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NVIDIA 9600 GT 512MB Review |
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Written by Димитър Динчев a.k.a. Veseliq
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Friday, 29 February 2008 |
Page 1 of 12
In this ModReactor review we will be having our first view at NVIDIA's newest core - G94. Yep, the first card of the 9th NVIDIA series - GeForce 9600 GT is in our lab.
Undoubtedly NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT offers the best price/performance ratio ever since it's release. It offers performance similar to the one of the leading 8800 GTX, that while coming at a price of about 400 leva (~200 Euro) (or in other words three times cheaper than the top NVIDIA model). AMD released the weaker HD 3870, as well as the HD 3850, both aimed at the middle class, that managed to get NVIDIA unprepared. They had placed there GeForce 8600 GTS, which honestly was performing... pitiful . This gained for AMD much needed sales, though not in the high class, but still in the middle one. Later NVIDIA released 8800 GS, which is kind of "OK", but it doesn't seem that it managed to snatch the crown in the 300 leva ~(150 Euro) price range from the Canadians. GeForce 8800 GS was intended to be a temporary weapon against HD 3850, while in their labs the first of the 9th series card was being developed - the 9600 GT. Here is how it looks compared to it's competitors:
Specs of the mid-high range of videocards from NVIDIA and AMD
| Model |
Radeon
HD 3850 |
Radeon
HD 3870 |
GeForce
8800 GS 512MB |
GeForce
9600 GT 512MB |
GeForce
8800 GT 512MB |
| Shader units |
320 |
320 |
96 |
64 |
96 |
| ROPs |
16 |
16 |
12 |
16 |
16 |
| GPU |
RV670 |
RV670 |
G92 |
G94 |
G92 |
| Transistors |
666M |
666M |
754M |
505M |
754M |
| Memory Size |
256 / 512 MB |
512 MB |
384 MB |
512 MB |
512 MB |
| Memory Bus Width |
256 bit |
256 bit |
192 bit |
256 bit |
256 bit |
| Core Clock |
670 MHz |
777 MHz |
550 MHz |
650 MHz |
600 MHz |
| Memory Clock |
1600 MHz |
2250 MHz |
1400 MHz |
1800 MHz |
1800 MHz |
| Price BGN |
280 / 325 |
370 |
320 |
350 |
390 |
Indeed it is very likely that pure specs doesn't leave with great expectations, on paper the card doesn't look like much, yet NVIDIA claims that GeForce 9600 GT offers mire performance for a buck than 8800 GT. It is apparent the company is very confident and it is trying to fill the existing hole in the mid class left 8800 GT 256MB and 8800 GS 384MB, the hole that's being filled by HD 3850. All those cards, HD 3850 included, are really DirectX 10 entry level, because if you are determined to play in DX10 mode with weaker card you'll have to do without bunch of visual effects, thus rendering the few small details (for the time being) added by the new library useless. In order to determine who in the end amongst all those cards is to be crowned king in the middle class, we obtained a Point of View 9600 GT 512MB and ran minute testing of all of them in some very popular games and applications. But first we must get a quick glance at G94, we are after all witnessing the first card using it.
