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NVIDIA Mid Range 8600 GT vs 7600 GT Performance Comparison

Only a few weeks ago we compared the new 8500 GT to the cheaper and older 7300 GT video card and found the new NVIDIA budget card to be average at best. This week we compare the mid range offering, a Sparkle 8600 GT 256Mb which can be found at ~€100 in stores, to a ~€100 XFX 7600 GT 256Mb which comes with higher clock speeds. To round up the comparison we threw in a factory overclocked Calibre 8600 GT with 512Mb. Let´s see if the new cards can beat the revived price/performance champ.

Author	jmke
Editor	jmke
Date	2007-08-13
Discuss	7 comment(s)
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Introduction

When NVIDIA introduced their mid-range Geforce 7 series it became an instant success, the 7600GT delivered a formidable performance jump over the companies previous mid-range card, the 6600GT. In our review today we set out to see if NVIDIA does it again with the 8 series.

The Geforce 8 series introduced us to the “GTS” suffix, first found on the 8800 GTS and later used on the mid-range products too. The 8600 GTS was introduced at a price point not much lower than that of the 8800 GTS 320Mb, people expected this card to be “the” next NVIDIA mid-range card. Unfortunately the 8600 GTS disappointed in the performance charts, falling well behind the 8800 GTS 320Mb. At ~€200 the 8600 GTS definitely is not the killer deal many were waiting for.

While it’s true that the 7600 GT was initially introduced at a similar price of ~€200, its price/performance was very good at the time. Today the Geforce 7600 GT cards still available stores have enjoyed a nice price cut, available at prices as low as ~€90, furthermore we’ve seen an increase in specifications of these cards thanks to an improvement in the manufacturing process. The first batch of 7600 GT were at 90nm, the newer ones at 80nm. We reviewed a XFX 80nm based 7600 GT here. The XFX 7600 GT Fatality featured higher GPU speeds and memory clocks, these improvements have now been implemented in XFX entry level models, which feature the same increased clock speeds.

For our comparison today we bought a XFX 7600 GT 256Mb GDDR3 video card and compare it to two new comers from Sparkle. The first one is from Sparkle straight, a Geforce 8600 GT 256Mb GDDR3 available in stores for ~€99, the second is from Sparkle’s daughter firm, the Calibre 8600 GT 512Mb GDDR3, this factory overclocked unit is priced at ~€150.

From left to right: Sparkle 8600 GT , XFX 7600 GT, Calibre 8600 GT

Madshrimps (c)

Let’s compare specifications:

	Sparkle 8600 GT	Calibre 8600GT	XFX 7600GT	Original 7600GT
Productionprocess	80	80	80	90
Core clock	540 MHz	630 MHz	650 MHz	560 MHz
Shader clock	1180 MHz	1404 MHz	-	-
Memory clock	1400 MHz	1620 MHz	1600 MHz	1400 MHz
Amount of memory	256	512	256	256
Memory bus width	128	128	128	128

The “new” 7600 GT at 80nm enjoys a 16% boost in GPU clocks and 14% memory speed, the Calibre enjoys an equal 16% boost in GPU speed and 15% memory, the Shader clocks are overclocked ~18%.

Let’s take a closer look at our new mid-range cards ->

| Next ->>

More reviews in this category can be found below:

Video Card Comparison Charts - Geforce GTS 250 & GTX 285 Added
Leadtek Winfast Geforce GT 220 1Gb - A 9500 GT with DX10.1
Asus GTX 285 Matrix - Fastest Single GPU Card Out there?
Sparkle 9800 GTX+ With Custom PCB and Cooling Review
MSI Geforce 9600 GT 1Gb Hybrid Freezer VGA Review
Geforce 9500 GT SLI vs Geforce 9600 GT Performance Comparison
ATI HD Radeon 4850 vs NVIDIA Geforce 9800 GTX
Geforce GTX280 & Radeon HD4870X2 AA Scaling with XP & Vista
ATI HD4870X2 vs NVIDIA GTX 280 - High-End VGA Comparison
Galaxy and Leadtek 9500 GT Tested and Compared

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