Asus has been known for years for their motherboards. Over the past few years they have really made a push on the graphics card market. Unlike many other companies they have also decided to make graphics cards from ATI and Nvidia; rather then just siding with one chipset. Today we have a slightly unusual video card package to look at. Inside the box there is a 5.5” front panel control used for real time overclocking of the video card along with several other features.
Reviewer: Jason Hambly
Date: November 1, 2007
Manufacturer: Asus
Supplied By: Asus
Model: 8600GT OC Gear
Price: $144.99
Grammatical and Spelling Editor: PlanetX64 Staff
Specifications and Features
Graphics Engine -GeForce 8600GT
Video Memory -256MB DDR3
Engine Clock -540MHz
Memory Clock -1.4GHz (700MHz DDR3)
Memory Interface -128-bit
Max Resolution -2048×1536
Bus Standard -PCI Express X16
VGA Output -YES, via DVI to VGA Adapter
HDTV Output -YES, via HDTV Out cable
TV Output -YES, via S-Video to Composite
DVI Output -DVI-I
Dual DVI Output -YES
Adaptor/Cable bundled – DVI to VGA adapter / HDTV-out cable
Software Bundled – ASUS Utilities & Driver
ASUS Features
Superior Cooling Efficiency – 14°C cooler than reference design boards!
Built for Microsoft® Windows Vista™
ASUS Splendid: Watching movies on PC is as good as on Top-of-the-line consumer television (under winXP/2000)
ASUS Video Security Online: Keep an eye on your home at all times no matter where you are
ASUS Game LiveShow: Stream live gaming action onto the internet and share with other gaming enthusiast
ASUS Game Replay: Recording gaming action and strategy into MPEG4 files to share with other gaming enthusiast
ASUS Game FaceMessenger: Easy IM and live game conference in any PC games (under winXP/2000)
ASUS Gamer OSD: Chat and overclocking during games
Graphics GPU Features
NVIDIA® GeForce 8600GT
Built for Microsoft® Windows Vista™
NVIDIA SLI™ Technology ready
Full support for Microsoft DirectX10 and Shader Model 4.0 enables stunning and complex special effects
OpenGL®2.0 support
NVIDIA Quantum Technology – Advanced Shader Processors architected for physics computation
{mospagebreak title=Overview}
Overview
The day the card arrived the delivery person was carrying such a large box that I figured Asus must have sent me a pair of cards for SLI testing instead of the single card I was expecting. So I quickly opened up the box and was greeted by the largest video card box I have ever seen. It is bigger then most of the motherboard boxes. The box is covered with info on the card and features of the OCGear front panel controller. The front flap of the box lifts up to show even more pictures and specs. But enough with the box its time to see what was inside.
Inside the outer box is another heavier box which contains the goodies. Everything is protected by thick foam. The space in the foam for the video card was much larger then the card itself leading me to believe the same packaging is used for different models.
Contents
- Asus 8600GT video card
- 5 ¼ “ Front panel controller
- D-Sub to DVI Dongle
- HDTV Out Cable
- Manuals
- Driver and Software CDs
- CD Case
The video card is built around a sharp blue colored PCB and is much shorter than its big brother the 8800. Cooling the 8600GT is a open style copper heatsink fan. There are no heat sinks on the memory chips. Dual DVI outputs combined with a HDTV out are pretty much standard these days. This card is also SLI ready if you were to pick up a second one.
The front panel controller is designed into a strange shape. One side has a long narrow piece extending back; this is to allow you to mount it securely in an open bay in your case. The rest of the controller I assume is just large enough to enclose the inner workings of it. The front face that you will spend your time looking at has a very glossy finish and is almost like a mirror when looking at it straight on. The knob is the only moving external part on the controller and works as a dial and a button. The panel connects to the computer through an open USB header on the motherboard.
{mospagebreak title=Performance: Game Tests}
Performance
To test the performance of the card we ran it through a series of game tests followed up by a run of 3DMark06. All settings were adjusted in game and increased to find a maximum setting while still allowing the game to be very playable.
Test System:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6700
eVGA nForce 680i SLI
2 GB Crucial Ballastix PC2 8500
2x Seagate 7200.9 80GB SATA3G in RAID 0
Mushkin 650w PSU
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast
In Half-Life 2: Lost Coast frame rates were recorded using FRAPS from the time you go through the gate at the bottom until you get into the room at the top where you jam the elevator type machine.
Call of Duty 2
In Call of Duty 2 I used the second part of the Winter War level called Domination. This level has some indoors and outdoors parts to the level so it gives you a good feeling of how the game will play. Settings were; 4xAA, Anisotropic filtering.
FPS, higher is better.
Battlefield 2
To test Battlefield 2 I used the Daquing Oilfields level on single player to get an idea of the performance. Settings were on High and then the resolution increased to 1280×1024 which was the maximum it would allow me to go with my widescreen LCD monitor. Unfortunately the Battlefield series continues to not support widescreen resolutions.
3DMark06
The standard 3DMark06 test were run to get the following scores.
Overclocking:
Since this card comes with its own overclocking device, all overclocking was done using the front panel controller rather than software that would usually be used. This did limit the overclocking to only the GPU core because the controller does not increase memory speed.
Temperatures:
The Asus 8600GT ran at very reasonable temperatures. Using the front panel controller to adjust the card from max fan speed to min fan speed and GPU from max to min, tests were rerun at each setting to get an overall range of temperatures that you could expect the card to run at.
{mospagebreak title=Price/Conclusion}
Price and Warranty:
The Asus 8600GT OCGear edition is available online for $144.99 from Newegg.com.
Asus offers a 3 year limited warranty on their VGA cards.
Conclusion:
The Asus 8600GT OC Gear card offers great performance at a very reasonable price. There were no issues playing all of our test games at high resolutions and still maintaining playable frame rates. However, if you were to take a jump to 1920×1080 there would probably be a very noticeable drop in performance. With a street price of under $150 adding a second 8600GT would be pretty easy on the pocket book and the extra frame rate would certainly give you a jump on fragging your buddies. With such a small sized card offering strong performance, this would make an excellent HTPC addition, especially since it runs very quietly. If anyone is looking for a great midrange card with a good price they should check out the Asus 8600GT.
Pros:
-Inexpensive
-Quiet running
-Front Panel overclocking
-Good performance
Cons:
-Overclocking limited to GPU Core with controller
Acknowledgements:
We would like to thank Asus for sending this card to us for review.