XFX GeForce 8600 GT XXX Review - PAGE 10

Power Consumption

The 8600 GT uses slightly less power than the 8600 GTS. Seeing how the two card are exactly the same with some core and memory speed tweaks, these scores are what is expected.

Final Thoughts

When we reviewed the XFX GeForce 8600 GTS XXX earlier this week we were left wondering whether NVIDIA should have crippled the G84 so much for the $199-239 price range.  Now a look at the considerably cheaper XFX GeForce 8600 GT XXX reveals a different story.  The new G84 has been specifically designed to fill the low to mid range of graphics with next generation technology and DX10 support.  The 8600 GT, being identical to the 8600 GTS in every way except for clockspeed, fills the $149 to $169 price point rather well.  Consider this: the 8600 GT XXX is $70 cheaper than the $239 8600 GTS XXX, and in every benchmark we show it to be very nearly as fast.  It offers all the features of the G84 GPU including DX10 support, PureVideo HD, and advanced CSAA.  A standard non-overclocked 8600 GT will perform nearly exactly the same as a 7600 GT, and yet the 7600 GT is STILL SELLING at this very moment for $129 on average, with prices as high as $169.  This makes the choice of an 8600 GT over a 7600 GT a total no brainer.

Owners of 6600 GT who were gloating over the 8600 GTS's lack of success against $180USD X1950PRO's and 7900GS will probably have to face reality too: their cards are so sadly underpowered that any thoughts of the 8600 GT being a modest upgrade over the 6600 GT are simply delusions.  In some benchmarks the 8600 GT is performing at triple the framerates of the 6600 GT, and many are showing at least double the performance.  Incidentally you can still find the odd 6600GT going for as high as $110 USD.

With these considerations in mind, the 8600 GT might appear to be an excellent value for $149-169, but then you have to take into consideration the previous generation upper midrange cards whose prices have steadily dropped to around the same price as the new 8600 GT XXX. The more expensive 8600 GTS XXX is barely capable of keeping up with these 7950GT and X1950PRO cards so the 8600 GT has no chance either.

This is why our previous criticisms still have a place in spite of the 6600 GT and 7600 GT points.  We can't help but feel that NVIDIA crippled the G84 just a bit too much.  This leaves the door open for ATI to make some inroads when their DX10 cards are released a little later this year.  We think this is another case of the market leader releasing products that are just good enough to sell, while holding something back to counter against whatever their competitor will release later.  Clearly this is the case since NVIDIA has left the GeForce 8800 GTS to fill in as the the mid to high range successor, so NVIDIA doesn't have a true mid-range card to fill the $250 to $300 range.  The three newer card releases from NVIDIA  the 8600 GTS, 8600 GT and 8500 GT won't be outperforming the older generations of mid-range cards like the GeForce 7950 GT or 7900 GS and instead have been relegated to take on the likes of the GeForce 6600 GTand 7600 GT.

During benchmarking, the most evident scores that really depicts the G84's weakness were in Company of Heroes and X3. In those benchmarks, the PowerColor Radeon X1950 Pro takes a significant lead over the rest of the cards when it hadn't been able to do that in the older generation of gaming benchmarks. Seeing as the X1950 Pro is the only card in the lineup with 256-bit memory buses while the other four card (including the G84 cards) 128-bit memory buses, this seems to be the indicting variable for the large lead. Particularly with these new games, the larger textures will hammer card with limited buses and low amount of RAM.

Slotting the 8600 GT XXX into the lower mid-range is quite difficult as of right now depending on what stage of purchasing you're at.  While some people may be inclined to hold onto their older 6600 GT class card, these can no longer remain even remotely competitive with the 8600 GT that is 2 generations ahead. The GeForce 7600 GT is another story though, as it scores are taut with the 8600 GT.  Current owners of the 7600 GT class and X1950PRO/7900GS class cards are best recommended to stick with what they have.  What really remains to be seen is what NVIDIA has been touting the G84 to do, and that is enhanced Windows Vista performance.  DirectX 10 can only used with Vista and until some new benchmarks with DX10 compatibility come out,  there is still that lingering question mark.

At the end of the day the math can be summarized fairly simply.  The XFX GeForce 8600 GT XXX will cost a MSRP $169.99. With the X1950 Pro and GeForce 7900 GS sometimes as cheap as $169 and $159 respectively, it is best to wait a bit until the price drops for the 8600 GT.