Four GeForce 9600 GT Cards Compared

Features
By published

Sparkle Control

The enclosed control unit can be put in an external hard drive slot and operate on three different speeds: Green, Standard (Nvidia reference for 9600 GT), and OC (Overclocked). The last setting is the default for the P960 test card when the control unit is not connected.

To activate the speed control, you must connect the control unit to the 3D board with a cable; the current mode is then shown on the display. If you want to switch the mode, you can just press a button, but you will have to restart the system for the change to take effect. Restarting the system is somewhat inconvenient, but the control unit works independent of the graphics driver.

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The cable connects the control unit and card, so you can choose among different speeds

Green: GPU 300 MHz, shader 900 MHz, and memory 400 MHz.Standard: GPU 650 MHz, shader 1,625 MHz, and memory 900 MHz.OC: GPU 700 MHz, shader 1,850 MHz, and memory 1,000 MHz.

48 Comments Comment from the forums
  • JAYDEEJOHN
    So it beats the GTX eh? And you can find brand new nVidia drivers, but no ATI ones? And wheres the 4670? Got halfway thru, decided to skip the rest
    Reply
  • jaragon13
    What about the HD 4850? It costs less than the "last 8800 GTS 512's"
    Asus sells them for what? 170 dollars,free shipping on Newegg?
    Maybe I even saw one @ 160...
    Reply
  • Sus-penders
    Why would anyone get an 8800GTS for $179 when you can buy a better performing HD 4850, for LESS money??? ATI still exists, you know...
    Reply
  • Ryun
    No offense, as the article and tests run were good (I especially like the overall FPS charts), but this information would have been more pertinent, like, 6 months ago.
    Reply
  • Niva
    Uh, I don't get what the people about are upset for. It's a good article, I enjoyed reading and seeing where these cards fit into the scheme of things. I know ATI has made a comeback with their recent cards but until their drivers are completely open and stable I'll stick with nVidia myself so I especially enjoyed this article. Thanks Toms!
    Reply
  • L1qu1d
    Waste of 3 mins, it makes very little sense, the 9600 GTs in sli are around the 280 GTX in performance, yet it manages to get destroyed by the 4870.

    This article would've meant something around the time the cards came out...now I'd much rather like to see the 4850 cards compared or 260s or w.e else that is this gen.
    Reply
  • MooseMuffin
    NivaUh, I don't get what the people about are upset for. It's a good article, I enjoyed reading and seeing where these cards fit into the scheme of things. I know ATI has made a comeback with their recent cards but until their drivers are completely open and stable I'll stick with nVidia myself so I especially enjoyed this article. Thanks Toms!
    Exactly what is open about nvidia's drivers?
    Reply
  • wh3resmycar
    nobody reads the introduction anymore?
    Reply
  • warezme
    warms my heart to see the old 8800GTX included in this test list.

    It's amazing this ancient cards at default speed still sit in the middle of the pack and quickly rise to the top when you turn up AA and texture quality up, beating most every other card cept for 260GTX and SLI and CF rigs.

    It also explains why a pair of old 8800GTX's in SLI OC'ed to at least Ultra speeds on a fast rig are still very hard to out perform by any single card (period)
    Reply
  • There is a reason to get the 9600GT over the 8800GT, power consumption. Look at the numbers, the 9600GT has 1/2 the number of shaders (hence a smaller die). I know the shader clock runs a little faster but a good quality stock PSU with 300W (real, like antec, corsair, etc) should be fine for running it.
    Reply