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MSI NX8600GT Twin Turbo  (Source: MSI)
New NX8600GT Twin Turbo features two BIOSes, selectable with the press of a button

MSI this week announced its new NX8600GT Twin Turbo with a slight twist. The new NX8600GT Twin Turbo features dual video BIOSes, each containing different core and memory clock settings. Users can switch between the two clock speed profiles with the press of a turbo button.

With the stock speed profile, the NX8600GT Twin Turbo operates at 540 MHz core and 1400 MHz memory. The shader clock also operates at 1450 MHz with the stock profile. MSI places the turbo button on the metal expansion bracket above the DVI ports.

A press of the turbo button raises the clock speeds up to 580 MHz core and 1600 MHz memory. The shader clock receives a boost to 1508 MHz as well. MSI claims a 20 percent performance boost in 3DMark06 with a press of the turbo button.

Other notable features of the NX8600GT Twin Turbo include dual dual-link DVI, HDCP compliance, HDMI output capable and component video output. The card also comes with 256MB of GDDR3 memory.

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Stupid idea
By BBock727 on 8/28/2007 11:57:33 AM , Rating: 5
Why not just leave turbo on all the time? Seems like they wasted money making a turbo button when they could have just gave us more GPU for our $




RE: Stupid idea
By omnicronx on 8/28/2007 12:00:26 PM , Rating: 3
because not everyone constantly has 3d accelerated programs running. While running in 2d mode, your shiny new 8600gt is not going to perform any better than my last generation 7600gt, so why not save some power, let alone the life of your videocard or other components for that matter (psu).


RE: Stupid idea
By nomagic on 8/28/2007 12:24:20 PM , Rating: 5
In 2D mode, the settings are automatically adjusted to lower clock speed, so you don't need the turbo button to do it manually. If you would like to save more power, there are third party apps that let you further lower the clock speed in 2D mode.

Why the turbo button if it doesn't make sense? (Because it looks l33t?)


RE: Stupid idea
By aetherzero on 8/28/2007 1:00:41 PM , Rating: 2
Don't forget that there are a lot of people who would be turned off by the idea of using third party software, or even software provided by the developer that has variable overclocking. Some are scared to mess with stuff like that, and a single on/off OC button fully supported by the manufacturer makes the whole process a lot simpler and more attractive to someone who isn't a power user or experienced overclocker.


RE: Stupid idea
By nomagic on 8/28/2007 1:16:38 PM , Rating: 5
I guess I didn't make myself clear.

Without the aid of ANY 3rd party apps, modern GPUs automatically downclock in 2D mode to conserve power.

Much better!


RE: Stupid idea
By Griswold on 8/28/2007 1:19:43 PM , Rating: 1
Ho ho ho, slow down there little jimmy! It took nvidia months to get this functionality semi-working in their vista drivers! :p


RE: Stupid idea
By omnicronx on 8/28/2007 1:23:57 PM , Rating: 2
Ya hats what i have noticed, it have a 7600GT and i have yet to figure out how to downclock in Vista with Aero enabled. And i think its only with the current generation of video cards(8***), i know ATI added it into the 1800/1900 series, but i am not too sure about nvidia.


RE: Stupid idea
By leexgx on 8/29/2007 10:49:39 PM , Rating: 2
as far as i know the only nvidia GPU cards to not have downlocks is the 8xxx cards all of them run at the same speed the 7800/79xx cards did have downclock in 2d mode

the button is more lieky an gimmic (does do what it says tho) but should be done useing the nvidia driver on its own in the first place


RE: Stupid idea
By omnicronx on 8/28/2007 1:21:13 PM , Rating: 2
What about vista aero, being 3d accerated and all.. I don't think my video card currently downclocks. You also have no idea how this works, for all you know even if it does downclock in 2d mode, it could downclock even further if turbo is not enabled. It would be interesting to find out..


RE: Stupid idea
By aetherzero on 8/28/2007 2:34:19 PM , Rating: 2
I wasnt referring to 2D applications, i was talking about applications where the OC would actually be needed (games and 3D apps), and for the subset of gamers who are not hardware enthusiasts, this would be a useful feature.


RE: Stupid idea
By Soumaxeridis on 8/29/2007 9:16:40 AM , Rating: 2
To be exact, 7600GT has been found to be faster than 8600GT in many 3D apps! It just doesn't have dx10 functionality.


RE: Stupid idea
By mindless1 on 8/30/2007 5:12:30 AM , Rating: 2
1st sentence, wrong because it will downclock. If clowns foolish enough to run Vista beta can't get it to work, they asked for problems. It's laughable when someone feels elite using the newest thing then can't accept that THEY choose to make tradeoffs, that this is exactly why more conservative, experienced serious uses aren't based around a new OS that hasn't had time for enough patches or 3rd party support to mature. Vista = toy OS. Eventually it will be great. It's not there yet, it has potential but just like 95, 98, 2k, xp, it is still maturing, this is just plain and simple fact. You ask for problems when running an immature OS.

2nd, true 8600GT isn't significantly faster than 7600GT in 2D, OR 3D modes. Having DX10 means nothing when a card isn't fast enough to support that in the majority of 3D games that will eventually use it to any good extent.

3rd, saving life is silly, if they rate the card capable of it, and since it was bought as a gaming card, it should always run in max stable clockrate mode in 3D apps. There should be no "life" issue at all unless they did not design the card properly, or skimped on things like the heatsink or capacitors.

PSU- nonsense. If the PSU can't handle it, it was just inappropriate for the system. We all know a gaming system has to be fitted with a PSU capable of a few more 12V amps, and should not fail regardless of this minor change in current.

In short, the clear answer is don't buy a 8600GT. There's no good reason, a 7900 is a better card, faster at anything but a synthetic benchmark, particularly in real games and it will remain faster in DX10 games once the features necessarily disabled to get either card to run fast enough, are disabled.


RE: Stupid idea
By zsouthboy on 8/28/2007 12:52:44 PM , Rating: 2
Marketing gimmick.


RE: Stupid idea
By colonelclaw on 8/29/2007 8:21:11 AM , Rating: 3
"this one goes up to 11"


RE: Stupid idea
By Etern205 on 8/28/2007 4:44:09 PM , Rating: 2
Instead of implementing these stupid ideas, why
can't they just boost the memory interface from
128bit to 256bit?

Is the chip really limited to 128bit or
does Nvidia set restrictions to those manufactures?


RE: Stupid idea
By Jedi2155 on 8/29/2007 2:52:59 AM , Rating: 3
In order to do that, they would have create a new chip entirely, which is nVidia's job. Creating a larger interface adds a lot of transistors to the chip which increases manufacturing costs and lower yields.

So no, they can't, cuz thats what nVidia does, design the chips, not MSI.


RE: Stupid idea
By Etern205 on 8/28/2007 9:33:22 PM , Rating: 2
Heh, I remember in those "AT" days on those
very old cases you'll see those number led read outs
telling you, your cpu speed. And then there is that "Turbo" button. When pressed, you'll see the number jump up
like from 66MHz to 166MHz. And then you get this feeling your in "Turbo" mode, while in reality the cpu speed didn't change. It's just the number read out that made you thought everything was faster. :)


RE: Stupid idea
By kmmatney on 8/29/2007 12:45:32 AM , Rating: 3
My first computer (386) had a "turbo" button, but it wad really a slow down button. You needed turbo on to run at 33 Mhz, and with turbo off it went down to 8 Mhz!


RE: Stupid idea
By Googer on 8/29/2007 12:54:27 AM , Rating: 2
When running older apps like the Original Half-Life, Battlefield 1942 Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault, Everquest, Warcraft, Age Of Empires, etc, the turbo button would be unnecessary; in that situation turning it off wouldn't noticeably hamper performance and would cut down on energy use or temperature both in the PC case and room.


Er, what?
By therealnickdanger on 8/28/2007 11:53:10 AM , Rating: 3
Can't you already setup apps like ATITool to autoload OC profiles when starting up certain programs? This push-button OC seems like a much more difficult method... and inconvenient to reach.




RE: Er, what?
By 16nm on 8/28/2007 12:18:05 PM , Rating: 2
I did not know about that ATI autoload feature you mention, but I more or less am in the same boat as you. What is the point of this turbo button? Why not make it automatic or simply have the card always running in the 'turbo' spec.? Who is going to reach behind their PC to fiddle with this button? Not many. Seems like a gimmick to me, and a cheesy one at that. They should, at the very least, make the turbo accessible through a keyboard combination.


RE: Er, what?
By Operandi on 8/28/2007 12:32:06 PM , Rating: 2
Running the card constantly overclocked would result in excess heat (and potentially noise) and wasted energy so having different speed profiles is a good idea. A physical button on the back of the card to enable them on the other hand....


RE: Er, what?
By killerroach on 8/28/2007 2:06:16 PM , Rating: 3
So long as they don't put this on a high-end card... I don't want my hand near the exhaust of my 8800GTS any longer than is absolutely necessary (unless I've just washed my hands and need a hand dryer, that is).


RE: Er, what?
By Griswold on 8/28/2007 1:17:25 PM , Rating: 2
There are so many tools out there who love cheesy gimmicks - just think of the modding scene.


RE: Er, what?
By DigitalFreak on 8/28/2007 2:54:43 PM , Rating: 2
Ctrl-Alt-Plus
Ctrl-Alt-Minus

Ah, that brings back memories.


RE: Er, what?
By Operandi on 8/28/2007 12:27:04 PM , Rating: 3
My thoughts exactly, this nothing but a flashy gimmick.


RE: Er, what?
By Boobless Minotaur on 8/28/2007 12:47:42 PM , Rating: 2
Im with you, who is crazy enough to reach behind every time they want a "turbo boost", thats just nuts. And why not just do the OC in software, then downclock it back when finished, is it because you would need to restart the PC...This seems not thought out at all.

And to add another thing for me personally, recently my MSI GF3Ti200 started freezing and 965GM mobo simply does not boot(checked diff power supplies and no peripherals). I know these are old products, but they should not just die out like that, so no MSI for me right now, unless they come out with a "EXTRA SEXY NINJA TURBO BURN" button. then I might reconsider ;)


RE: Er, what?
By shamgar03 on 8/28/2007 1:02:20 PM , Rating: 2
Need to make it so you can push a mouse button for turbo. That way when you are in DOD and you think there might be an explosion that could drop framerates, you can hit the turbo button.


RE: Er, what?
By sirius4k on 8/28/2007 1:56:06 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
and inconvenient to reach. by therealnickdanger

I rest my case :P My point exactly.. useless. I wouldn't care if it's all blinged and s*** :P
I have trouble inserting USB sticks into sockets now and that button wouldn't make anything easier. Although some might think otherwise.
I'd give u another opinion if that so called OC button would be in front... cinda like PANIC button :D And the two states of button should be programmable... So I could define my idea of OCing.


Twin Turbo?
By webdawg77 on 8/28/2007 11:43:08 AM , Rating: 2
Where's the second turbo button? I want another 20% increase!




RE: Twin Turbo?
By omnicronx on 8/28/2007 11:48:03 AM , Rating: 3
Maybe they will release a second version with an afterburner button beside the turbo actually causing your pc to lift off the ground ;)


RE: Twin Turbo?
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 8/28/2007 12:15:19 PM , Rating: 2
Need to change the icon to the one below.

"It's Turbo Time!"
http://xoomer.alice.it/amasoni2002/shl/originals/j...


RE: Twin Turbo?
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 8/28/2007 12:51:29 PM , Rating: 2
RE: Twin Turbo?
By webdawg77 on 8/28/2007 12:54:07 PM , Rating: 2
I can't get either link to work.


RE: Twin Turbo?
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 8/28/2007 2:23:33 PM , Rating: 2
Aye, I tried hot linking straight to the jpeg. Didn't work. Here is the site link, the picture is the top one on the right side.

http://xoomer.alice.it/amasoni2002/shl/originals/j...


RE: Twin Turbo?
By BBeltrami on 8/28/2007 1:13:38 PM , Rating: 4
I want a "Ludicrous speed" button.

And a really big hat.


RE: Twin Turbo?
By Rocket321 on 8/30/2007 7:12:15 PM , Rating: 2
Or how about a NOS button? When you push it a butane flame emits from the heatsink vent and the card is overclocked by 20% but only for 30 seconds.

Ya know, for when you just need that little extra bump!


memories
By limestallc on 8/28/2007 11:58:46 AM , Rating: 5
This actually reminds me of my old 386 with the turbo button on the front.




RE: memories
By therealnickdanger on 8/28/2007 12:04:13 PM , Rating: 2
OMG! I forgot about that thing! Ahh, the memories... +1 to you sir.


RE: memories
By Souka on 8/28/2007 12:42:03 PM , Rating: 2
ok, how about my first 2nd PC (1st was an apple).

It was a screaming 8088 with a 4 to 8 Mhz button. Heath Data System PC with CGA graphics (oooh...color).

Made playing some games easier like Tron... just press the button the back to "downclock" to 4 Mhz, caused most games to run at 1/2 speed...heh.


RE: memories
By skyyspam on 8/28/2007 9:39:23 PM , Rating: 2
Hehe--right on!!

I remember way back in the day, I was trying to play Doom on my old 486 DX2 33MHz, and I was baffled as to why I was getting one frame every other second, despite having shrunk the view size down to the size of a postage stamp! Then I remembered..."oh yeah, I was playing that vector graphics star wars game, and I turned off the "Turbo" button!" Clicked it back on, and I was able to increase the view of Doom to the size of a 3x5 index card instead. :D


goes to 11
By kyleb2112 on 8/28/2007 12:00:52 PM , Rating: 4
It should have been a dial that goes to 11.




RE: goes to 11
By shamgar03 on 8/28/2007 1:01:17 PM , Rating: 2
ohhhh a turbo dial! Why don't you just make 10 louder?


RE: goes to 11
By 91TTZ on 8/28/2007 1:46:20 PM , Rating: 3
Why don't you just make 10 louder?

But this is 11. 11 is one louder than 10.


RE: goes to 11
By peternelson on 8/28/2007 11:38:27 PM , Rating: 2
Perhaps your dial is marked in binary.....

11 is still one higher than 10 LOL.


Maybe if you press it twice...
By peldor on 8/28/2007 11:55:56 AM , Rating: 5
core ----> 7.4% increase
memory --> 14.3% increase
shader --> 4.0% increase

20% performance boost in 3DMark06? Doubtful.




RE: Maybe if you press it twice...
By Alexstarfire on 8/28/2007 1:06:52 PM , Rating: 2
I was thinking the same thing. Of course they probably wouldn't tell you that they switched from a P4 2.4C to a E6850 that's OCed to 3.5Ghz now would they. I'm not saying they did something like that, but it wouldn't be the first time that it's been done either. They are only telling you what changed on the video card.


RE: Maybe if you press it twice...
By Parhel on 8/28/2007 2:37:45 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
. . . they switched from a P4 2.4C to a E6850 that's OCed to 3.5Ghz . . .


That's some amazing turbo button! I want one.


Shoulda called it...
By Tiamat on 8/28/2007 1:03:22 PM , Rating: 4
NOS




RE: Shoulda called it...
By Shark Tek on 8/28/2007 2:25:18 PM , Rating: 2
Hell yeah a 100hp shot of N2O should do the work but I prefer to replace the both turbos with a big single one.

With that surely I can smoke 8800GTX easily.


RE: Shoulda called it...
By Trisagion on 8/28/2007 2:42:33 PM , Rating: 2
Turbo Boost.
"Don't touch turbo boost... Somthing tells me you shouldn'nt turbo boost" ;)


By jrb531 on 8/28/2007 4:05:34 PM , Rating: 2
The slogan for and 8600 (or 2600) should be "just say no"

They are too slow to run DX10 so they are nothing more than DX9 cards in reality.

Because DX9 cards for the same price are faster there is no reason for these cards to even exist aside from trying to pull the wool over people who do not know any better who buy them thinking they can run DX10 games on them.

Heck... the 8800 and 2900's are having issues with DX10 speed and these suckers are running at only 1/3 the speed!

So now you have a little switch to OC the cards? What is the point?

-JB




By DeepBlue1975 on 8/28/2007 4:28:21 PM , Rating: 2
The point is to make you pay more for that button!!
Isn't that obvious? :D

(just kidding... seriously kidding, though)


By JCheng on 8/28/2007 5:54:52 PM , Rating: 2
I bought a Gigabyte 8600GT and am pretty happy with it. It runs fanless which is very important to me, and I watch a lot of fullscreen HD video in Vista Media Center at 720p or 1680x1050. And very occasionally fire up the odd RTS or FPS. It was $150 when I bought it a few months ago, including Supreme Commander which I was intending to buy anyway.


By jrb531 on 8/29/2007 10:43:02 AM , Rating: 2
If you care about fanless then you make compromises.

The simple fact is that for the rest of us who do not mind a small fan on our card that the x1950 or 79xx are faster cards in DX9 for the same money. Since the 8600's cannot play DX10 at anything other than single digits then we are left comparing the 8600's DX9 performance.

-JB


Who cares?
By danrien on 8/28/2007 1:42:23 PM , Rating: 2
From the looks of it, I'm not alone.




Reminds me...
By DeepBlue1975 on 8/28/2007 4:03:51 PM , Rating: 2
Of XT PCs with turbo mode :D

A pleasant cruising speed of 4.77 mhz in normal mode and, with the press of a turbo... Voila!! You unleash the 16 bit, 12mhz beast within the all mighty Intel 8088!

And then came along the math coprocessor... What a time to feel a computer garage mechanic! (?)

BTW, how does MSI get their calculations done?

I don't see any of the clock speeds going up for more than 10%, and yet they claim a 20% increase in some ghastly performance measurement application?

Either MSI doesn't do well in maths, or 3dbark has a "tweak enable bit setting" which is triggered off of some card's BIOS?




leave it up to MSI
By Samus on 8/28/2007 5:14:52 PM , Rating: 2
to make crap with crappy bling bling just so they can sell crap.




Dual Profile Bios
By Mitch101 on 8/28/2007 5:37:42 PM , Rating: 2
A while ago I requested a multi or dual profile bios settings. So when I boot I can choose either a general computing profile where there are no overclocks or a gaming profile where I have the CPU settings up high. Overclocking the video card is easy enough when in Windows.

I generally dont like to have the overclock going all the time because of heat and possible fan noise especially when I am just coding or composing e-mail.




No more MSI for me
By FITCamaro on 8/28/2007 6:02:50 PM , Rating: 2
After two bad motherboards and now, finding out that the MSI 8800GTS 640MB I recommended a friend does not (as they state they are) support HDCP, I will never buy another MSI product again. He planned to hook his PC up to his 46" Sony Bravia via DVI-HDMI and can't since the card doesn't output a HDCP compliant signal.




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