Shootouts

12-Way NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB Shootout

By Vincent Chang - 8 May 2007

Test Setup

Test Setup

For this comparison, we used a system based on Intel's Core 2 Duo E6700 processor and its D975XBX 'Bad Axe' motherboard. This configuration was supplemented with 2GB of low latency Kingston HyperX DDR2-800 memory modules running in dual channel mode. A Seagate 7200.7 SATA hard drive completed the system, on which we had installed Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 and DirectX 9.0c.

With no DirectX 10 applications so far, we naturally tested all the GeForce 8600 GTS on older games and benchmarks. The different clock speeds of the cards are listed below, along with the recommended local retail prices where possible.

The GeForce 8600 GTS Condensed
Graphics Card Core Clock Memory Clock Price
Albatron GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB 675MHz 2000MHz DDR US$194
ASUS EN8600GTS TOP 745MHz 2290MHz DDR S$409
Chaintech GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB 745MHz 2200MHz DDR ~ S$340
ECS GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB 675MHz 2000MHz DDR Not Available
Foxconn GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB 675MHz 2000MHz DDR ~ US$189
Gainward Bliss 8600 GTS PCX Golden Sample 725MHz 2200MHz DDR Not Available
Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H 685MHz 2100MHz DDR S$349
Leadtek WinFast PX86000 GTS TDH 675MHz 2000MHz DDR S$339
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-HD-OC 700MHz 2100MHz DDR S$375 (or US$199)
Sparkle GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB 729MHz 2214MHz DDR S$340
XFX GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB XXX Edition 730MHz 2260MHz DDR S$399
XpertVision GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB 675MHz 2000MHz DDR S$339

All the cards were tested with ForceWare 158.16 drivers (which is exactly similar in performance to that of the current ForceWare 158.19 driver set available for end-user download) and the following benchmarks were used:-

  • Futuremark 3DMark05 (ver. 120)
  • Futuremark 3DMark06 (ver. 102)
  • Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (ver 1.3)
  • FarCry (1.4 beta)
  • F.E.A.R
  • Company of Heroes (ver 1.3)
  • Quake 4 (ver 1.2)
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