BFG 8600 GTS OC Graphics Card Review

Features & Specifications

Like all the 8600 GTS graphics cards on the market, the BFG 8600 GTS OC Graphics Card shares the same feature set. The BFG 8600 GTS OC Graphics Card is built for Microsoft Vista, is fully DirectX 10 compliant and can support NVIDIA SLI technology with a compatible mainboard. Like all the 8000 series cards, the BFG 8600 GTS OC Graphics Card uses fully unified shader architecture, GigaThread technology, the NVIDIA Lumenex engine, Quantum effects technology, uses the new PureVideo HD engine and is HDCP capable. Check out the for more details on the BFG 8600 GTS OC Graphics Card. The BFG 8600 GTS OC has a core clock speed of 710MHz and a memory clock of 2000MHz for the 256MB of GDDR3 RAM.

Before we jump into the usual battery of performance tests on the card, I want to disclose the specifications of my test machine. I tested the BFG 8600 GTS OC Graphics Card on the same computer that I used for the other 8600 GTS and 8600 GT graphics cards I have reviewed to date. The machine specifications are as follows:

• CPU- Intel QX6700
• Mainboard- EVGA 680i
• RAM- PNY XLR8 PC2-8500 2GB
• Display- Dell 24” LCD
• OS- Windows XP Pro SP2

Benchmarks

I am using the same battery of tests to challenge the BFG 8600 GTS OC as I used on the other 8600 graphics cards I have tested consisting of 3DMark06, FEAR, and Battlefield 2142. The first test up is 3DMark06.

3DMark06

For the 3DMark06 tests on the BFG 8600 GTS OC I ran the application at default settings and ran the NVIDIA control panel at default settings. The 3DMark06 numbers were as follows:

• Total 3DMarks- 5940
• SM2.0- 2351
• HDR/SM3.0- 2089
• CPU- 3947
• Return to Proxycon- 18.137
• Firefly Forest- 21.045
• Canyon Flight- 18.522
• Deep Freeze- 23.227
• CPU1- 1.322
• CPU2- 1.880

To compare some 3DMark06 scores from other cards I have tested recently, the XFX 8600 GTS XXX scored 6309 total 3DMarks, the PNY 8600 GTS running stock clock speeds scored 5831 3DMarks, and the PNY 8800 GTS 320MB running stock clock speeds scored 9344 3DMarks.

FEAR

The next test up for the BFG 8600 GTS OC graphics card was with FEAR. I used the in game test loop to benchmark FEAR with a screen resolution of 1280 x 1120, 4x AA, 16x AF, no soft shadows and all other settings on max. The frame rate data was as follows:

• Min- 19
• Avg- 37
• Max- 90

The percentages show that 7% of the time frame rates were below 25 fps, 64% of the time frame rates were between 25 and 40 fps, and 29% of the time frame rates were greater than 40 fps.

Battlefield 2142

The final test up for the BFG 8600 GTS OC graphics card is Battlefield 2142. since BF2142 doesn’t have an in game test loop like FEAR I used Fraps to capture the frame rate data. I ran BF2142 at a screen resolution of 1600 x 1200 with 4x AA and all settings on high. Fraps recorded the following frame rate data:

• Min- 28
• Avg- 33.937
• Max- 45

Final thoughts

The BFG 8600 GTS OC graphics card isn’t the fastest 8600 GTS that you can find, nor is it the cheapest 8600 GTS on the market. I think that gamers looking to spend in the low to mid $200 range that you can typically find the BFG 8600 GTS OC graphics card will find that it performs well. The BFG 8600 GTS OC graphics card will make an excellent graphics card for a media center machine thanks to the PureVideo HD engine and can still pull duty gaming with the most demanding titles of today and tomorrow.