Alright folks, let's have a look at some product specs that I placed into this really endearing table.

We are looking at the 8600 cards today let's keep focus on that one. The 32 shader units inside the GPU is not a lot, but for a mid-range product it is decent enough if you give the product the proper what I call "framebuffer performance". The memory on your graphics card is very influential when you look at its bandwidth (the data speed which the GPU can work (read/write/copy) in. So when NVIDIA launched the 8600 series I was surprised to see a 128-bit bus as in 2007 we should have really moved towards a 256-bit bus.

256-bit memory is dirt cheap so that's just not a logical step from my point of view. It's simple, the difference between memory for 128-bit versus 256-bit is half the bandwidth and has a very intense effect on the overall framerate of your games.

I really do expect to see a 256-bit memory bus mid-range product(s) later on in this year though. November would be my bet.

What's the physical difference between the 8600 GT and GTS  ?

The answer is nothing for the GPU other than the core and memory clocks and likely internal GPU voltage. So if you receive a GT that can overclock well, you could be able to bring it close to GTS speeds and save 50 bucks. Really it's the same GPU yet specified slower. Also good to know, every feature that is present on the 8800 series is also available on this chip architecture. Please read our reference GeForce 8800 GTX review for full documentation on these features.

And as you can understand the cards all have full DX10 compatibility.

Reference Specifications

• Chipset - NVIDIA Geforce 8600 GT
• Memory - 256MB GDDR3
• Core Frequency - 540 MHz
• Memory Frequency - 700 (x2) MHz
• RAMDAC - 400MHZ
• Interface - PCI-Express
• Memory Bus - 128-bit
• Max. Resolution - 2560 x 1600
• SLI Ready - Yes
• Stream Processors - 32
• Output - #1. Dual-Link DVI #2. HDTV s

Please notice that only the 8600 GTS will have HDCP support straight out of the box, the GT does not.

BFG Tech GeForce 8600 GTS OC2

Okay, so after the reference bit we land at the actual product tested today. In every possible way the BFG product is the same .. yet also not. You open up the box, then the eye noticed a blue colored PCB, diverting from reference design cooler, then you look at the specs and notice the core frequency is bumped up slightly towards 565 MHz (540 original). The memory frequency however remains the same.

I do wish the OC models from BFG would be overclocked slightly faster as the core can definitely have it. But then it would be competing with BFG's OC2 model graphics cards. Ah well .. don't you love Rivatuner. Anyway the top of the cream batch card can be clocked even higher and this get that OC2 label slapped on them.

Here's an overview of the current BFG GeForce 8600 GT OC & OC2 ThermoIntelliogence line:

BFG GeForce 8600 GT OC ThermoIntelligence (256MB & 512MB versions)

• Core Clock: 565MHz
• Shader Clock: 1242MHz
• Memory Clock: 1400MHz

BFG GeForce 8600 GT OC2 ThermoIntelligence (256MB & 512MB versions)

• Core Clock: 620MHz
• Shader Clock: 1350MHz  
• Memory Clock: 1600MHz (256MB), 1500MHz (512MB)

ThermoIntelligence

BFG is heavily marketing their new ThermoIntelligence line of products. Basically what this refers to is simple, a graphics card with an other than reference cooler based cooling solution. In the near future you'll see new water-cooled based products, we recently tested the 8600 GTS OC2 with custom cooler. And today's tested product also has a custom made cooler slapped on top of the graphics card.

Bigger isn’t always better
Better cooling solutions often come at the expense of space inside your computer, many of them taking up two add-in card slots when installed. The BFG 8600 GT series with ThermoIntelligence fansinks only use a single PCI Express® slot, leaving you with room for other add-in cards.

Quiet by design
Many custom cooling solutions today increase the fan speed to reduce temperatures, but this results in excess noise. The 8600 GT ThermoIntelligence fansink was specifically designed not to increase acoustic noise while providing, on average, an 11C lower GPU load temperature. For users running two graphic cards in an NVIDIA SLI® configuration, the thermal performance improves with the primary graphics card operating at up to 18C cooler.
 

Granted the new cooler works slightly better and just like the GTS OC2 version we did achieve a very nice additional overclock. We'll show you all that in the review and tests though.

Included in the box you'll find:

• GeForce 8600 GT 256 MB OC with TI cooler
• Driver CD
• HDTV block (3-way RCA component)
• 6-pin to Molex power cable
• manual / quick install guide
• VGA->DVI dongle (two)

No additional software is included. You receive the hardware + drivers and that's pretty much it. What did catch my eye is pretty darn cool though. BFG is offering you a Lifetime Warranty if you reside in the USA and 10 years in Europe (EU legislation) with this graphics card. And at this price-level that's a mighty nice investment.

Anyway, let's run a couple of tests and have a peek at temperatures, power consumption and noise levels before we head on over to the extensive benchmark session shall we ?

The board, the bundle.