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Summary

The following is a summary of the more detailed analysis of the XFX 8600 GTS and GT XXX graphics cards. For all the in-depth analysis and testing you'd expect from us, be sure to click this link to get all the details!

Click this link to get the full article

I covered the technology and detailed specifications of the GeForce 8600 GTS and 8600 GT graphics cards in our previous reviews, so I won't bother repeating it here.  But I would highly recommend you read them over first (BFG 8600 GTS OC, EVGA 8600 GT) so you can get a good idea of the GPUs we are testing today, their market segments and competition from ATI and previous NVIDIA generations. 

XFX GeForce 8600 GTS XXX

The XFX 8600 GTS XXX uses the same cooler as the reference 8600 GTS cards but as the name indicates, overclocks the frequencies well over the default speeds setup by NVIDIA:

• 730 MHz core clock versus 675 MHz reference speed
• 2.26 GHz memory clock versus 2.0 GHz reference speed

XFX GeForce 8600 GT XXX

And again, the clock speeds on XFX's GeForce 8600 GT XXX card are pushed beyond the NVIDIA settings:

• 620 MHz core clock versus 540 MHz reference clock
• 1.60 MHz memory clock versus 1.18 GHz reference clock

Our testing system has moved to Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit and here are some benchmark results from it using these cards:

Performance

The performance on the 8600 GTS XXX and 8600 GT XXX cards were pretty good in comparison to the other 8600 cards we have seen and tested thus far.  The clock speeds on the XFX models were actually the highest we have seen to date and as such, it makes sense that these XXX models (hehe) bring in the fastest performance in their respective families.

Separating the two though, the 8600 GT model is still my favorite pick of the two as it has a better price and is able to outperform the similarly priced competition from ATI by a larger margin.  The 8600 GTS is still a great card, but as we saw in our initial review of it, the ATI X1950 Pro card could consistently run games faster at the same or lower price point.

Pricing and Availability

As of this writing, the XFX 8600 GTS XXX card can be found for $230 or so online and the 8600 GT XXX can be found for $160.  The 8600 GTS XXX card is priced at the high end of NVIDIA's partners for that GPU but the 8600 GT XXX's price is more reasonably placed among the competition.  For that reason, the 8600 GT again looks like the better deal to me for gamers looking for a budget mainstream graphics card.

Final Thoughts

XFX has come up with a pair of excellent graphics cards for the 8600-series and their "XXX" series.  The XFX GeForce 8600 GTS XXX offers the highest clock and memory frequencies we have seen here at PC Perspective but the XFX GeForce 8600 GT XXX stole the show with high clock speeds, lower prices and superior performance compared to other 8600 cards. 

XFX GeForce 8600 GT XXX

If you have any questions or comments about this review, please jump over to this thread in our forums to let us know, or just to see what others are saying!

Be sure to use our price checking engine to find the best prices on the XFX GeForce 8600 GTS and GT XXX cards, and anything else you may want to buy!

Next Page - Introduction and the 8600 GTS XXX

Review Index:
- Select - Summary Introduction and the 8600 GTS XXX The XFX GeForce 8600 GT XXX New Testing Setup: Vista 64-bit Battlefield 2142 Supreme Commander Company of Heroes Rainbow Six Vegas Prey Oblivion 3DMark06 Power Consumption and Conclusions