Features & Specifications
The EVGA 8600 GT Superclocked Graphics Card carries a retail MSRP of $199.99 and an online MSRP of $179.99. The lock speeds on the card are 576 MHz on the core and 1.5GHz on the 256MB of RAM. Like the other 8600 GTS and 8600 GT NVIDIA cards, the EVGA 8600 GT Superclocked Graphics Card has 32 stream processors. Output options include dual dual-link DVI, S-Video and HDTV outputs. Other features include 128-bit floating point HDR, NVIDIA Quantum Effects, 16x AA and GigaThread technology.
Test System
My test machine used in this review has the following specifications:
- CPU- Intel QX6700
- Mainboard- EVGA 680i
- RAM- PNY XLR8 PC2-8500 2GB
- Display- HP 30” LP3065
- OS- Windows XP Pro SP2
Benchmarks
3DMark06
3DMark06 is a popular application that puts hard numbers that are easy to compare down for different graphics cards. I ran 3DMark06 at the default application settings and used default settings in the NVIDIA control panel. The 3DMark06 results were:
- Total 3DMarks- 5162
- SM2.0- 2025
- HDR/SM3.0- 1777
- CPU- 4038
- Return to Proxycon- 15.611
- Firefly Forest- 18.133
- Canyon Flight- 15.815
- Deep Freeze- 19.725
- CPU1- 1.376li]CPU2- 1.895
For comparison the card above the 8600 GT in the line up is the 8600 GTS and the XFX 8600 GTS XXX scored 6309 total 3DMarks while the stock clocked PNY 8600 GTS scored 5831 3DMarks.
FEAR
The next test up for the EVGA 8600 GT Superclocked Graphics Card was FEAR. FEAR is a demanding game which I ran at a screen resolution of 1280 x 1024 with 4x AA, 16x AF, no soft shadows and all other settings on high. The FEAR in game test loop recorded the following frame rate data:
- Min- 17
- Avg- 32
- Max- 82
I prefer the percentages as an easier way to get an idea of performance in FEAR. 14% of the time frame rates were below 25 fps, 68% of the time frame rates were 25- 40 fps, and 18% of the time frame rates were greater than 40 fps.
Battlefield 2142
The final challenge for the EVGA 8600 GT Superclocked Graphics Card was BF2142 which I ran at a screen resolution of 1600 x 1200, 4X AA and all other settings on high. I used Fraps to capture frame rate data on a single player map called “Fall of Berlin”, the frame rate data is as follows:
- Min- 20 fps
- Avg- 28.482
- Max- 36 fps
Final Thoughts
After the testing was over I liked the EVGA 8600 GT Superclocked Graphics Card. It gives up some performance to the XFX 8600 GT XXX which scored 5357 3DMarks, though in the real world the two cards are very evenly matched. The price isn’t much less than the stock clocked PNY Verto 8600 GTS that well outperforms the EVGA 8600 GT Superclocked Graphics Card in 3DMark06. Overall the EVGA 8600 GT Superclocked Graphics Card is a good DirectX 10 compliant graphics card for those on a strict budget.
