Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT is an average video cardclass from Nvidia. This company has always been famous for the most powerful and efficient graphics cards. Its direct competitor is AMD, which in recent years has always been in the role of catch-up. But how were things in 2007? In this article, we'll look at a legendary video card like the Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT. Characteristics, description, test results and comparison with competitors - about all this read below.
In 2007, the company Nvidia appearedthe need to urgently occupy a niche of video cards of average performance. While just once appeared DirectX10, which prompted the company to create Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT, the characteristics of which provided for the support of all new technologies at the time.
In the model range of the company 8600GT took the place betweenthe flagship and top-of-the-range GeForce 8800 and the frankly weak budget GeForce 8500. In addition to the GT version, the video card was also bulging in the GTS version, which was slightly more powerful.
Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT looked great atthe background of competitive video cards from AMD. First, the general graphics processor with GeForce 8800 caused the confidence of all customers. Secondly, support for DirectX10 for a reasonable price at that time was fantastic. Let us now describe the characteristics of the video card.
The amount of video memory available for the board is 256 and512 MB in different versions. In both cases, the memory is a GDDR3 generation. The graphics core operates at a frequency of 540 MHz. Video memory, in turn, operates at a frequency of 700MHz. The maximum screen resolution for the G84 graphics chip on which the entire GeForce 8600 series is based is 2560 x 1600 pixels. But the fact is that during the release of the video card the data of the permission was practically never used. All video games went in lower resolutions, so you can take full advantage only when working with graphics or video. But at the same time, Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT, whose characteristics are rather weak for such works, would hardly have coped with the processing of graphics in such volumes and scales. Most likely, the support of high resolutions just stayed from the older brother GeFore 8800, as they are built on the same platform.
The video card is connected via a standard connectorPCI Express x16. For stable operation of the motherboard, at least 512 MB of RAM is needed and the CPU is not worse than Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon XP. To support DirectX10, you must have a Windows Vista operating system installed, since it is the first system that supports this format. The power supply should not be less than 350 W for stable operation of the video card.
To determine the card's power and compare withother competitors need to test in a special program and some games to choose from. Given that the video card was released in 2007, we will use the computer configuration of that time.
So, the bench computer has a processorIntel Pentium 4 with a frequency of 2.8 GHz and a cache memory of 1 MB, 1 GB of RAM, Windows XP (all tests will be conducted on DirectX9) and a 350 W power supply. As the tested video card was taken Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT 512 MB. The characteristics of the version with 256 MB are no different, except, in fact, the amount of video memory.
In the 3D Mark program, the video card scored more than 8thousand points. This is a good indicator for the Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT, the characteristics of which do not hold up to the flagship of the company. However, the video card quietly bypasses its direct predecessor GeForce 7600 GT.
Let's move on to the games. All computer games were taken into account the time. In 2007 came out a popular shooter BioShock, which we take as the basis. Some other games will also participate.
In the game Bioshock video card behaved decently only on the average graphics settings. At maximum resolution and high graphics settings, it's almost impossible to play because of the low FPS.
The next game of the test is Lost Planet. Here things are even worse. With all the effects turned on and at the maximum resolution, the frame rate per second drops to 15-18.
Next, the test is World of Conflict. This game was released approximately at the same time with the video card Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT. The characteristics of 512-megabit version of the board allow you to play only on low graphics settings. On average and higher the game gives out 20 to 22 frames per second, which is not the best indicator among the middle class video cards.
After all the tests, we can conclude that thisThe video card was not suitable for games that were released at that time with modern graphics. But it overtook the previous generation in the role of GeForce 7600. It is possible to play most games at medium or low graphics settings at the maximum resolution. Of course, it's worth making a discount on the segment and class of the video card. Its cost did not exceed 140 dollars.
Included with the standard Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTthere are following elements. First, two adapters from the DVI connector to the familiar VGA. Secondly, the instruction and disk with all the necessary files for configuration, as well as the drivers of the latest version at the time of its release.
Externally, the video card is also far from the conqueror of the FPSand all graphic innovations. A simple board, from cooling on which there is only a small cooler. By the way, it is worth mentioning the work of the fan. Even with high loads, the cooling system works very quietly and does its job well. In this competition from AMD is far ahead of the Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT. The characteristics are perfectly balanced for the middle segment, so there are no complaints about performance and stability. The only thing that this graphics card is losing is the level of power consumption. Competitive graphics cards are much lower. But AMD has always been specialized on medium and economical video cards, while Nvidia has been chasing for maximum capacities without regard to power consumption. Because of this, such insignificant shortcomings appear.
Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT was an excellent graphics cardfor your time. Inexpensive, productive and reliable. Plus, full support for DirectX10 technology. In games at the maximum settings with a similar iron do, of course, absolutely nothing. But pamper yourself with a picture on the average settings can be quite calm.
The only alternative of that time at the price andPerformance is a high-end graphics card from AMD. They cost less than the flagship cards from Nvidia, so adding Nvidia's GeForce 8600 GT to a couple of tens of dollars, you could buy a good Radeon video card.
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