BFG, Chaintech, ECS, POV
8500/8600 GT/GTS Roundup

BFG GeForce 8600 GTS OC 256MB,
BFG GeForce 8600 GTS OC2 256MB ThermoIntelligence,
Chaintech GeForce 8600 GT 256MB,
Chaintech GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB,
ECS/Elitegroup GeForce 8500 GT 512MB,
ECS/Elitegroup GeForce 8600 GT Plus Edition 256MB,
Point Of View GeForce 8600 GT Ratatouille Edition 256MB

Despite the chilly reception of the new cards from NVIDIA because of their cut-down features and relatively high prices, Mid-End products with DX10 support are gradually filling the market. Here is the entire family:

1. NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS (G84) 256MB GDDR3, 675/1450/2000 MHz, 32 unified processors/16(?) TMUs/8 ROPs - $229-249
2. NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT (G84) 256MB GDDR3, 540/1180/1600 MHz, 32 unified processors/16(?) TMUs/8 ROPs - $179
3. NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT (G86) 256MB GDDR2, 460/900/800 MHz, 16 unified processors/8 TMUs/8 ROPs - $89-$129

So why these products are more popular than they seemed to be at the time they only appeared on the market? There are two reasons: (1) dropping prices, they are sometimes as low as the bottom price fork or even lower; (2) performance in key applications is gradually improving with the appearance of new drivers.

They include optimizations as well as bug fixes. However, the serene dome of the NVIDIA sky is getting cloudy - AMD have launched competing solutions. The latter initially have attractive prices, so they can win over a large share of end users and system integrators.

Competition is always good to us, users. It leads to lower prices and wider choices. What concerns profits of AMD and NVIDIA - it's their problems. What's important for us is to have BOTH players on the market as long as possible to ensure competition.

Let's return to the GeForce 8500-8600. All experienced users should understand that this sterling DX10 support is formal, because performance of these cards barely allows to play games in 1024x768. That is you'll have to reduce quality settings or even disable some 3D graphics features, so you won't be able to enjoy all DX10 features.

Nevertheless, the age of DX10 ONLY games is coming. Gamers will still have to upgrade to such solutions. A new generation of Mid-End DX10 graphics cards may appear by that time, which will offer more features and higher performance. So the GeForce 8500-8600 as well as the RADEON HD 2400-2600 may have to retire. However, these are only our assumptions. As for now, owners of Mid-End DX10 cards can play DX10 demos in low resolution to avoid slide shows.

We're going to examine seven cards today. Two of them are copies of the reference design, manufactured by NVIDIA's orders. So they are of little interest. The other five models differ from the reference card.

Graphics Cards

BFG GeForce 8600 GTS OC 256MB PCI-E
GPU: GeForce 8600 GTS (G84) Interface: PCI-Express x16 GPU frequencies (ROPs/Shaders): 710/1525 MHz (nominal - 675/1450 MHz) Memory frequencies (physical (effective)): 1000 (2000) MHz (nominal - 1000 (2000) MHz) Memory bus width: 128bit Vertex processors: - Pixel processors: - Unified processors: 32 Texture processors: 16 ROPs: 8 Dimensions: 190x100x15 mm (the last figure is the maximum thickness of a graphics card). PCB color: green RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU. Output connectors: 2xDVI (Dual-Link), TV-Out. VIVO: not available TV-out: integrated into GPU. Multi-GPU operation: SLI (Hardware).
BFG GeForce 8600 GTS OC2 256MB PCI-E with ThermoIntelligence
GPU: GeForce 8600 GTS (G84) Interface: PCI-Express x16 GPU frequencies (ROPs/Shaders): 720/1566 MHz (nominal - 675/1450 MHz) Memory frequencies (physical (effective)): 1100 (2200) MHz (nominal - 1000 (2000) MHz) Memory bus width: 128bit Vertex processors: - Pixel processors: - Unified processors: 32 Texture processors: 16 ROPs: 8 Dimensions: 190x100x15 mm (the last figure is the maximum thickness of a graphics card). PCB color: blue RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU. Output connectors: 2xDVI (Dual-Link), TV-Out. VIVO: not available TV-out: integrated into GPU. Multi-GPU operation: SLI (Hardware).
Chaintech GeForce 8600 GT 256MB PCI-E
GPU: GeForce 8600 GT (G84) Interface: PCI-Express x16 GPU frequencies (ROPs/Shaders): 595/1300 MHz (nominal - 540/1180 MHz) Memory frequencies (physical (effective)): 770 (1540) MHz (nominal - 700 (1400) MHz) Memory bus width: 128bit Vertex processors: - Pixel processors: - Unified processors: 32 Texture processors: 16 ROPs: 8 Dimensions: 190x100x32 mm (the last figure is the maximum thickness of a graphics card). PCB color: blue RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU. Output connectors: 2xDVI (Dual-Link), TV-Out. VIVO: not available TV-out: integrated into GPU. Multi-GPU operation: SLI (Hardware).
Chaintech GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB PCI-E
GPU: GeForce 8600 GTS (G84) Interface: PCI-Express x16 GPU frequencies (ROPs/Shaders): 675/1450 MHz (nominal - 675/1450 MHz) Memory frequencies (physical (effective)): 1000 (2000) MHz (nominal - 1000 (2000) MHz) Memory bus width: 128bit Vertex processors: - Pixel processors: - Unified processors: 32 Texture processors: 16 ROPs: 8 Dimensions: 190x100x15 mm (the last figure is the maximum thickness of a graphics card). PCB color: green RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU. Output connectors: 2xDVI (Dual-Link), TV-Out. VIVO: not available TV-out: integrated into GPU. Multi-GPU operation: SLI (Hardware).
ECS/Elitegroup GeForce 8500 GT 512MB PCI-E
GPU: GeForce 8500 GT (G86) Interface: PCI-Express x16 GPU frequencies (ROPs/Shaders): 460/918 MHz (nominal - 460/918 MHz) Memory frequencies (physical (effective)): 333 (666) MHz (nominal - 400 (800) MHz) Memory bus width: 128bit Vertex processors: - Pixel processors: - Unified processors: 16 Texture processors: 8 ROPs: 8 Dimensions: 170x100x15 mm (the last figure is the maximum thickness of a graphics card). PCB color: blue RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU. Output connectors: DVI (Dual-Link), VGA, TV-Out. VIVO: not available TV-out: integrated into GPU. Multi-GPU operation: not available.
ECS/Elitegroup GeForce 8600 GT Plus Edition 256MB PCI-E
GPU: GeForce 8600 GT (G84) Interface: PCI-Express x16 GPU frequencies (ROPs/Shaders): 600/1310 MHz (nominal - 540/1180 MHz) Memory frequencies (physical (effective)): 800 (1600) MHz (nominal - 700 (1400) MHz) Memory bus width: 128bit Vertex processors: - Pixel processors: - Unified processors: 32 Texture processors: 16 ROPs: 8 Dimensions: 190x100x32 mm (the last figure is the maximum thickness of a graphics card). PCB color: blue RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU. Output connectors: 2xDVI (Dual-Link), TV-Out. VIVO: not available TV-out: integrated into GPU. Multi-GPU operation: SLI (Hardware).
Point Of View GeForce 8600 GT Ratatouille Edition 256MB PCI-E
GPU: GeForce 8600 GT (G84) Interface: PCI-Express x16 GPU frequencies (ROPs/Shaders): 540/1180 MHz (nominal - 540/1180 MHz) Memory frequencies (physical (effective)): 700 (1400) MHz (nominal - 700 (1400) MHz) Memory bus width: 128bit Vertex processors: - Pixel processors: - Unified processors: 32 Texture processors: 16 ROPs: 8 Dimensions: 190x100x15 mm (the last figure is the maximum thickness of a graphics card). PCB color: green RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU. Output connectors: 2xDVI (Dual-Link), TV-Out. VIVO: not available TV-out: integrated into GPU. Multi-GPU operation: SLI (Hardware).

BFG GeForce 8600 GTS OC 256MB PCI-E Chaintech GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB PCI-E
Each graphics card has 256 MB of GDDR3 SDRAM allocated in four chips on the front side of the PCB. Samsung memory chips (GDDR3). 1.0 ns memory access time, which corresponds to 1000 (2000) MHz.
ECS/Elitegroup GeForce 8500 GT 512MB PCI-E
The graphics card has 512 MB of GDDR2 SDRAM memory, allocated in eight chips on the front side of the PCB. ProMOS memory chips (GDDR2). 3.0ns memory access time, which corresponds to 333 (666) MHz.
BFG GeForce 8600 GTS OC2 256MB PCI-E with ThermoIntelligence
The graphics card has 256 MB of GDDR3 SDRAM allocated in four chips on the front side of the PCB. Hynix memory chips (GDDR3). 1.0 ns memory access time, which corresponds to 1000 (2000) MHz.
ECS/Elitegroup GeForce 8600 GT Plus Edition 256MB PCI-E
The graphics card has 256 MB of GDDR3 SDRAM allocated in four chips on the front side of the PCB. Samsung memory chips (GDDR3). 1.2ns memory access time, which corresponds to 800 (1600) MHz.
Chaintech GeForce 8600 GT 256MB PCI-E
The graphics card has 256 MB of GDDR3 SDRAM allocated in four chips on the front side of the PCB. Samsung memory chips (GDDR3). 1.4 ns memory access time, which corresponds to 700 (1400) MHz.
Point Of View GeForce 8600 GT Ratatouille Edition 256MB PCI-E
The graphics card has 256 MB of GDDR3 SDRAM allocated in four chips on the front side of the PCB. Qimonda memory chips (GDDR3). 1.4 ns memory access time, which corresponds to 700 (1400) MHz.

Comparison with the reference design, front view
BFG GeForce 8600 GTS OC2 256MB PCI-E with ThermoIntelligence	Reference card NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS
Chaintech GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB PCI-E
BFG GeForce 8600 GTS OC 256MB PCI-E
Chaintech GeForce 8600 GT 256MB PCI-E	Reference card NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS
ECS/Elitegroup GeForce 8600 GT Plus Edition 256MB PCI-E
Point Of View GeForce 8600 GT Ratatouille Edition 256MB PCI-E
ECS/Elitegroup GeForce 8500 GT 512MB PCI-E	Reference card NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT

Comparison with the reference design, back view
BFG GeForce 8600 GTS OC2 256MB PCI-E with ThermoIntelligence	Reference card NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS
Chaintech GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB PCI-E
BFG GeForce 8600 GTS OC 256MB PCI-E
Chaintech GeForce 8600 GT 256MB PCI-E	Reference card NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS
ECS/Elitegroup GeForce 8600 GT Plus Edition 256MB PCI-E
Point Of View GeForce 8600 GT Ratatouille Edition 256MB PCI-E
ECS/Elitegroup GeForce 8500 GT 512MB PCI-E	Reference card NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT

All the 8600GTS cards are based on the reference design. Even the overclocked BFG card with a blue PCB. They are based on a compact PCB, which still requires external power supply. Unlike GTS models, the 8600GT cards have a simpler power supply unit, no external power connector, and smaller PCBs.

The 8500GT cards are based on the 6600 and 7600GS designs, which use eight memory chips on the front side of the PCB.

All these cards have TV-Out with a unique jack. You will need a special bundled adapter to output video to a TV-set via S-Video or RCA. You can read about the TV-Out in more detail here.

Analog monitors with d-Sub (VGA) interface are connected with special DVI-to-d-Sub adapters. Maximum resolutions and frequencies:

• 240 Hz Max Refresh Rate
• 2048 x 1536 x 32bit x85Hz Max - analog interface
• 2560 x 1600 @ 60Hz Max - digital interface (all DVI jacks with Dual-Link)