TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

Test System Specifications
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 (2.66GHz) LGA775
- x2 1024MB Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB PC2-6400 Module(s)
- ASUS Striker Extreme (nForce 680i SLI)
- OCZ GameXStream (700 watt)
- Seagate 250GB 7200RPM (Serial ATA II)
- ASUS GeForce 8800 GTS (320MB)
- Inno3D GeForce 7900GS (256MB)
- Gigabyte GeForce 7600GT (256MB)
- ASUS GeForce 8600GTS (256MB)
- ASUS GeForce 8600GT (256MB)
Software
- Microsoft Windows XP Pro (SP2)
- Nvidia Forceware (158.22)
- Nvidia Forceware (93.71)
- Nvidia nForce 680i SLI (9.53)

According to 3Dmark2006 the 8800 GTS (320MB) graphics card is 66% faster than the new 8600 GTS at 1600x1200.

Keeping that in mind, the 8600 GT is just 5% slower than the 7900GS in 3Dmark2006 and costs roughly the same. The results are interesting but let’s move onto some real-world testing...

X3: Reunion is the first game we used to test these new GeForce 8600 series graphics cards. Let’s take a look at the performance recorded at 1600x1200. The 8800 GTS (320MB) managed 72.6fps making it 23% faster than the 8600 GTS, which puts the 8600 GTS in a pretty good spot. That is until you realize that the 7900 GS which costs just $160 was actually faster! Furthermore the old 7600 GT was 3fps faster than the 8600 GT. Not such good results for the new 8600 series in X3 then...