Nvidia's GeForce 9600 GT Tested

The Test

For this test, we collected all the midrange cards currently on sale that we could in the time we had (clocked to the official Nvidia frequency if necessary). The idea was to see how the 9600 GT performs in comparison to these cards, and not to make a comparison of all the midrange and high-end solutions of the last three generations (since our preceding comparisons have already covered that segment).

The two resolutions we chose were 1280x1024 and 1680x1050, with and without antialiasing. We chose these given the performance of the 9600 GT and the power-greediness of current games: the idea, as always, was to concentrate only on the resolutions and settings that are really usable in practice with the card being tested. The processor used is a "midrange," a Core 2 E6850, and we carefully reviewed certain games (World In Conflict and Supreme Commander) to find the test scenes that are most representative of the game. So, none of the results are comparable with preceding tests (this is also because of the changes in drivers and patches).

Finally, we again used Windows XP for this test, on the grounds that the great majority of you are still sticking with that OS. Furthermore, we're still encountering performance problems with Windows Vista, and the inability of the cards tested to take advantage of the Direct3D 10 modes of current games (very power-hungry for questionable results, in most cases).

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Test configuration
CPUIntel Core 2 Duo E6850 (3 GHz)
MotherboardAsus P5E3 Deluxe (Intel X38)
MemoryCrucial 2 x 1 GB DDR3 1333 MHz 9-9-9
Hard DiskWestern Digital WD5000AAKS
DVD-ROMAsus 12x DVD player
Power SupplyCooler Master Real Power Pro 850W
OSWindows XP Pro
DriversForceWare 174.12 beta (compatible only with the 9600 GT)ForceWare 169.28 beta (for all other GeForce cards)Catalyst 8.2 WHQL - All Radeon
  • tijmen007
    Nice Review, was really helpfull chosing between the HD4670 and 9600GT. Cause the HD4670 is a bit slower as the HD3850 due its memory bus of 128-bit.

    Tijmen
    Reply
  • Unicorns_FTW
    Wow, it is amazing how much AA & AF deplete your FPS on games such as Crysis and COD 4. I have a Palit 9600GT along with a E8400, and it more or less matches these benchies. Great review once again.
    Reply
  • silicondoc
    Thanks for the review - helps in putting together medium range systems. Card prices have gone up now ( Feb 2009 ) after they went down during and about "black Friday" time.
    I see the lowest priced 9600GT at $90, %65 after rebate, with free Far Cry 2.
    Not bad at all.
    Reply
  • ceponatia
    9600GT is a POS. It has wonderful performance, as the review stated, until it crashes to a black screen. I have had two different cards and they both do the same thing. Buy a Radeon.
    Reply
  • Great, looks like I need to spend more money on a better graphics card. Thanks for testing.
    Reply
  • i think gefore 8800 GT is Good!
    Reply