Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS

We received cards from Asus and BFGTech in time for us to complete our initial GeForce 8600 GTS coverage. Both cards are overclocked by a fair amount, so they’re going to cost a little more than a typical GeForce 8600 GTS. Obviously, there is also going to an increase performance too, which we’ll be looking at over the next few pages. For now though, let’s have a look at the cards...

Asus EN8600GTS TOP 256MB

Core Clock: 745MHz
Memory Clock: 2290MHz
Warranty: Three years limited (parts and labour)
Price (as reviewed): £155 (inc VAT)

If you didn’t guess after looking at the EN8600GTS TOP’s heatsink artwork, Asus has teamed up with the guys THQ for this launch and will be bundling S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl with a few editions of its GeForce 8600 GTS cards. The version we’ve got here is Asus’ flagship GeForce 8600 GTS and sports an impressive clock speed increase over Nvidia’s reference frequencies.

The core has been increased from 675MHz to a lofty 745MHz and, by the same token, the memory has had an equally impressive increase from 2000MHz to just shy of 2300MHz. This represents a 10 percent increase in core speed, and a 14.5 percent increase in available memory bandwidth.

Unsurprisingly, if you disregard the cooler artwork, the card is a carbon copy of Nvidia’s reference design. That’s more to do with the fact that these are very early cards more than anything else though. We can expect a slew of ‘different’ designs to turn up, no doubt including versions with passive cooling and/or with an HDMI port on the PCI bracket.

The bundle included with the Asus EN8600GTS TOP is unfortunately preliminary at the moment and thus we can’t really draw any conclusions from it. However, Asus has told us that this card should come with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl in the UK at least, but the game’s inclusion will be up to the Asus offices in individual regions.

Warranty:

Asus offers a three year limited warranty covering parts and labour with all of its graphics card range. In order to repair the card, you have to contact your reseller. You could say the card is warranted for a reasonable lifetime of the product, but it is not a true lifetime warranty. The point of contact for support is the place where you purchased the video card in the first year. After that, you should contact Asus if you're having problems with your purchase.