys even bother posting benchmarks for the 8600's if you don't use a DX10 O.S. to do them with???

This is moronic! period! take these results with a grain of salt... really, they are worthless without a Vista O.S.

If the 8600's blow with Vista just as bad... so be it, but you guys have offered us NOTHING in the way of information today!

Very simple - this is done for those of us who are not willing to be beta testers of Vista just yet. There are no DX10 games out. Obviously hardware changes rather frequently, but some of us do try to hedge our bets and buy something that can be useful in the future. Yes I would like to see DX10 results just like you, but I'm not switching to Vista until someone shows me why bother. I have a 6600GT and it is not great with my 1920x1200 monitor. I would like a new card, but I don't want to out date myself at this time just in case I do change to Vista.

This review shows that the 8600 is not worth buying at this time. I believe nVidia knows this. They don't want to phase our the DX9 just yet.

 

[sailer]

I guess my X1800XT is still a good card then.

Yeah, and except for the possible use of DX10, my X1900XTX will beat this new card. I'll just keep my old card longer, because I don't see a need to change to this 8600 card since there are now DX10 games out anyway. And if a DX10 game does come out, it will probalby require more power then the 8600 supplies.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Ape, why didn't Cleeve do this review? This is right up Cleeve's alley. I'm not saying that Mr. Polkowski made a poor review, but this sort of thing is Cleeve's cup of tea. <restatement of previous sentence>
-cm

Yeah I agree, I prefer Cleeve and Crashman's reviews, but it looks like Darren gets all the new stuff, and that Cleeve and Crash do the specialty reviews.

PS, I suspect Cleeve or Crashman will be doing the part-II PureVideo test mentioned in the middle of the review.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

That's horrible... I really was expecting better performance... hmm I wonder what the new low end ATI cards can do? :twisted:

Yeah I don't think the X2600 series will be much different, I think they're both being held back by the 128bit memory.
Let's hope they've improved their memory management, but I don't expect any miracles.

 

[sojrner]

agreed, I also still enjoy my 1900xt512...


...honestly until we see dx10 in games and benchies it is really hard to tell if any of these 8 series are going to be good... right now the 8600 looks like not. 😉

 

[Shizamaaur]

Yeah I don't think the X2600 series will be much different, I think they're both being held back by the 128bit memory.
Let's hope they've improved their memory management, but I don't expect any miracles.

This is what I was figuring.. hmm I guess we still have to wait and see lol

 

[Multiplectic]

I guess my X1800XT is still a good card then.

According to this (Linky), and considering the 8600GTS is on par with the X1950Pro (give or take, it depends), I'd say your X1800XT is still holding it. 8)

 

[tamalero]

Why would you guys even bother posting benchmarks for the 8600's if you don't use a DX10 O.S. to do them with???

This is moronic! period! take these results with a grain of salt... really, they are worthless without a Vista O.S.

If the 8600's blow with Vista just as bad... so be it, but you guys have offered us NOTHING in the way of information today!

dude,honestly, I would say that card would perform EVEN SLOWER on Vista..
like.. hint hint.. ALL OTHER CARDS!

 

[Krenn]

Here's another question I didn't see answered -- what is the power usage and heat impact of the new cards? Seems to me that they should be significantly cooler than the 8800 series, and draw far less power. The 80nm design should help with that, but it's not even mentioned.