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NVIDIA GeForce 8500/8600 @ PC Perspective
DailyTech's roundup of reviews from around the web for Tuesday

NVIDIA GeForce 8500/8600
@ PC Perspective
@ AnandTech
@ Legion Hardware
@ Legit Reviews
@ XSReviews
@ techPowerUp!
@ Guru3D
@ TweakTown
@ Elite Bastards
@ Hot Hardware
@ Tech ARP
@ MVKTech

Motherboards
Tyan K8SE Motherboard @ 3dGameMan
Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus nForce 650i Motherboard @ PCSTATS.com

Video
ATi RADEON X1900XTX Video Card @ OCIA.net
XFX 680i LT SLI @ Bjorn3D
Inno3D GeForce 7950 GT iChiLL Accelero S1M @ bit-tech.net
XFX GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB XXX Edition Video Card @ Benchmark Reviews
Sapphire X1950 Pro Dual @ techPowerUp

Enclosures
Thermaltake Bach VX @ XYZ Computing

Cooling
Vizo Propeller Graphics Card Cooler @ TechwareLabs
Fluid XP+ Vortex XP Universal CPU Waterblock @ PC Apex

Storage
Kingston 8GB Data Traveler @ Bootdaily

Peripherals
Razer Death Adder @ TechwareLabs
Lexmark P450 Compact Photo Printer with CD Burner @ Bigbruin.com
Icemat Siberia Headset @ XSReviews
Logitech X-540 5.1 Surround Computer Speaker System @ Tweaknews.net
Altec Lansing inMotion iM500 Ultra-Portable iPod nano Speakers @ TheTechLounge
Logitech Harmony 1000 @ Digital Trends

Multimedia Devices
Hitachi DZ-HS300A Hybrid HDD/DVD Camcorder @ Digital Trends

Comments     Threshold


This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
By jmke on 4/17/2007 10:54:58 AM , Rating: 2
From the different benchmarks it seems the 8600GTS is trailing the X1950 pro quite a bit, and in some benchmarks even falls behind the 7900GS. Performance difference with 8800GTS 320Mb (which can be found as low as $280) is huge, and with cost of $200-220 for the 8600GTS, I don't think it a very wise buy at this moment.

Only redeeming factor is DX10 and better shader performance (as shown in Oblivion / STALKER / Rainbow Six benchmarks) where the 8600GTS is ahead of the X1950 Pro.




By jmke on 4/17/2007 10:56:11 AM , Rating: 2
btw, Brandon, XSReviews is X1950 Pro card;)


By Brandon Hill (blog) on 4/17/2007 11:00:46 AM , Rating: 1
Fixed :)


By kilkennycat on 4/17/2007 11:05:21 AM , Rating: 2
The MSI 8600GTS (OC) is in stock at ZZF for $189.99 (and the MSI 8500GT @ $99.99. Seems about the right price for performance... and no doubt there will be 20-30% price-erosion of both within the next three months. Truly Dx10 for the masses.


By RussianSensation on 4/17/2007 12:55:18 PM , Rating: 2
I don't think the price is right for performance at this time. At $100-110 it is a good buy.

There is not 1 DX10 game on the market and if you think this will play Unreal 3 or Crysis smoothly, that might be too much to ask for a card with 32 shaders.

X1950Pro outperforms this card at $140 with mail in rebates and X1950XT destroys it at same $189 price level. Nvidia has been a top choice for midrange with Ti4200, 6600GT and 7600GT, but it seems ATI is better positioned to take the mid-range if it only releases a 256-bit card (likely given that the top end is 512-bit)


By kalak on 4/18/2007 2:45:43 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I don't think the price is right for performance at this time. At $100-110 it is a good buy


I agree.

quote:
X1950Pro outperforms this card at $140 with mail in rebates and X1950XT destroys it


That's not true. The cards are very similar on DX9 games (I OWN a X1950Pro) with some variations (nVidia is better in OpenGL titles and some games that ARE optimized for nVidia).
I think the point is THERE'S NO DX10 BENCHMARKS for this cards. Ok, they are pretty good with DX9, but they are DX10 cards, right ?

The time is to wait. Wait for good DX10 titles and see what these cards will get....


More reviews:
By Chillin1248 (blog) on 4/17/2007 12:49:46 PM , Rating: 6
HD video decoding
By superunknown98 on 4/17/2007 2:39:54 PM , Rating: 2
seems to be a great feature though, especially if you run a HTPC. I am very interested to see how well decoding is handled and if it does live up to it's hype, ATI better have something similar.

Just curious, o all duallink dvi ports pass HDCP content, or is it just for these cards?




RE: HD video decoding
By Lazarus Dark on 4/18/2007 12:15:54 PM , Rating: 2
The Anandtech article says nvidia claims 100% decode acceleration. 200 bucks for full h264 decode! hell yeah! This is my next card! Just give me a blueray drive for 200 now. I'd like to see some benchmarks specifically @ 1080p as I run a westinghouse 37" 1080p monitor. Though I guess I can just assume a couple extra fps over the 1920x1200 benchmarks.


Why the G80 driver?
By Lakku on 4/17/2007 3:59:42 PM , Rating: 4
Why did AT use the old 97 series driver for the 8800 series? The 158.19 driver is the reunification of the GF8 series driver across Windows XP AND Vista. Yet, no one seems to have any articles on it, and considering the brouhaha over nVidia's driver woes for the 8 series in Vista and the fact they hadn't really updated the Xp drivers for the flagship card in a couple months, makes me suprised. With that said, I want to see some threads somewhere on the new XP drivers for the 8800gtx as the release notes don't seem to be up. Only thing it says (for both Xp and Vista) is numerous application fixes and increased 3d performance.

Second, why no articles on the fact Creative just licensed out the X-Fi chip, to be used by 3rd party board makers? That seems new to me. :)




Bad (L) ink
By Googer on 4/17/2007 11:52:43 AM , Rating: 2
Non-working hyperlink

Multimedia Devices
Hitachi DZ-HS300A Hybrid HDD/DVD Camcorder @ Digital Trends




So... No AA, huh?
By TejTrescent on 4/17/2007 12:29:39 PM , Rating: 2
Looks like AA completely kills the cards, but anything else they do great with.

... works for me!




About time!
By Hoser McMoose on 4/17/2007 2:52:25 PM , Rating: 2
I've been waiting for these cards for a bit, and while I know some people are a bit disappointed, I think it should be quite sufficient for my needs. I've only got a 1440x900 screen (roughly the same pixel count as a 1280x1024), and gaming performance looks to be pretty acceptable at that level. Besides, I only play about 5 hours of games a month and I'm currently getting by on integrated GeForce 6150 graphics!

What I find most exciting is that it looks like there will be several models of fanless 8600GT cards! Woohoo for NOT requiring another noisy and failure-prone fan in my computer! This is something I haven't seen from many x1950 cards (PowerCooler makes one, but I'm not sure it would fit in my case!).

The big question now though is what price these various cards are going to sell for once they're all available. My budget is unfortunately limited to ~$200 CDN (about $170 US), and it looks like it might be pretty tight to get a fanless card.




X1950pro , nice card but..
By fuzzieb on 4/17/2007 5:04:41 PM , Rating: 2
The X1950pro is a nice card except that ATI hasn't come up with a competent driver for it yet!!!!

There is a beta driver available for this card, as the mainstream catalyst driver DOESN'T support the pro card.
Been there , bought a nice Powercolor X1950pro card to find out that the driver didn't work properly.

The second page of the driver download for individual updates at ATI states...
"Customers who own an ATI Radeon® X1950 PRO and looking for drivers, please click here"...

Too bad...it looked like a nice card, and I sold it on Ebay.




XFX 680i LT SLI
By Rookierookie on 4/18/2007 6:21:04 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
XFX 680i LT SLI @ Bjorn3D


This is a motherboard.




"Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine." -- Bill Gates









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