XFX GeForce 8600 GT

This card has a name similar to its cousin reviewed above. However, the
similarity between 8600 GT and 8600 GTS ends over here. Although there aren't
any major differences apart from the clock speed and cost, XFX 8600 GT has a
slightly lower clock speed of 620 MHz and a memory speed of 1.6 GHz along with
256 MB of GDDR3 RAM. What 8600 GT doesn't have is support for HDCP which 8600
GTS boasts of. Also this card doesn't require any external power support, unlike
the 8600 GTS. In terms of performance there isn't a huge difference between the
8600 GT and GTS. At 1280x1024 resolution the 8600 GT gave a score of 5118, just
833 less than the 8600 GTS. In games like FEAR (at max setting) it gave a score
of 82 fps which is similar to what we got from 8600 GTS. However, if you are not
a hard core gamer it will be difficult for you to find any difference in terms
of performance between the two cards. We played some graphically challenging
games like STALKER, Far Cry, Doom 3 and Brain Lara Cricket 2007 and experienced
good performance without any concern on fps.

In terms of value for money, this card will take the crown away form the 8600
GTS as it is cheaper and performed almost at par with 8600 GTS. It's surely
going to excite a lot of budget conscious gamers to look forward to the DirectX
10 games.

Bottomline: A gem at this price for any budget conscious gamer.