W1zzard
10-19-2007, 08:59 PM
[page=Introduction & Specifications]
Introduction
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/logo.jpg
Most of you probably haven't heard about VVIKOO before, that's because they are new in the business. Their name is pronounced "wico" like you would say VCore, just without the "re" at the end.
Let's first see what the company has to say about themselves:
VVIKOO, established in Paris in early 2007, is one of the world leading companies whose objective is to create a new gaming environment for customers all over the world.
The meaning of Vvikoo:
The sound of Vvikoo in French is similar to video cool in English. That is the beginning of Vvikoo. Therefore, when the first time people see or hear Vvikoo, they know Vvikoo was born for VGA card.
Powerful products :
Vvikoo provides various of products from high-end products to mainstream products of NVIDIA and ATI chipsets. We use the highest quality coolers and heatsinks to ensure the heat dissipation. Also, we have the innovative designs to tweak our products to the highest performance. Moreover, our advanced producing processes help our products keep the best quality when we combine all together.
Market-oriented strategy :
We believe only right products emerge at right time can satisfy the need of market. Our marketing and sales teams do research in each region completely and analyze people's actual need and create the corresponding products for each market. Our ultimate goal is to satisfy all of your need no matter what products you buy from Vvikoo.
Customer satisfaction :
Customer satisfaction is a key for us. For your piece of mind, not only have we built our reputation on quality built products, we take pride in our ability to offer the best in customer service. We listen carefully to each request and feedback from our customers, and do our best to improve our products and services if possible. Our goal is to serve our customers from the beginning to the end. They can always use our products with ease and satisfaction because they know Vvikoo will solve any possible problems for their customers.
Vvikoo will maintain its highest quality products and services. Also, Vvikoo listens to what market really needs and will never stop!
VVIKOO will sell both NVIDIA and ATI products on the markets Germany, France and UK first. After that, an expansion to cover whole Europe is planned for the future. It is certainly not profitable for a company this size to have their own factory. That's why VVIKOO has teamed up with Palit (one of the biggest video card producers in the world) to bring their customers cost-effective, high quality solutions. This does not mean that the cards are simply rebranded Palit/XpertVision products. According to VVIKOO, the company performs additional quality and testing control to ensure a defect free product. VVIKOO also creates their own products like the 8600 GT Turbo we have on the testbench today.
The card is based on the GeForce 8600 GT design by NVIDIA with a higher clock speed and a Zalman cooler for improved cooling.
<table border="1" class="resulttable" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3">
<tr>
<th></th>
<td>Radeon<br />
HD 2400 Pro </td>
<td>Radeon<br />
HD 2400 XT </td>
<td>GeForce <br />
8500 GT </td>
<td>GeForce <br />
8600 GT </td>
<td><strong>VVIKOO<br />
8600 GT Turbo </strong></td>
<td>GeForce <br />
8600 GTS </td>
<td>Radeon <br />
HD 2600 XT </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Shader units </th>
<td align="right">40</td>
<td align="right">40</td>
<td align="right">16</td>
<td align="right">32</td>
<td align="right"><strong>32</strong></td>
<td align="right">32</td>
<td align="right">120</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>ROPs</th>
<td align="right">4 x2 </td>
<td align="right">4 x2 </td>
<td align="right">4</td>
<td align="right">8</td>
<td align="right"><strong>8</strong></td>
<td align="right">8</td>
<td align="right">4 x2 </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>GPU</th>
<td align="right">RV610</td>
<td align="right">RV610</td>
<td align="right">G86</td>
<td align="right">G84</td>
<td align="right"><strong>G84</strong></td>
<td align="right">G84</td>
<td align="right">RV630</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Transistors</th>
<td align="right">180 M </td>
<td align="right">180 M </td>
<td align="right">210M</td>
<td align="right">289M</td>
<td align="right"><strong>289M</strong></td>
<td align="right">289M</td>
<td align="right">390 M </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Memory Size</th>
<td align="right">256 MB</td>
<td align="right">256 MB</td>
<td align="right">256 MB </td>
<td align="right">256 MB </td>
<td align="right"><strong>256 MB </strong></td>
<td align="right">256 MB </td>
<td align="right">256 MB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Memory Bus Width </th>
<td align="right">64 bit </td>
<td align="right">64 bit </td>
<td align="right">128 bit </td>
<td align="right">128 bit </td>
<td align="right"><strong>128 bit </strong></td>
<td align="right">128 bit </td>
<td align="right">128 bit </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Core Clock</th>
<td align="right">525 MHz </td>
<td align="right">700 MHz </td>
<td align="right">450 MHz </td>
<td align="right">540 MHz </td>
<td align="right"><strong>625 MHz </strong></td>
<td align="right">675 MHz </td>
<td align="right">800 MHz </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Memory Clock</th>
<td align="right">400 MHz </td>
<td align="right">800 MHz </td>
<td align="right">400 MHz </td>
<td align="right">700 MHz </td>
<td align="right"><strong>900 MHz </strong></td>
<td align="right">1000 MHz </td>
<td align="right">1100 MHz </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Price</th>
<td align="right">$59</td>
<td align="right">$79</td>
<td align="right">$85</td>
<td align="right">$110</td>
<td align="right"><strong>$130</strong></td>
<td align="right">$175</td>
<td align="right">$149</td>
</tr>
</table>
Complete Specifications
NVIDIA® Unified Architecture
Unified shader architecture
GigaThread™ technology
Full support for Microsoft® DirectX® 10
Geometry shaders
Geometry instancing
Streamed output
Shader Model 4.0
Full 128-bit floating point precision through the entire rendering pipeline
NVIDIA Lumenex™ Engine
16x full screen anti-aliasing
Transparent multisampling and transparent supersampling
16x angle independent anisotropic filtering
128-bit floating point high dynamic-range (HDR) lighting with anti-aliasing
32-bit per component floating point texture filtering and blending
Advanced lossless compression algorithms for color, texture, and z-data
Support for normal map compression
Z-cull
Early-Z
NVIDIA Quantum Effects™ Technology
Advanced shader processors architected for physics computation
Simulate and render physics effects on the graphics processor
NVIDIA SLI™ Technology
Patented hardware and software technology allows two GeForce-based graphics cards to run in parallel to scale performance and enhance image quality on today's top titles.
NVIDIA PureVideo™ HD Technology
Dedicated on-chip video processor
High-definition H.264, VC-1, MPEG2 and WMV9 decode acceleration
Advanced spatial-temporal de-interlacing
HDCP capable3
Spatial-Temporal De-Interlacing
Noise Reduction
Edge Enhancement
Bad Edit Correction
Inverse telecine (2:2 and 3:2 pull-down correction)
High-quality scaling
Video color correction
Microsoft® Video Mixing Renderer (VMR) support
Advanced Display Functionality
Two dual-link DVI outputs for digital flat panel display resolutions up to 2560x1600
One dual-link DVI outputs for digital flat panel display resolutions up to 2560x1600
Dual integrated 400MHz RAMDACs for analog display resolutions up to and including 2048x1536 at 85Hz
Integrated HDTV encoder provides analog TV-output (Component/Composite/S-Video) up to 1080i resolution
NVIDIA nView® multi-display technology capability
10-bit display processing
Built for Microsoft® Windows Vista™
Full DirectX 10 support
Dedicated graphics processor powers the new Windows Vista Aero 3D user interface
VMR-based video architecture
High Speed Interfaces
Designed for PCI Express® x16
Designed for high-speed GDDR3 and DDR2 memory
Operating Systems
Built for Microsoft Windows Vista
Windows XP/Windows XP 64
Linux
API Support
Complete DirectX support, including Microsoft DirectX 10 Shader Model 4.0
Full OpenGL® support, including OpenGL 2.0
[page=Packaging & The Card]
Packaging & Contents
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/package1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/package1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/package2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/package2.jpg)
VVIKOO's package is kept in silver with their bee logo. The package design is very clean, so it will stand out over all the other flashy packages. On the back you have a basic specs list in multiple languages.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/contents_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/contents.jpg)
You will receive:
Graphics card
Instruction Manual + Driver CD
DVI Adapter
TV Out cable
The Card
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/card1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/card1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/card2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/card2.jpg)
Instead of the blueish NVIDIA reference PCB, VVIKOO uses a regular green board. Unfortunately the cooler is a bit taller than the NVIDIA reference cooler, which means that you need two slots for this VGA card. But a bigger and more powerful cooler also means more overclocking is possible, which is what this product is advertised to do.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/card3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/card3.jpg)
On the back you find the usual warranty stickers and product information labels, the four spots for memory chips are empty. VVIKOO has placed four memory chips on the other side, next to the GPU.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/outputs_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/outputs.jpg)
Having two DVI outputs is standard nowadays for a midrange card. Should you need to use the card with an older CRT, you can use the included DVI to VGA dongle.
[page=A Closer Look]
A Closer Look
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/cooler1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/cooler1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/cooler2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/cooler2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/cooler3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/cooler3.jpg)
The cooler is made by Zalman, it is a full aluminum design to keep weight and cost down. Even though the fan can be heard it is not too loud and does not stand out over the rest of your system fans.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/ramsink1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/ramsink1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/ramsink2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/ramsink2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/ramsink3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/ramsink3.jpg)
Even though the ramsinks are just basic pieces of aluminum they seem to help with overclocking. Please be advised that the sticky tape they are attached with is very strong. Unless carefully removed there is a chance that you rip a memory chip off the PCB.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/screws_back_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/screws_back.jpg)
The cooler is mounted with only two screws, a sticker is placed on one of the screws, to ensure the user does not remove his cooler, break the card and then RMAs it.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/sli_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/sli.jpg)
SLI is possible by combining this card with any other 8600 GT card from any manufacturer. Depending on the configuration of the second card, the 8600 GT Turbo may clock down to match the other card's clock speeds.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/power_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/power.jpg)
An additional power connector is not required for operation of this card. All power is supplied via the PCI-Express bus.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/card_naked_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/card_naked.jpg)
Four GDDR3 memory chips are installed on the GPU side of the card, as mentioned before the solder pads on the other side are empty.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/memory_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/memory.jpg)
The GDDR3 memory chips are made by Qimonda (formerly Infineon) and carry the model number HYB18H512321BF-10 with an access speed of 1.0 ns, which means they should be good for 1000 MHz at least.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/gpu_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/gpu.jpg)
The GPU is the NVIDIA G84 Revision A2. Please note the black plastic shim around the GPU, which helps avoid damage to the silicon when the cooler is being installed or when sideways force is applied to the cooler when the card is handled.
[page=Test Setup]
Test System
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="150" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33 GHz<br />(Conroe, 2x 1024 KB Cache)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">Gigabyte P35C-DS3R<br />Intel P35</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 1024MB A.DATA DDR2 1066+ CL4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">WD Raptor 740ADFD 74 GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">OCZ GameXStream 700W</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Drivers:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">NVIDIA: 162.18<br />ATI: Catalyst 7.7</td>
</tr>
</table>
All video card results were obtained on this exact system with the exact same configuration.
All games were set to their highest quality setting
Each benchmark was tested at the following settings and resolution:
1024 x 768, No Anti-aliasing, No anisotropic filtering. This is a standard resolution without demanding display settings.
1280 x 1024, 2x Anti-aliasing, 8x anisotropic filtering. Common resolution for most gamer flatscreens today. A bit of eye candy turned on in the drivers.
1600 x 1200, 4x Anti-aliasing, 16x anisotropic filter. Highest non-widescreen resolution available to a wide range of users. Very good looking driver graphics settings.
2048 x 1536, 4x Anti-aliasing, 16x anisotropic filter. Highest non-widescreen resolution available to any consumer video card. Very good looking driver graphics settings.
[page=Company Of Heroes]
Company Of Heroes
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The real-time strategy game Company of Heroes (http://www.companyofheroesgame.com) is set during World War II where you take two American companies through several fights all over France to liberate the country from German occupation. Company of Heroes is the first game to use Relic's next-generation engine "Essence Engine" which includes support for HDR lighting, Shader Model 3.0, normal mapping, dynamic lighting and shadows. You are able to zoom in from the tactical view of the battle field to see the individual units fighting. Often you catch yourself admiring the detailed animations of the soldiers while the fight around you is raging. We tested the DX9 version of the game at maximum details.
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[page=Far Cry]
Far Cry
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Far Cry (http://www.farcry-thegame.com) was released in early 2004 by the new development studio Crytek. It quickly became a massive success because it was one of the first titles to take you in a beautiful 3D outdoor world. Far Cry was one of the most demanding games at its time. Even with today's video cards you can still see big differences in frame rates, especially at the higher resolutions.
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[page=FEAR]
FEAR
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The first person shooter F.E.A.R (htttp://www.whatisfear.com), developed by Monolith Game Studios, was released in Fall 2005 and has a great 3D engine that uses a large number of shading and shadow effects to accurately model the game world. In addition to that it features a realistic physics engine that lets you interact with many objects in the game world. The game was voted game of the year by several publications.
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[page=Prey]
Prey
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Prey (http://www.prey.com) is based on a highly modified 3D engine made by id Software. This first person shooter brought a completely new way of gaming to the genre. In many levels you find yourself walking upside down or on the walls. This adds a completely new aspect to the gaming experience in this genre.
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[page=Quake 4]
Quake 4
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The Quake titles are among the most successful first person games. Developed by id Software, the famous game studio that brought you DOOM, you find yourself in a scifi world that is full of aliens and shocking effects. The main focus of the game is the single player story line. Quake 4 (http://www.quake4game.com) puts you on the home planet of the Strogg. In a number of missions you and your fellow marines will encounter all sorts of enemies, including some really huge aliens.
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[page=Splinter Cell 3]
Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory
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The Splinter Cell Series is endorsed by popular book author Tom Clancy. In the 2005 title Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory (http://www.splintercell.com) you play the NSA agent Sam Fisher who has to use stealth and finesse to make his way through a number of levels mainly set in eastern asia. The game is based on a modified Unreal 2 engine with support for HDR, normal mapping, parallax mapping and soft shadows. A patch added Shader Model 2.0 support for ATI in addition to the Shader Model 3.0 support which was already part of the original shipping game.
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[page=STALKER]
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/stalker.jpg
Before its release in 2007, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (http://www.stalker-game.com) was one of the most hyped games of the last years. This RPG/FPS hybrid game is set a few years in the future, after a nuclear disaster occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The release of radiation causes strange things like mutations in the nearby area. You take the role of a Stalker who seeks fame and riches in the contaminated area around Chernobyl. The game engine features all the latest buzzwords like HDR, bullet physics, skeletal animation, soft shadows and weather effects. Stalker's vast outside world is richly modeled, you can interact with a large number of objects in the game thanks to the physics engine.
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[page=Supreme Commander]
Supreme Commander
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If you hear people talk about a real-time strategy game with "massive numbers of units fighting" you can be sure they are talking about Supreme Commander (http://www.supremecommander.com). The unofficial successor to the Total Annihilation Series completely redefined some aspects of the RTS genre. In Supreme Commander you can zoom out so far that you can see the whole map on your screen and units are just little blips. This is much needed in fights when several hundred units go at each other. Supreme Commander is also one of the most demanding RTS games with support for up to four CPU cores - a dual-core system with high-end graphics is recommended for optimum game play.
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[page=X3]
X3
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X3 (http://www.egosoft.com) is a space combat/trading simulation game with beautiful graphics. The game world is gigantic and there is always something new to see. Even though the user interface is not that great, the title has found many fans that love to explore the rich content. When you are flying in your spaceship you are sometimes tempted to just stop the action to take a look at the highly detailed ships and planets.
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[page=3DMark03]
3DMark03
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Futuremark Corporation (http://www.futuremark.com) is the number one player in the world of synthetic benchmarking. The 3DMark series is the most popular test suite for video card testing and is used by gamers, overclockers and manufacturers alike to determine how fast their hardware is. Even though it is a few years old, 3DMark03 can easily stress today's video cards.
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[page=3DMark05]
3DMark05
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/3dmark05.jpg
Another benchmark from Futuremark (http://www.futuremark.com) is 3DMark05 which comes with four completely new game tests that make massive use of shaders and lighting effects. 3DMark05 is a great test for modern video card architectures - in some tests you are often close to the 30 fps mark, below which your games will feel sluggish.
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[page=3DMark06]
3DMark06
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/3dmark06.jpg
Even though it's based on Futuremark's 3DMark05, the new 3DMark06 adds new tests for Shader Model 3.0 and HDR rendering. It is also the first 3DMark to incorporate a CPU score into the final 3DMark score. All tests have received an overhaul, for example in the Canyon Flight test you can now see beautiful sun glare effects with the help of High Dynamic Range rendering.
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[page=Overclocking]
Overclocking
We used ATITool to search for the maximum core and memory clocks, we then verified that the clocks were stable by running our benchmarking suite and looking for visual errors or crashes.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/maxclock_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/maxclock.jpg)
The final overclocks of our card are 766 MHz Core (23 % overclock, 42 % over NVIDIA reference 8600 GT) and 1015 MHz Memory (13 % overclock, 45 % over reference).
These overclocks are really impressive, first you get an already overclocked card out of the box and then you can even overclock it quite a bit more. At our overclocked speeds, the card had absolutely no problems beating the 8600 GTS in most benchmarks.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/temp.gif
The Zalman cooler works great too. It keeps the card temperatures at acceptable levels, even when highly overclocked.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/gpuz.jpg
[page=Value & Conclusion]
Value and Conclusion
<table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="result">
<tr><th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/dollar.gif</th>
<td>
You can find the VVIKOO 8600 GT Turbo for about $130 (add local VAT and convert to Euro) on the German, French and UK markets.</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbup.gif</th>
<td>
Pre-overclocked
Zalman cooler included
Excellent overclocking potential
Good price
GDDR3 Memory
DirectX 10 + Shader Model 4.0 Support
HD Video decoding capabilities
SLI capable
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbdown.gif</th>
<td>
Only available in UK, DE, FR
Dual Slot cooling solution
</td></tr>
<tr><th>9.0</th>
<td>
Even though VVIKOO is new in the business, their GeForce 8600 GT Turbo works very good. The card was rock stable during all our testing and kept the promise of being an overclocker's product. Even though the card is already overclocked by 85 MHz / 200 MHz over the NVIDIA reference 8600 GT design, we could get another extra 140 MHz / 115 MHz out of it - without any change to the cooler. So compared to the regular 8600 GT we could reach clocks that were 42% and 45% higher than NVIDIA's reference design.<br />
Our benchmarks show that the GeForce 8600 GT Turbo from VVIKOO has a nice performance advantage over the 8600 GT out of the box, but it can not beat the 8600 GTS. Once we overclocked the card, this was not a problem anymore. Especially at higher resolutions there is quite a difference in performance, big enough to be noticed while gaming.<br />
The price of the 8600 GT Turbo is only $20 more than a regular 8600 GT, so if you are in the market for such a card, spend a few bucks extra and get a nice performance boost.
</td></tr>
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</table>
Introduction
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/logo.jpg
Most of you probably haven't heard about VVIKOO before, that's because they are new in the business. Their name is pronounced "wico" like you would say VCore, just without the "re" at the end.
Let's first see what the company has to say about themselves:
VVIKOO, established in Paris in early 2007, is one of the world leading companies whose objective is to create a new gaming environment for customers all over the world.
The meaning of Vvikoo:
The sound of Vvikoo in French is similar to video cool in English. That is the beginning of Vvikoo. Therefore, when the first time people see or hear Vvikoo, they know Vvikoo was born for VGA card.
Powerful products :
Vvikoo provides various of products from high-end products to mainstream products of NVIDIA and ATI chipsets. We use the highest quality coolers and heatsinks to ensure the heat dissipation. Also, we have the innovative designs to tweak our products to the highest performance. Moreover, our advanced producing processes help our products keep the best quality when we combine all together.
Market-oriented strategy :
We believe only right products emerge at right time can satisfy the need of market. Our marketing and sales teams do research in each region completely and analyze people's actual need and create the corresponding products for each market. Our ultimate goal is to satisfy all of your need no matter what products you buy from Vvikoo.
Customer satisfaction :
Customer satisfaction is a key for us. For your piece of mind, not only have we built our reputation on quality built products, we take pride in our ability to offer the best in customer service. We listen carefully to each request and feedback from our customers, and do our best to improve our products and services if possible. Our goal is to serve our customers from the beginning to the end. They can always use our products with ease and satisfaction because they know Vvikoo will solve any possible problems for their customers.
Vvikoo will maintain its highest quality products and services. Also, Vvikoo listens to what market really needs and will never stop!
VVIKOO will sell both NVIDIA and ATI products on the markets Germany, France and UK first. After that, an expansion to cover whole Europe is planned for the future. It is certainly not profitable for a company this size to have their own factory. That's why VVIKOO has teamed up with Palit (one of the biggest video card producers in the world) to bring their customers cost-effective, high quality solutions. This does not mean that the cards are simply rebranded Palit/XpertVision products. According to VVIKOO, the company performs additional quality and testing control to ensure a defect free product. VVIKOO also creates their own products like the 8600 GT Turbo we have on the testbench today.
The card is based on the GeForce 8600 GT design by NVIDIA with a higher clock speed and a Zalman cooler for improved cooling.
<table border="1" class="resulttable" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3">
<tr>
<th></th>
<td>Radeon<br />
HD 2400 Pro </td>
<td>Radeon<br />
HD 2400 XT </td>
<td>GeForce <br />
8500 GT </td>
<td>GeForce <br />
8600 GT </td>
<td><strong>VVIKOO<br />
8600 GT Turbo </strong></td>
<td>GeForce <br />
8600 GTS </td>
<td>Radeon <br />
HD 2600 XT </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Shader units </th>
<td align="right">40</td>
<td align="right">40</td>
<td align="right">16</td>
<td align="right">32</td>
<td align="right"><strong>32</strong></td>
<td align="right">32</td>
<td align="right">120</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>ROPs</th>
<td align="right">4 x2 </td>
<td align="right">4 x2 </td>
<td align="right">4</td>
<td align="right">8</td>
<td align="right"><strong>8</strong></td>
<td align="right">8</td>
<td align="right">4 x2 </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>GPU</th>
<td align="right">RV610</td>
<td align="right">RV610</td>
<td align="right">G86</td>
<td align="right">G84</td>
<td align="right"><strong>G84</strong></td>
<td align="right">G84</td>
<td align="right">RV630</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Transistors</th>
<td align="right">180 M </td>
<td align="right">180 M </td>
<td align="right">210M</td>
<td align="right">289M</td>
<td align="right"><strong>289M</strong></td>
<td align="right">289M</td>
<td align="right">390 M </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Memory Size</th>
<td align="right">256 MB</td>
<td align="right">256 MB</td>
<td align="right">256 MB </td>
<td align="right">256 MB </td>
<td align="right"><strong>256 MB </strong></td>
<td align="right">256 MB </td>
<td align="right">256 MB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Memory Bus Width </th>
<td align="right">64 bit </td>
<td align="right">64 bit </td>
<td align="right">128 bit </td>
<td align="right">128 bit </td>
<td align="right"><strong>128 bit </strong></td>
<td align="right">128 bit </td>
<td align="right">128 bit </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Core Clock</th>
<td align="right">525 MHz </td>
<td align="right">700 MHz </td>
<td align="right">450 MHz </td>
<td align="right">540 MHz </td>
<td align="right"><strong>625 MHz </strong></td>
<td align="right">675 MHz </td>
<td align="right">800 MHz </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Memory Clock</th>
<td align="right">400 MHz </td>
<td align="right">800 MHz </td>
<td align="right">400 MHz </td>
<td align="right">700 MHz </td>
<td align="right"><strong>900 MHz </strong></td>
<td align="right">1000 MHz </td>
<td align="right">1100 MHz </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Price</th>
<td align="right">$59</td>
<td align="right">$79</td>
<td align="right">$85</td>
<td align="right">$110</td>
<td align="right"><strong>$130</strong></td>
<td align="right">$175</td>
<td align="right">$149</td>
</tr>
</table>
Complete Specifications
NVIDIA® Unified Architecture
Unified shader architecture
GigaThread™ technology
Full support for Microsoft® DirectX® 10
Geometry shaders
Geometry instancing
Streamed output
Shader Model 4.0
Full 128-bit floating point precision through the entire rendering pipeline
NVIDIA Lumenex™ Engine
16x full screen anti-aliasing
Transparent multisampling and transparent supersampling
16x angle independent anisotropic filtering
128-bit floating point high dynamic-range (HDR) lighting with anti-aliasing
32-bit per component floating point texture filtering and blending
Advanced lossless compression algorithms for color, texture, and z-data
Support for normal map compression
Z-cull
Early-Z
NVIDIA Quantum Effects™ Technology
Advanced shader processors architected for physics computation
Simulate and render physics effects on the graphics processor
NVIDIA SLI™ Technology
Patented hardware and software technology allows two GeForce-based graphics cards to run in parallel to scale performance and enhance image quality on today's top titles.
NVIDIA PureVideo™ HD Technology
Dedicated on-chip video processor
High-definition H.264, VC-1, MPEG2 and WMV9 decode acceleration
Advanced spatial-temporal de-interlacing
HDCP capable3
Spatial-Temporal De-Interlacing
Noise Reduction
Edge Enhancement
Bad Edit Correction
Inverse telecine (2:2 and 3:2 pull-down correction)
High-quality scaling
Video color correction
Microsoft® Video Mixing Renderer (VMR) support
Advanced Display Functionality
Two dual-link DVI outputs for digital flat panel display resolutions up to 2560x1600
One dual-link DVI outputs for digital flat panel display resolutions up to 2560x1600
Dual integrated 400MHz RAMDACs for analog display resolutions up to and including 2048x1536 at 85Hz
Integrated HDTV encoder provides analog TV-output (Component/Composite/S-Video) up to 1080i resolution
NVIDIA nView® multi-display technology capability
10-bit display processing
Built for Microsoft® Windows Vista™
Full DirectX 10 support
Dedicated graphics processor powers the new Windows Vista Aero 3D user interface
VMR-based video architecture
High Speed Interfaces
Designed for PCI Express® x16
Designed for high-speed GDDR3 and DDR2 memory
Operating Systems
Built for Microsoft Windows Vista
Windows XP/Windows XP 64
Linux
API Support
Complete DirectX support, including Microsoft DirectX 10 Shader Model 4.0
Full OpenGL® support, including OpenGL 2.0
[page=Packaging & The Card]
Packaging & Contents
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/package1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/package1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/package2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/package2.jpg)
VVIKOO's package is kept in silver with their bee logo. The package design is very clean, so it will stand out over all the other flashy packages. On the back you have a basic specs list in multiple languages.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/contents_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/contents.jpg)
You will receive:
Graphics card
Instruction Manual + Driver CD
DVI Adapter
TV Out cable
The Card
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/card1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/card1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/card2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/card2.jpg)
Instead of the blueish NVIDIA reference PCB, VVIKOO uses a regular green board. Unfortunately the cooler is a bit taller than the NVIDIA reference cooler, which means that you need two slots for this VGA card. But a bigger and more powerful cooler also means more overclocking is possible, which is what this product is advertised to do.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/card3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/card3.jpg)
On the back you find the usual warranty stickers and product information labels, the four spots for memory chips are empty. VVIKOO has placed four memory chips on the other side, next to the GPU.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/outputs_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/outputs.jpg)
Having two DVI outputs is standard nowadays for a midrange card. Should you need to use the card with an older CRT, you can use the included DVI to VGA dongle.
[page=A Closer Look]
A Closer Look
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/cooler1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/cooler1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/cooler2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/cooler2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/cooler3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/cooler3.jpg)
The cooler is made by Zalman, it is a full aluminum design to keep weight and cost down. Even though the fan can be heard it is not too loud and does not stand out over the rest of your system fans.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/ramsink1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/ramsink1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/ramsink2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/ramsink2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/ramsink3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/ramsink3.jpg)
Even though the ramsinks are just basic pieces of aluminum they seem to help with overclocking. Please be advised that the sticky tape they are attached with is very strong. Unless carefully removed there is a chance that you rip a memory chip off the PCB.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/screws_back_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/screws_back.jpg)
The cooler is mounted with only two screws, a sticker is placed on one of the screws, to ensure the user does not remove his cooler, break the card and then RMAs it.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/sli_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/sli.jpg)
SLI is possible by combining this card with any other 8600 GT card from any manufacturer. Depending on the configuration of the second card, the 8600 GT Turbo may clock down to match the other card's clock speeds.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/power_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/power.jpg)
An additional power connector is not required for operation of this card. All power is supplied via the PCI-Express bus.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/card_naked_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/card_naked.jpg)
Four GDDR3 memory chips are installed on the GPU side of the card, as mentioned before the solder pads on the other side are empty.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/memory_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/memory.jpg)
The GDDR3 memory chips are made by Qimonda (formerly Infineon) and carry the model number HYB18H512321BF-10 with an access speed of 1.0 ns, which means they should be good for 1000 MHz at least.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/gpu_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/gpu.jpg)
The GPU is the NVIDIA G84 Revision A2. Please note the black plastic shim around the GPU, which helps avoid damage to the silicon when the cooler is being installed or when sideways force is applied to the cooler when the card is handled.
[page=Test Setup]
Test System
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="150" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33 GHz<br />(Conroe, 2x 1024 KB Cache)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">Gigabyte P35C-DS3R<br />Intel P35</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 1024MB A.DATA DDR2 1066+ CL4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">WD Raptor 740ADFD 74 GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">OCZ GameXStream 700W</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Drivers:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">NVIDIA: 162.18<br />ATI: Catalyst 7.7</td>
</tr>
</table>
All video card results were obtained on this exact system with the exact same configuration.
All games were set to their highest quality setting
Each benchmark was tested at the following settings and resolution:
1024 x 768, No Anti-aliasing, No anisotropic filtering. This is a standard resolution without demanding display settings.
1280 x 1024, 2x Anti-aliasing, 8x anisotropic filtering. Common resolution for most gamer flatscreens today. A bit of eye candy turned on in the drivers.
1600 x 1200, 4x Anti-aliasing, 16x anisotropic filter. Highest non-widescreen resolution available to a wide range of users. Very good looking driver graphics settings.
2048 x 1536, 4x Anti-aliasing, 16x anisotropic filter. Highest non-widescreen resolution available to any consumer video card. Very good looking driver graphics settings.
[page=Company Of Heroes]
Company Of Heroes
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The real-time strategy game Company of Heroes (http://www.companyofheroesgame.com) is set during World War II where you take two American companies through several fights all over France to liberate the country from German occupation. Company of Heroes is the first game to use Relic's next-generation engine "Essence Engine" which includes support for HDR lighting, Shader Model 3.0, normal mapping, dynamic lighting and shadows. You are able to zoom in from the tactical view of the battle field to see the individual units fighting. Often you catch yourself admiring the detailed animations of the soldiers while the fight around you is raging. We tested the DX9 version of the game at maximum details.
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[page=Far Cry]
Far Cry
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Far Cry (http://www.farcry-thegame.com) was released in early 2004 by the new development studio Crytek. It quickly became a massive success because it was one of the first titles to take you in a beautiful 3D outdoor world. Far Cry was one of the most demanding games at its time. Even with today's video cards you can still see big differences in frame rates, especially at the higher resolutions.
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[page=FEAR]
FEAR
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/fear.jpg
The first person shooter F.E.A.R (htttp://www.whatisfear.com), developed by Monolith Game Studios, was released in Fall 2005 and has a great 3D engine that uses a large number of shading and shadow effects to accurately model the game world. In addition to that it features a realistic physics engine that lets you interact with many objects in the game world. The game was voted game of the year by several publications.
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[page=Prey]
Prey
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VVIKOO/8600_GT_Turbo/images/prey.jpg
Prey (http://www.prey.com) is based on a highly modified 3D engine made by id Software. This first person shooter brought a completely new way of gaming to the genre. In many levels you find yourself walking upside down or on the walls. This adds a completely new aspect to the gaming experience in this genre.
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[page=Quake 4]
Quake 4
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The Quake titles are among the most successful first person games. Developed by id Software, the famous game studio that brought you DOOM, you find yourself in a scifi world that is full of aliens and shocking effects. The main focus of the game is the single player story line. Quake 4 (http://www.quake4game.com) puts you on the home planet of the Strogg. In a number of missions you and your fellow marines will encounter all sorts of enemies, including some really huge aliens.
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[page=Splinter Cell 3]
Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory
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The Splinter Cell Series is endorsed by popular book author Tom Clancy. In the 2005 title Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory (http://www.splintercell.com) you play the NSA agent Sam Fisher who has to use stealth and finesse to make his way through a number of levels mainly set in eastern asia. The game is based on a modified Unreal 2 engine with support for HDR, normal mapping, parallax mapping and soft shadows. A patch added Shader Model 2.0 support for ATI in addition to the Shader Model 3.0 support which was already part of the original shipping game.
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[page=STALKER]
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
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Before its release in 2007, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (http://www.stalker-game.com) was one of the most hyped games of the last years. This RPG/FPS hybrid game is set a few years in the future, after a nuclear disaster occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The release of radiation causes strange things like mutations in the nearby area. You take the role of a Stalker who seeks fame and riches in the contaminated area around Chernobyl. The game engine features all the latest buzzwords like HDR, bullet physics, skeletal animation, soft shadows and weather effects. Stalker's vast outside world is richly modeled, you can interact with a large number of objects in the game thanks to the physics engine.
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[page=Supreme Commander]
Supreme Commander
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If you hear people talk about a real-time strategy game with "massive numbers of units fighting" you can be sure they are talking about Supreme Commander (http://www.supremecommander.com). The unofficial successor to the Total Annihilation Series completely redefined some aspects of the RTS genre. In Supreme Commander you can zoom out so far that you can see the whole map on your screen and units are just little blips. This is much needed in fights when several hundred units go at each other. Supreme Commander is also one of the most demanding RTS games with support for up to four CPU cores - a dual-core system with high-end graphics is recommended for optimum game play.
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[page=X3]
X3
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X3 (http://www.egosoft.com) is a space combat/trading simulation game with beautiful graphics. The game world is gigantic and there is always something new to see. Even though the user interface is not that great, the title has found many fans that love to explore the rich content. When you are flying in your spaceship you are sometimes tempted to just stop the action to take a look at the highly detailed ships and planets.
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[page=3DMark03]
3DMark03
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Futuremark Corporation (http://www.futuremark.com) is the number one player in the world of synthetic benchmarking. The 3DMark series is the most popular test suite for video card testing and is used by gamers, overclockers and manufacturers alike to determine how fast their hardware is. Even though it is a few years old, 3DMark03 can easily stress today's video cards.
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[page=3DMark05]
3DMark05
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Another benchmark from Futuremark (http://www.futuremark.com) is 3DMark05 which comes with four completely new game tests that make massive use of shaders and lighting effects. 3DMark05 is a great test for modern video card architectures - in some tests you are often close to the 30 fps mark, below which your games will feel sluggish.
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[page=3DMark06]
3DMark06
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Even though it's based on Futuremark's 3DMark05, the new 3DMark06 adds new tests for Shader Model 3.0 and HDR rendering. It is also the first 3DMark to incorporate a CPU score into the final 3DMark score. All tests have received an overhaul, for example in the Canyon Flight test you can now see beautiful sun glare effects with the help of High Dynamic Range rendering.
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[page=Overclocking]
Overclocking
We used ATITool to search for the maximum core and memory clocks, we then verified that the clocks were stable by running our benchmarking suite and looking for visual errors or crashes.
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The final overclocks of our card are 766 MHz Core (23 % overclock, 42 % over NVIDIA reference 8600 GT) and 1015 MHz Memory (13 % overclock, 45 % over reference).
These overclocks are really impressive, first you get an already overclocked card out of the box and then you can even overclock it quite a bit more. At our overclocked speeds, the card had absolutely no problems beating the 8600 GTS in most benchmarks.
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The Zalman cooler works great too. It keeps the card temperatures at acceptable levels, even when highly overclocked.
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[page=Value & Conclusion]
Value and Conclusion
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You can find the VVIKOO 8600 GT Turbo for about $130 (add local VAT and convert to Euro) on the German, French and UK markets.</td>
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Pre-overclocked
Zalman cooler included
Excellent overclocking potential
Good price
GDDR3 Memory
DirectX 10 + Shader Model 4.0 Support
HD Video decoding capabilities
SLI capable
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Only available in UK, DE, FR
Dual Slot cooling solution
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<tr><th>9.0</th>
<td>
Even though VVIKOO is new in the business, their GeForce 8600 GT Turbo works very good. The card was rock stable during all our testing and kept the promise of being an overclocker's product. Even though the card is already overclocked by 85 MHz / 200 MHz over the NVIDIA reference 8600 GT design, we could get another extra 140 MHz / 115 MHz out of it - without any change to the cooler. So compared to the regular 8600 GT we could reach clocks that were 42% and 45% higher than NVIDIA's reference design.<br />
Our benchmarks show that the GeForce 8600 GT Turbo from VVIKOO has a nice performance advantage over the 8600 GT out of the box, but it can not beat the 8600 GTS. Once we overclocked the card, this was not a problem anymore. Especially at higher resolutions there is quite a difference in performance, big enough to be noticed while gaming.<br />
The price of the 8600 GT Turbo is only $20 more than a regular 8600 GT, so if you are in the market for such a card, spend a few bucks extra and get a nice performance boost.
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