GeForce 8600 GT: specifications and description

GeForce 8600 GT is the brainchild of Nvidia, the largest computer hardware manufacturer. Historically, this company throughout its existence has only one competitor - AMD (whose video cards were previously produced by ATI).

In this article, we will review this video card in terms of features, comparisons with competitors and performance in tests and games.

History of the video card

In 2007, a series of video cards from Nvidia - GeForce 8600 appeared. GT, GTS, GTX - this video card has such modifications.

The video card is a budget variant of the iconic and cult card - the GeForce 8800. In the conditions of tough competition with AMD at that time, Nvidia released new video cards almost every month.

In 2007, only the first video cards with DiretX10 support started to appear. The company decided to take advantage of this situation and release the first budget card with the support of this software. And it turned out quite successfully. The board was created for those who could not afford the most powerful and productive 8800, but wanted to see all the beauty of the graphic breakthrough with DirectX10 on their computer for little money. However, one low cost does not achieve such high sales. So what did the video chip win? Let us pass to the analysis of technical characteristics.

GeForce 8600 GT: Features

The entire 8600 series is based on the G84 GPU, which operates at a frequency of up to 540 MHz. The video card was sold with two memory sizes: 256 MB and 512 MB. Both options were based on DDR3 technology. The board operates at a frequency of 1400 MHz with a maximum resolution of 2560 by 1600 pixels. Like top-end video cards from Nvidia, this supports SLI mode up to three boards at the same time.

To connect the hardware, you need a PCI Express x16 slot and a minimum of 512 MB of RAM on the computer. Also, to use all the features offered, the user had to install the Windows Vista operating system. This was done because the support for DirectX10 was only in the new OS from Microsoft. Those who did not like "Vista" could safely stay on XP and use only the capabilities of DirectX9. The required power supply is not less than 350 watts. From the interfaces and connectors GeFore 8600 GT offers two DVI sockets and an output for TV (TV-Out).

The standard version of the video card includes the video card itself, DVI-VGA adapters, CD-ROM with documentation, drivers, instructions and other additional software, warranty. At the time of the release, the video card cost from $ 130 to $ 160, which made it possible to acquire it without much trouble even for owners of weak or medium computer configurations.

Externally, the video card does not look like a powerful and productive one. A regular board with a small cooling system in the form of a cooler - the budget of the model affects everything. Consider the results of the tests of the video card.

Performance tests

The GeForce 8600 GT currently does not make sense to test on modern systems and computer games. Therefore, take the test programs and games in 2007 (the year of release of this video card).

The testing was carried out at the following stand: Core 2 Duo 3 GHz processor, 2 GB RAM and Windows Vista on a 320 GB hard drive. 3D Mark 2006 showed that the versions with 512 MB and 256 MB of video memory practically do not differ in terms of performance.

Let's move on to the two games that were taken for the test: Bioshock and Medal of Honor Airborne. Both projects came out just in 2007. In GeForce 8600 GT feels confident only with medium settings. On high and ultra FPS can sag to up to 20 frames per second, which is almost unplayable. It is worth noting that these two games are perfectly optimized. This means that the graphics card can prove much worse in less stable games. In a word - a budget class.

The result

Of course, buying this video card in 2007, everyone realized that this is just an imitation of DirectX10 support. To fully benefit from iron, it was necessary to acquire a 8800 series. However, those who were not so important with modern games, this video card was just right.