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 being to see how the 9600 GT performs precisely 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 1280*1024 and 1680*1050, with and without antialiasing, given the performance of the 9600 GT and the power-greediness of current games (the idea, as always, being 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 re-examined 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 (also because of the changes in drivers and patches).
Finally, we’ve once again used Windows XP for this test, on the grounds that the great majority of you are still sticking with that OS and because of the performance problems we’re still encountering with Windows Vista and the inability of the cards tested to take advantage of the Direct3D 10 modes of current games (which are very power-hungry for questionable results in most cases).
Test configuration:
Hardware
- Asus P5E3 Deluxe (Intel X38)
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (3 GHz)
- Crucial 2 x 1 GB DDR3 1333 MHz 9-9-9
- Western Digital WD5000AAKS
- Asus 12x DVD player
- Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W
Software
- Windows XP Pro
- ForceWare 174.12 beta (compatible only with the 9600 GT)
- ForceWare 169.28 beta (for all other GeForce cards)
- Catalyst 8.2 WHQL – All Radeon
- Previous page Leadtek and Gainward cards;...
- Next page Test Drive Unlimited
- Fresh from Canada - ATI's Radeon HD 3450 and HD 3650
- The Best Gaming Graphics Cards for Your Money: February 2008
- ATI R680: the Rage Fury MAXX 2?
- Crossfire meets PCI Express 2.0 – More Lanes, More Frames?
- GeForce 8800 GT 256 and late 2007 3D Cards Roundup
- GeForce 8800 GTS 512 MB: A Christmas Miracle?
- Finding The World's Best Hardware Prices: Shop Globally
- The Best Gaming Graphics cards for the Money: December 2007
- Crysis – The Ultimate Graphics Card Performance Shootout
- AMD Phenom - The Spider Weaves its Web
Nice analysis as always but does anyone every proof read this stuff. On
Page 17 it seems clear that the TH UK guys were sent it by the American site and they forgot to check all the links, hence the [link to your 8800GT 256MB article here] comment. Also a mix up on the first page saying the 8800GTX had 786 not 768 ram.
It seems to get worse and worse!
Seems like a very good card. Fewer shading units, but faster memory than the 8800 GT. That 256-bit memory interface really shines, although I would not personally be willing to use any 9600 GT with less than 512MB, certainly not if they switched from GDDR3 to something inferior. I would buy this card and at this price I think it fills the mid-range gap very nicely. Thanks Tom.
Don't forget that the driver it's a new one...
I had msi 8600gt oc and i see big diferrent between 163.75 and 169.25 forceware driver so maybe the 9600gt come closer to 8800gt and with little overclocking maybe it can pass it!!
Ok so what happened to the next Generation should be faster and more powerful than the previous... Good rule I thought...
This is not good news for us recent EVGA buyers waiting for the new 8800 GTX/Ultra GPU killer...
Bob
Bob, it's classed as a mid-range card, but is able to compete with 8xxx series high-end cards. With more shader units it would be faster. Sure you can make it faster, but the cost soon jumps. Considering the kind of card it can out-class I think it's a very good card for the money.
Overclock the shaders. That should bring the performance up somewhat.
Still, why didn't they badge it as the 8650 or something? This generation-jumping that ATi started with the 3850/3870 gets incredibly confusing after a while. I'd hate to know how the poor saps in retail are coping with it, particularly with the average client/gamer IQ.
Yeh,
If they had just started the 9xxx series with the G92 8800GT and 8800GTS then everyones lives would be simplier!!
Bob