Introduction

You find yourself wanting to get into DirectX 10 gaming but with only a 17" or 19" LCD you cannot justify spending excessive dollars on an overpowered card. If you are not a huge detail junky, and technology like AA and AF does not bother you, then even the Nvidia GeForce 8600GTS is probably overkill for you.

With users like this in mind, Nvidia has come out with the 8600GT, a mid-range card at about 2/3 the price of a standard 8600GTS. A 1/3 price drop equates to AU$100 (US$80), a significant saving for anyone. Two versions are with us today, a silent passive-cooled offering from Gigabyte and an overclocked XXX version from XFX, a company who pleasantly pleased us with its 8600GTS in an earlier review.

We will have a quick look at each card's package and then get stuck into benchmarking. So sit back, relax and see if the 8600GT is the card you have been waiting for.