8600 gts

[jedi940]

Anyone heard new about the 8600 gts and 8600 gt release dates? Also any clue what pricing will be? I am wondering if the performance will be significantly less than the 8800 gts 320 because you can by that right now for 259.99 after rebate from newegg.

 

[cleeve]

Based on prerelease specs - including a 128-bit interface - the 8600's will probably perform somewhere around the currect 7900GS, X1950 PRO.

Quite possibly not even quite as fast as those cards.

 

[Anoobis]

Apparently it also overclocks quite nicely.

 

[jamesgoddard]

Looking at the specs, 64 shaders with 128bit memory, it will do very well in 3d mark, but crap in games

 

[Anoobis]

Similar to your post.

 

[SEALBoy]

I thought that the Ultra version of the card had a 256-bit bus.

 

[Anoobis]

I think the "Ultra" turned out to be myth.

 

[cleeve]

I believe the 'Ultra' is instead going to be the 8600 'GTS'.

Tyhe 8600 GTS is rumored to have more shaders than the GT, but the same 128-bit memory bus...

 

[jamesgoddard]

I believe the 'Ultra' is instead going to be the 8600 'GTS'.

Tyhe 8600 GTS is rumored to have more shaders than the GT, but the same 128-bit memory bus...

Exactly - as long as the 8600 cards use a 128bit bus, older 256bit bus cards like the x1950 pro and the 7900gs/7950gt will beat in in real world.

The mid range Nvidia's are not looking strong.

 

[jamesgoddard]

if that link i posted was accurate then it's higher clockspeeds may help it overcome its narrow bus. maybe, i do not know.

Faster memory will help a little, yes... But even 2.0GHz 128bit of the 8600GTS will be very much beaten by the 1.4GHz 256bit bus of even the X1950pro

And if the GTS does come in at $200 there will be much stronger cards like the x1950XT it will have to match

 

[angry_ducky]

It's really too bad they couldn't make it a 256-bit bus.

 

[cleeve]

It's really too bad they couldn't make it a 256-bit bus.

Not to worry. Look what they've done the last two generations... if there's a hole in the lineup, they take the more powerful cards and cripple them to fill it... X800 GTO, X1800 GTO, 7900 GS... all with 256-bit busses, carsd based on the previous top-of-the-line models.

I won't be surprised at all if they release an 8800 GS or X2900 GTO...

 

[jamesgoddard]

It's really too bad they couldn't make it a 256-bit bus.

Not to worry. Look what they've done the last two generations... if there's a hole in the lineup, they take the more powerful cards and cripple them to fill it... X800 GTO, X1800 GTO, 7900 GS... all with 256-bit busses, carsd based on the previous top-of-the-line models.

I won't be surprised at all if they release an 8800 GS or X2900 GTO...

There is not much they can chop off after the 8800GTS 320MB, tbh I just see this coming down in price to fill any gap.

 

[cleeve]

There is not much they can chop off after the 8800GTS 320MB, tbh I just see this coming down in price to fill any gap.

Doesn't it have, like, 96 shaders? Lots left to disable!

Or they could use slower memory, too...

 

[jamesgoddard]

There is not much they can chop off after the 8800GTS 320MB, tbh I just see this coming down in price to fill any gap.

Doesn't it have, like, 96 shaders? Lots left to disable!

Or they could use slower memory, too...

The monster that is the G80 die can't be cheap to fab, and I don't expect them to find any extra yeald over what they have already done with the GTS....

Memory speed, possibley they could reduce the costs a little, but not going to make much of an impact are they tbh, nah I think that the GTS320 will be the lowest 8800 (apart from mobile) we will see...

 

[cleeve]

I agree with you in general, but if there's a hole in the lineup Ati/Nvidia will go through great expense to fix it. It doens't necessarily have to make alot of sense.

Just look at the X1800 GTO/X1900 GT stopgap cards. They must have been hellaexpensive to manufacture in their time...

 

[angry_ducky]

There is not much they can chop off after the 8800GTS 320MB, tbh I just see this coming down in price to fill any gap.

Doesn't it have, like, 96 shaders? Lots left to disable!

Or they could use slower memory, too...

The monster that is the G80 die can't be cheap to fab, and I don't expect them to find any extra yeald over what they have already done with the GTS....

Memory speed, possibley they could reduce the costs a little, but not going to make much of an impact are they tbh, nah I think that the GTS320 will be the lowest 8800 (apart from mobile) we will see...

If there are chips which are either damaged or won't run at the rated speeds... then what does nV do with those ones?

 

[angry_ducky]

Any news on the power usage of these cards (8600)?

 

[Anoobis]

I wouldn't discount the weaker interface on the 8600 just yet. The 7600GT was a nice surprise due to it's high memory speeds even though it only had a 128-Bit bus. It competed well against the X1800GTO even though the X1800GTO had a 256-Bit bus. I'm not saying it necessarily beat it, but when you considered all the options between the 7600GT and the X1800GTO, the 7600GT was still a very valid choice.

If the VR-Zone article I posted earlier this weak has any minerals to it, the core of the 8600GTS is very overclockable and could be an added bonus.

 

[Eviltwin17]

man, they really need to boost mid-range cards up to 256bit bus 128 is killing the 8600gt when squaring off against the 7900gs.... im guessing ati will probably do that

but its pretty disappointing, the only thing the 8600gt brings to the table is a crappy performance dx10 card with an even crappier price. If i was to move to dx10 i would expect a card like that to either be priced better or to perform better for the price. I mean really its comparable to a 7600gt......... you can get one of those for like 120 bucks now

 

[Anoobis]

Uhh, yeah right[/sarcasm]

 

[duffsr]

I guess a deciding factor Will be:

Does med/low dx10 on a 8600gt look better than playing it in dx9 on high. If a lot of those crysis shots were dx9, then it might be worthwhile for a lot of mid-range users to sit through the first cycle of dx10 games/cards till it is better utilized.

I'm tempted to add gts to my comp, keep xp and wait for vista sp1.

Besides, my fav game is still dx8 ( )