ASUS 8600 GT TOP

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ASUS 8600 GT TOP

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Max Slowik
Beth
ASUS
May. 12, 2008

Specifications

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Introduction

I was a bit surprised that Asus asked us to review their flagship budget--it's weird just writing that--8600 GT TOP. It's new SKU for a card closing in on its end of life; the model being about a year old now. Just the same, with a hundred-dollar price tag, it's definitely got an audience, no matter what cards there are competing against it, or what cards have been released since.

And it's a pretty highly-regarded card; go on any hardware forum and there's a dozen NVIDIA people extolling the virtues of the 8600 GTs when it comes to budget gaming. Now, I'm not saying that they're all wrong, but it is worth finding out if new drivers and some moderate factory overclocking can put value on an otherwise dated video card.

There's another facet to this: an Asus 8600 GT TOP costs $50 more than other factory-overclocked video cards. So what does this model bring to the table? A bundle? Silence? Power efficiency? ...Decent framerates?

The Card & Bundle

Right away I'm nonplussed by the bundle. Component video out, a D-Sub adapter, some drivers, and a leatherino CD wallet don't make up the price difference. A copy of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. wouldn't be appropriate for this card, but I'm sure Asus could have dug up some title to toss into the deal.

The card's been tweaked rightly, though. It's got a giant aluminum heatsink, all-aluminum caps and some hefty power management hardware; reference designs weep. The fan, clear plastic, doesn't light up, although the blue PCB might lead you to that conclusion. No auxiliary power connector; the card operates well under the 75W PCI-Express ceiling.

The heatsink is a dual-slot job, with a sturdy mount, but since it's radial, the expansion slot bracket is single-slot. It's home to two dual-link DVI connections and the video out DIN connector. At the top is a single SLI connector.

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Page 1 of 9

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Page 1: Introduction, The Card & Bundle
Page 2: Testing Methodology and Specifications
Page 3: Testing - HL2 Episode 1
Page 4: Testing - F.E.A.R.
Page 5: Testing - Company of Heroes
Page 6: Testing - Prey
Page 7: Testing - 3Dmark 06 & HQV
Page 8: Performance Summary, Power & Noise, and Overclocking
Page 9: Conclusion

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