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NVIDIA GeForce 8600 & 8500 Preview |
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Value and Conclusion
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| Since this is just a technology overview we will not give a score, yet. NVIDIA is now the first to fill the mainstream segment with DirectX 10 capable cards using unified shaders. The new parts are smaller and run cooler than current mainstream offerings at a similar price point. Expect the performance to be about the same as the GeForce 7 parts these cards are replacing. The move to 80nm and a smaller transistor count make the high clock speed of 675 MHz for the 8600 GTS possible and while the 8500 GT is only clocked at 450 MHz, the overclocking potential should be there. With the introduction of these new cards, we may soon see a solid implementation of GPUs being used to cope with physics computation, taking even more load away from the CPU. Since NVIDIA is currently the only manufacturer with a shipping Shader Model 4.0 product on the market, competitive performance is yet unknown. The success of these cards depends largely on the price/performance in future DirectX 10 games, when compared to ATIs upcoming offerings. The year 2007 will mark the release of quite a few DirectX 10 based games, so it will be a very turbulent year in the graphic card industry. The biggest advantage of NVIDIA is surely the fact, that they will have a fairly complete line-up of new generation parts shipping, while ATI will introduce their offerings in mid may. | |
