Geforce 8600 kinda dissapointing

[t0rek]

Let's see the first benchmarks:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/04/17/geforce_8600/index.html
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2970

From this benchmarks, we might think that:

a. ATI will have the lead this time with their unreleased DX10 cards
b. The first generation of DX10 cards, will suck (both nvidia and ATI)

EDIT: I mean disappointing in the title... some typos...

[BlueFalcon7]

Well, First of all, you see that the 8600 only has a 128 bit interface. Hopefully, the VRAM will overclock well because its 128 bit. But then again, its clocked at 1 GHz (2 GHz effective)

Then you see that it only has 256 MB of VRAM. It could at least have 320. More and more games want over 256 MB of VRAM (though quake 4 played fine on ultra quality with only 256 MB, and it said it required 500 MB)

Also, maybe I have too much exposure to the 8800s but 32 stream processors seems a bit low.

If only they could make a G86 like processor for the 8800 GTX. It would be a bit cheaper, a bit cooler, and a bit more powerful. Im sticking with my GeForce 7 card for now, the 8600 really is a disappointment.

[gokuss4]

Well, First of all, you see that the 8600 only has a 128 bit interface. Hopefully, the VRAM will overclock well because its 128 bit. But then again, its clocked at 1 GHz (2 GHz effective)

Then you see that it only has 256 MB of VRAM. It could at least have 320. More and more games want over 256 MB of VRAM (though quake 4 played fine on ultra quality with only 256 MB, and it said it required 500 MB)

Also, maybe I have too much exposure to the 8800s but 32 stream processors seems a bit low.

If only they could make a G86 like processor for the 8800 GTX. It would be a bit cheaper, a bit cooler, and a bit more powerful. Im sticking with my GeForce 7 card for now, the 8600 really is a disappointment.

It would've been better if they made the 8600 with 64 stream processors, 320-512mb of ram, with a 256-bit interface. Would've costed $50-$80 cheaper than the 8000GTS still.

[Clements]

From the benchmarks I've seen, it is competitive with the mid-high end (such as the X1950 Pro) from the last generation at 1280x1024, but as soon as you go higher than that, the 8600s take a major performance hit. This result is fairly predicable from the 128-bit interface, and the lack of stream processors and ROPs. The 8800GTS 320MB seems a better alternative to the 8600GTS for about £50 more.

[BlueFalcon7]

It would've been better if they made the 8600 with 64 stream processors, 320-512mb of ram, with a 256-bit interface. Would've costed $50-$80 cheaper than the 8000GTS still.

Just a 256 bit interface would solve the majority of the problems. But the increase in RAM and unified pipes would be nice :)

[gokuss4]

The GeForce 8500/8600 would be good for a media center PC to play HD-DVD's on your computer. It has full H.264 decode acceleration
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2977