Colorful Geforce 8600 GT HD
The review sample we received from Colorful runs at higher than standard clock speeds out of the box. Where normal Geforce 8600 GT cards run at 540 MHz (GPU), 1180 MHz (shader), and 700 MHz (memory), Colorful’s card was clocked at 580/1276/800 MHz. Thanks to this tweak, Colorful’s 8600 GT (cumulative frame rate 975 fps) is practically tied with the Radeon HD 2600 XT (977.8 fps). This enables the 8600 GT to grab the top spot in the value for money ranking.
Colorful and MSI are the only companies to integrate an HDMI connector right on the board. All ATI cards tested here ship with a DVI-HDMI adapter to ensure compatibility with HD video content including audio signals. Our Geforce 8600 GT sample from Colorful also shipped with this adapter, while an HDMI cable was sadly absent from the box.
We were unable to find a complete list of the equipment that is meant to come with this card on Colorful’s website at tec.colorful.cn. Also, the clock speeds given on the website differ from those used by our sample. Additionally, the product photographs showed a card that used a different cooler and fan than our review sample. The images used by retailers are either taken directly from Colorful’s site (and thus don’t match our sample) or are completely absent. If you want to buy the exact model we tested here, you should check with your retailer and ask for specific information regarding the bundle and the card’s clock speeds.
The high cooler has the Geforce chip’s temperature well under control. In 2D mode, the card reaches 45°C, reaching 54°C under 3D load.
First ! e vai!
"The HIS card only comes with DVI connectors, which makes dual-link a sensible choice for the 1920 resolution."
Uh. No, it really doesn't.
The HDMI(1.2 and below) type A connector is equivalent to
a single-link DVI-D connector; the adaptor is purely
mechanical. Dual-link DVI is equivalent to the HDMI type
B connector, which is largely unused (although I have
hopes, because HDMI 1.3 type B can do 680MPix/s).
1920x1080p/60 fits quite nicely through the bandwidth
limit (165MHz) of an HDMI 1.2 type A connector, and
equally well through a single-link DVI connector -
as you can tell by the multitude of single-link DVI
24" 1920x1200@60Hz monitors on the market.
Dual-link DVI would give you 48bpp colour support at
1920x1080, but that's irrelevant if only a single link
is being used, via an HDMI adaptor. Also, the DVI
connector is perfectly capable of transmitting the
audio component of HDMI (the audio component uses the
same signal wires as the video), if it can be routed
to the card. Whether the content permits the audio to
be routed without HDCP is beyond my expertise.
Also, at the risk of testing my mathematical abilities:
"In Windows XP, the performance delta between the two cards in cumulative frame rate is now less than 20fps (Geforce 8800GTS 1878.9 fps, Radeon HD 2900 XT 1809.6 fps)."
That sounds like "less than 70fps" to me (not that it
makes much difference, obviously - they *are* close.)