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Today's official unveiling of the XFX GeFORCE 8600 GTS/GT XXX and GeFORCE 8500 GT will mark another NVIDIA GPU launch, their newest revisions of the G80 architecture which are the G84 and G86. These new parts now complete NVIDIA's DX10 8000 series lineup with midrange and budget cards long before ATI has even launched their flagship R600 series. Now if you think these cards are nothing more than midrange variants of the 8800 you are in for a pleasant surprise as NVIDIA has also upgraded and improved the video support in these parts to improve HD video (h.264) performance for users with midrange systems.
The GPU naming scheme may seem a bit confusing as the G86 core is actually used for the 8500 GT and the G84 core is used for the 8600 GTS/GT. Seeing how both the G84 and G86 will slot into the mid to low range of NVIDIA's new lineup, the core names are certainly going to confuse some people who use the simple logic that the higher number means a faster core. However, this is the last any of you will probably hear of the core names as cards will be referred by their respective consumer names. NVIDIA will also launch three other new cards for April in addition to the G84 and G86 - two of which are of the low-end variety, 8300 and 8400 series created for OEM manufacturers only.
NVIDIA's new drivers will also be released within the same time frame as the new cards. NVIDIA has been highly touting these drivers, especially when relating to Windows Vista. They have promised a May release for the drivers which will include 8600/8500 compliance, SLI / DirectX10 compatibility and HDTV overscan compensation among other things, many of these features long awaited by Vista users.
The GeFORCE 8600 GTS will be on retail shelves immediately following its release on April 17, 2007. However finding an 8600 GT or 8500 GT may be a bit harder as they've been scheduled for an alleged "soft-launch" (product release without firm availability). This is the first "soft launch" from NVIDIA in a while and some of you may wonder what happened to the pioneer and fervent supporter of the beloved hard launch. NVIDIA addressed this very question in a press briefing and points to security concerns as one of the prime suspects. Hard and Soft launches aside, the GeFORCE 8600 GTS will have a MSRP between $199 - 229 US while the 8500 GT will cost about half that. The price for the 8800 GT will fall somewhere in between there.
XFX's version of the 8600 GTS XXX, which we received for review, is an overclocked edition of the 8600 GTS and will cost $239.99 USD, while the regular 8600 GTS costs $199.99 USD. We also received an 8600GT late into our review and will be posting a review of that shortly.
The GPU naming scheme may seem a bit confusing as the G86 core is actually used for the 8500 GT and the G84 core is used for the 8600 GTS/GT. Seeing how both the G84 and G86 will slot into the mid to low range of NVIDIA's new lineup, the core names are certainly going to confuse some people who use the simple logic that the higher number means a faster core. However, this is the last any of you will probably hear of the core names as cards will be referred by their respective consumer names. NVIDIA will also launch three other new cards for April in addition to the G84 and G86 - two of which are of the low-end variety, 8300 and 8400 series created for OEM manufacturers only.
NVIDIA's new drivers will also be released within the same time frame as the new cards. NVIDIA has been highly touting these drivers, especially when relating to Windows Vista. They have promised a May release for the drivers which will include 8600/8500 compliance, SLI / DirectX10 compatibility and HDTV overscan compensation among other things, many of these features long awaited by Vista users.
The GeFORCE 8600 GTS will be on retail shelves immediately following its release on April 17, 2007. However finding an 8600 GT or 8500 GT may be a bit harder as they've been scheduled for an alleged "soft-launch" (product release without firm availability). This is the first "soft launch" from NVIDIA in a while and some of you may wonder what happened to the pioneer and fervent supporter of the beloved hard launch. NVIDIA addressed this very question in a press briefing and points to security concerns as one of the prime suspects. Hard and Soft launches aside, the GeFORCE 8600 GTS will have a MSRP between $199 - 229 US while the 8500 GT will cost about half that. The price for the 8800 GT will fall somewhere in between there.
XFX's version of the 8600 GTS XXX, which we received for review, is an overclocked edition of the 8600 GTS and will cost $239.99 USD, while the regular 8600 GTS costs $199.99 USD. We also received an 8600GT late into our review and will be posting a review of that shortly.
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Maybe Nvidia will suffer the same consequences as ATI has in the past. ATI were the first to release DX9 and it has never been seen by a large portion of people to have always been a step behind Nvidia. Now they seem to have jumped the gun and now they may perpetually be a step behind ATI for the DX10 hardware future. Remember first out the gate doesn't always mean first to the finish line.
So i say this if you can, wait until ATI has released there DX10 card and then compare the 2 and buy the best, but until then be happy playing your DX9 games as at least on the current DX9 hardware you will get good performance and your money's worth.
DX10 is the future of gaming but i will not buy in to it unless i can be 100% sure that i'm getting my money's worth, and not forced into buying second rate hardware because a company knows i will eventually have to buy.
David Lane
I wish it was possible to make a reasonable prediction on when DX10 becomes necessary for gamers, Crysis is the only DX10 compatible game I can think off for now. I would assume DX10 doesn't become a must for another year or so, maybe I should stick to DX9 for now and go DX10 for Christmas or something along those lines. Either way, I'm going to wait and see what ATI comes up with, this might be the time for me to switch. If not, at least the price will have dropped by than.
I guess I won't be getting this card then.
You can't expect new architecture and ways of rendering things be applied to the old.