Four GeForce 9600 GT Cards Compared

Conclusion--The 8800 GT Is Less Expensive And The 8800 GTS 512 Is Faster

If you have good cooling for your case, you might want to get the GeForce 8800 GT because it gives you slightly more 3D performance and costs about $140. If you prefer a card with a double-slot cooler, you might want to try to get one of the last 8800 GTS 512 cards. They’re available for roughly $179. Because all the models that were mentioned already support physics computation with the PhysX driver, the 9-series doesn’t offer any significant advantage.

To be honest, the 9600 GT will only be interesting once the 8800 models are taken off the market. This is simply due to the small price difference, particularly of the special models of the GeForce 9600 GT that are in the same price range.

If you’ve already decided on the newer GeForce 9-series card, you certainly won’t be disappointed by buying one. Almost all games can be run smoothly with resolutions of up to 1920x1200. Only in Crysis will you have to lower your expectations or reduce anti-aliasing in more complex games.

If you prefer a lot of performance, you should go with the super-quiet Sparkle Calibre. If you can live with a little less speed, but want to have HDMI and DisplayPort, you should buy the Palit Sonic version. The MSI Hybrid Freezer is a nice gimmick, but you can get a 9800 GTX for the same money. If you are interested in having a silent HTPC, you might want to take a look at the Asus card; the cooler is solid, and only under full load conditions does it require a slight air flow.