Final Words
With the past few generations of midrange $150 cards, we've come to expect that current games could more or less be played with maximum settings at lower mainstream resolutions. This is somewhat the case with the 8600 series. With some of the titles we tested, we had to dial down the settings a bit more to get a smooth experience at 1280x1024. Taken on its own, this isn't a major issue.
The new G84 based midrange solutions offer DX10, which no other midrange hardware currently supports. We also get better video decode performance with 100% decode acceleration of H.264 video. If this was where the story ended, we would be quite happy with the new hardware from NVIDIA, but there is a larger context to consider.
NVIDIA's GeForce 8600 GTS and GT simply do not perform any better than similarly priced hardware from AMD. GeForce 7 Series hardware priced at $150 and $200 also performs similarly to G84 based parts, outperforming the newcomer in some games and tying or trailing in others. Certainly NVIDIA can determine the value of their hardware as they see fit, and they have a good argument for pricing the 8600 series. Other hardware at the $150 and $200 price points perform similarly, so their new hardware is mostly worth the price.
The problem is that there is a huge performance gap between the 8600 GTS and the 8800 GTS 320MB. We also have multiple cases where NVIDIA's new offerings perform lower than similarly priced hardware from their own previous generation hardware. In almost every case, AMD's X1900 XT 256MB beats out the 8600 GTS. While this hardware is certainly being phased out, it is still available and offers much better price/performance.
The bottom line is that the 8600 really doesn't offer what we would expect from a next generation midrange part. While on its own the 8600 series is not bad hardware, NVIDIA needs to rely on more than its feature set to sell its product. This is especially true when DX10 games are not abundant and fairly few people are even running an operating system which supports DX10.
The GeForce 6600 GT outperformed the Radeon 9800 Pro in virtually every benchmark, sometimes by large margins. It managed this with prices that were at the time quite a bit lower than the previous generation's champ. GeForce 7600 GT was also typically faster than GeForce 6800 GT/GS, and it once again came with a lower price tag. The 8600 hardware on the other hand doesn't appear significantly faster or cheaper than the cards it's replacing..
Even if we can't expect new hardware at a particular price point to blow away the competition, we would at least like to see a consistently better performance than similarly priced previous generation hardware. Our follow up benchmarks confirm that we simply don't get this from the 8600 series. For users who want the highest performance for their money, the 8600 series is not the answer. If you can live without full H.264 decoding support and you still want DirectX 10, the 8800 GTS 320 is currently so much faster than the 8600 GTS that we would recommend spending the extra ~$75.
At the same time, we wouldn't recommend against the 8600 series, as it does provide best in class video decode performance that will enable more computer owners to experience HD content without dropping frames. While DX10 software isn't really available yet, we can't ignore the fact that this hardware does support DX10. Whether or not it will achieve acceptable frame rates with DX10 software remains to be seen, but if DX10 games turn out similar to Oblivion and R6: Vegas, there's still hope. Performance isn't low enough on the 8600 hardware to completely pan the product, but we are at present unimpressed.
With the past few generations of midrange $150 cards, we've come to expect that current games could more or less be played with maximum settings at lower mainstream resolutions. This is somewhat the case with the 8600 series. With some of the titles we tested, we had to dial down the settings a bit more to get a smooth experience at 1280x1024. Taken on its own, this isn't a major issue.
The new G84 based midrange solutions offer DX10, which no other midrange hardware currently supports. We also get better video decode performance with 100% decode acceleration of H.264 video. If this was where the story ended, we would be quite happy with the new hardware from NVIDIA, but there is a larger context to consider.
NVIDIA's GeForce 8600 GTS and GT simply do not perform any better than similarly priced hardware from AMD. GeForce 7 Series hardware priced at $150 and $200 also performs similarly to G84 based parts, outperforming the newcomer in some games and tying or trailing in others. Certainly NVIDIA can determine the value of their hardware as they see fit, and they have a good argument for pricing the 8600 series. Other hardware at the $150 and $200 price points perform similarly, so their new hardware is mostly worth the price.
The problem is that there is a huge performance gap between the 8600 GTS and the 8800 GTS 320MB. We also have multiple cases where NVIDIA's new offerings perform lower than similarly priced hardware from their own previous generation hardware. In almost every case, AMD's X1900 XT 256MB beats out the 8600 GTS. While this hardware is certainly being phased out, it is still available and offers much better price/performance.
The bottom line is that the 8600 really doesn't offer what we would expect from a next generation midrange part. While on its own the 8600 series is not bad hardware, NVIDIA needs to rely on more than its feature set to sell its product. This is especially true when DX10 games are not abundant and fairly few people are even running an operating system which supports DX10.
The GeForce 6600 GT outperformed the Radeon 9800 Pro in virtually every benchmark, sometimes by large margins. It managed this with prices that were at the time quite a bit lower than the previous generation's champ. GeForce 7600 GT was also typically faster than GeForce 6800 GT/GS, and it once again came with a lower price tag. The 8600 hardware on the other hand doesn't appear significantly faster or cheaper than the cards it's replacing..
Even if we can't expect new hardware at a particular price point to blow away the competition, we would at least like to see a consistently better performance than similarly priced previous generation hardware. Our follow up benchmarks confirm that we simply don't get this from the 8600 series. For users who want the highest performance for their money, the 8600 series is not the answer. If you can live without full H.264 decoding support and you still want DirectX 10, the 8800 GTS 320 is currently so much faster than the 8600 GTS that we would recommend spending the extra ~$75.
At the same time, we wouldn't recommend against the 8600 series, as it does provide best in class video decode performance that will enable more computer owners to experience HD content without dropping frames. While DX10 software isn't really available yet, we can't ignore the fact that this hardware does support DX10. Whether or not it will achieve acceptable frame rates with DX10 software remains to be seen, but if DX10 games turn out similar to Oblivion and R6: Vegas, there's still hope. Performance isn't low enough on the 8600 hardware to completely pan the product, but we are at present unimpressed.
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Imnotrichey - Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - link
Are you going to include any heat, power usage, or noise levels in this eventually? Or is there a future article coming soon?Very dissapointed in the 8600 :( But still interested to see how it compares heat, power, and noise to the 8800. Also why no 8800 GTX or GTS 640 in the benchmarks? It would be interesing to see how much more you get in games for spending 2 times the money
strikeback03 - Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - link
there are already Anandtech articles comparing the GTS 320MB to the other 8800 cards. Plus an 8800GTX would have squashed the scale of the cheaper cards too much to see the differences in the graphs.Sunrise089 - Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - link
Normally Anandtech will talk about heat, power, and noise when they review a specific manufacture's card, rather than a reference design. We all know most retail parts will use the same cooler nVidia supplies with the reference part, but some might not, and that (or overclocking) would change the results.bearxor - Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - link
Derek,How much longer until we get video benchmarks? Also, PLEASE include a 8500 in that roundup. I've no interest in any kind of 3D capability from the 8500. It will be put in a HTPC to only run Vista MCE and no other games or anything running on it.
I've been holding off on buying one until I can see how one performs in a HTPC enviorment, please make that happen, even if you have to buy one off of the egg or something.
Thanks!
Ajax9000 - Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - link
Seconded!BTW, some preliminary benchmarks at http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/msibfg8600/med...">http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/msibfg8600/med... ... but they use a high-end system -- really, who on earth is going to put a US$900+ 130W TDP processor into an HTPC if they can use (say) an E6420 and not have the same problems keeping it cool and quiet.
Anandtech, please do the upcoming video benchmarks on a "mid"-spec system.
SniperWulf - Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - link
<rant>would it really have killed you to add 1 more SP cluster? i mean 192-bit path to memory would have helped these benches quite a bit.
</rant>
psychobriggsy - Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - link
I paid £72 for a Sparkle 8600GTS, which after tax and conversion is ~$122. Admittedly I ordered an 8600GT and they shipped sent me the GTS by mistake ... but graphics cards have been notoriously overpriced in the UK so it was by far the best option regardless.As I'm upgrading from a Radeon 9500 system, I don't think I'll be too upset, and the video offload will be very much appreciated.
But yes, the prices should have been lower, and the suffixes different.
8600GT should have been a GS @ $129. 8600GTS should have been the GT @ $169, and there should have been a 256bit memory bus GTS at $199 (with 48 or 64 shaders).
Regardless I think the cards will be at these price points within a couple of months, with either an 8800GS or an 8600GTX card added. It's just a complete non-upgrade option for 7600 owners.
Genx87 - Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - link
With ATI's lack of a high end card, their high end card has been pushed into the mid ranged pricing model.The bottom line is the 8600GTS is a replacement for the 7600GT in Nvidia's line up for the mid range. Both cards debuted in the same price range and both performed nearly as well as last generations high end.
In a perfect world the X1900 wouldnt be in that price range, but this is all they have to offer. Comparing the 8600GTS to the 7600GT, which this card was designed to replace. It is a no brainer which one wins. The market situation will correct itself once the 7900s flush out of the channel and AMD comes out with their own mid range card and drop the X1900s from their lineup.
That being said, i think Nvidia most likely has a card to fill the performance gap between the 8600GTS and the 800GTS 320.
munky - Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - link
The x1900xt 256 has been available for a little over $200 even before the release of the 8800 series, nevermind the 8600 series. Nvidia must take its competitors products into account, because DX10 capability alone will not sell these cards.The reason the 6600gt was such a success is not because it compared favorably to the mediocre fx5700, but mainly because it offered better performance than anything else in its price range, even more expensive cards like the 9800pro. This is clearly not the case with the 8600gt and gts. The fact that it beats a 7600gt is nothing excetional.
blckgrffn - Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - link
AMD/ATI did the same thing the last time around - they left a huge gap between midrange and high end that nvidia handily filled with the 7600 series, and one they barely filled (X1600XT) before moving on to a whole new generation. It really hurt AMD/ATI last time around, and nvidia isn't careful, they could get burned this generation too.Heres to hoping AMD/ATI and nvidia both have great ~$130 DX10 cards later this year...