XTX 8600GT Fatal1ty

alan_simon

Hi all, I just bought this card today - XTX GF 8600GT Fatal1ty 256MB PCIE. I heard its alright, and its billed as the fastest 8600 you can buy (plus it only cost 150 quid) but have I bought a complete dog?

Due to a strange monitor, a Hanns G, my max resolution is 1028*768, so I can't run games at their full potential. But would this card run the likes of Gears of War and stuff like that alright, at that resolution?

I have a P4 2.93ghz (2 CPUs), 1 gb of RAM and Windows XP Home

Cheers,

Alan

chump

alan_simon wrote: »

Hi all, I just bought this card today - XTX GF 8600GT Fatal1ty 256MB PCIE. I heard its alright, and its billed as the fastest 8600 you can buy (plus it only cost 150 quid) but have I bought a complete dog?

Due to a strange monitor, a Hanns G, my max resolution is 1028*768, so I can't run games at their full potential. But would this card run the likes of Gears of War and stuff like that alright, at that resolution?

I have a P4 2.93ghz (2 CPUs), 1 gb of RAM and Windows XP Home

Cheers,

Alan

TBH the 8600 cards are viewed as a bit of a dud. It's an overclocked GT. Is it as 'quick' as the 8600gts?

Ultimately it's not a great card but I would imagine on your monitor at the res. it will perform OK.

I know it's hard to hear after you purchase something - but it wasn't the best choice tbh.

uberpixie

alan_simon wrote: »

Hi all, I just bought this card today - XTX GF 8600GT Fatal1ty 256MB PCIE. I heard its alright, and its billed as the fastest 8600 you can buy (plus it only cost 150 quid) but have I bought a complete dog?

Due to a strange monitor, a Hanns G, my max resolution is 1028*768, so I can't run games at their full potential. But would this card run the likes of Gears of War and stuff like that alright, at that resolution?

I have a P4 2.93ghz (2 CPUs), 1 gb of RAM and Windows XP Home

Cheers,

Alan

At that res the card will be fine for the vast majority of games out at the moment.

alan_simon

Cheers for the advice guys, as I had only ordered the card on Dabs.ie I was able to cancel it. I've decided on an 8600GTS, but which one? I can afford around 170, 180 for it. Any advice is appreciated

I see the MSI Overclocked 8600GTS seems pretty good, got good reviews and is 170 quid. Any one heard anything good about it?

EDIT- On another note, just to show how much of a computer noob I am, I never realised there was a power issue. I looked up the requirements for the 8600GTS, and it says the minimum is 350W. After cracking open my case, I saw that my PSU was exactly 350W. Should I buy a new PSU, and if so, what one?

Cheers,

Alan

jonny72

I have no idea why people want to buy 8600GT's and GTS's. The older 7900's are generally faster and a lot cheaper.

Here's a rough guide..

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=859&model2=722&chart=318

uberpixie

jonny72 wrote: »

I have no idea why people want to buy 8600GT's and GTS's. The older 7900's are generally faster and a lot cheaper.

Because it has got a bigger number on the box and DX10 it must be better! New mid range cards are always dodgy: remember the time of the Radeon 9500 128Mb which was faster that the cards that replaced it the radeon 9600 series?

Or Nvidia's carda at the time, many of the newier Geforce 5000 series cards were not much better if not worse than the Geforce 4200.

A new series of cards in that price bracket can usually be counted on to be slower than the old stuff.:D

TBH I would look at a good cheap X1950 Pro. Matches or beats the 8600GTS and is a couple of quid cheaper.

TerrorFirmer

Dabs Value X1950Pro 512mb is only 120 euro and would beat the pants off either card. 8600GT and especially GTS are a waste of money and are the worst line up since the Fx series disaster. If you want media ability the 8400GS and 8500Gt are much cheaper and for performance, all the older performance dx9 cards in the same price are better. So there is little reason for getting either card. Though you can get a Dabs Value 8600GT for 100 euro which is OK.

New PSU would be advisable but what is your current one?

Also, for the latest games, you will need a better processor and more ram. The P4 is a big weak point. And what a strange resolution. You will probably have to run at 800x600 scaled up in which case any modern card should be OK at that resolution, just make sure to apply some AA to smooth it out.

stevejazzx

hey allan
but an 8800gt it's just a bit over 200euro and a huge performance leap over the likes of 8600gt of gts

alan_simon

I had a chat with a computer geek friend, and he convinced me to go out and buy a new PSU, so Im now the proud owner of a new 450W one. Unfortunately, any 8800 ive seen priced at 200 is rubbish (the good ones starting in at 250) and the X1950 is too big for my case! Money is beginning to become a factor unfortunately, as the PSU set me back 50 quid (its a good'n apperantly) so I only have 150 left for the card. Looks like an MSI 8600GTS overclocked for me! The specs are impressive enough (128-bit, 670 mhz core clock, 2.1 ghz memory) and its right at on the end of my budget.

stevejazzx

alan_simon wrote: »

I had a chat with a computer geek friend, and he convinced me to go out and buy a new PSU, so Im now the proud owner of a new 450W one. Unfortunately, any 8800 ive seen priced at 200 is rubbish (the good ones starting in at 250) and the X1950 is too big for my case! Money is beginning to become a factor unfortunately, as the PSU set me back 50 quid (its a good'n apperantly) so I only have 150 left for the card. Looks like an MSI 8600GTS overclocked for me! The specs are impressive enough (128-bit, 670 mhz core clock, 2.1 ghz memory) and its right at on the end of my budget.

buying the 8600 the card is a mistake given the 8800gt is only 50 or so more exspensive...nvidia make the actual chips and the various manufacturers are responsible for fans (in some cases) and the design and packaging so saying that cheap end ones are crap makes no sense..they'd be a hell of a lot better than any 8600...
don't judge the spec by the core and memory speed..there are planty of other factors most importatnly fps pn the latest gajmes at decent setting and the 8800gt is the only card that will do for you on a budget..the 8600gt is a long long way behind... overclocking the 8600 makes little differnece except in p[erformance aginst other 8600gt's where you might get up to 3-5 fps more....
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-072-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1008

inc delivery this this costs just 219 quid it would destroy any 8600 gt and will be far more future proof

chump

alan_simon wrote: »

I had a chat with a computer geek friend, and he convinced me to go out and buy a new PSU, so Im now the proud owner of a new 450W one. Unfortunately, any 8800 ive seen priced at 200 is rubbish (the good ones starting in at 250) and the X1950 is too big for my case! Money is beginning to become a factor unfortunately, as the PSU set me back 50 quid (its a good'n apperantly) so I only have 150 left for the card. Looks like an MSI 8600GTS overclocked for me! The specs are impressive enough (128-bit, 670 mhz core clock, 2.1 ghz memory) and its right at on the end of my budget.

the x1950 is a single slot - is it too long?
If it is so is the 8800gt (as they are ballpark same size)

TerrorFirmer

Some X1950's have double slot coolers. Is it a Dell case? If so, and if anything better then the 8600 doesn't fit, then you somewhat just wasted your money on the PSU, as a 350w Dell power supply is enough for an X1950Pro/8600Gt/GTS

alan_simon

No, its a scaleo P case, from fujitsu siemens, but the PSU in it was rubbish, as it was a custom build. nVidia reckon 350W minimum for the 8600GTS, so I thought I may as well upgrade.
Unfortunately, the x1950 is too long for the case, and as I only have one PCIEx16 slot, I'd be very limited to which cards I could get anyways. The 8600GTS is already a 400% improvement on what I have now, the x1300HD 64/512mb from Ati. Im hoping the GTS will last me about a year, and then ill go out and buy me a proper gaming system.

Thanks for all the help guys!