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Leadtek GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB Extreme Video Card
Introduction
From time to time, there comes a card that doesn't break records, it shatters them. Without competition, without hesitation. This is not that card. But it is a pretty cool card, and at the hundred dollar spot, is surprisingly without competition--the only other comparable card, besides the, ahem, 8800 GS, is an HD 3850. For a little more, you can dig up a 9600 GT, and if you're getting a 9600 GT, for a little more, you can get an incredible HD 4850... No, see that's a slippery slope. You got one bill, and you're going to get one card. It shouldn't take too long to guess that this is the same card as an 8800 GS, right? I mean, same clock speeds, same memory bus, same wonky 384MB of RAM. Yep, it's just a re-badged GS. There aren't any updates or added features, either, not a hint of HybridSLI; it's an attempt by NVIDIA to consolidate their three different video card series[plural?]. Can you hear my head shaking? It totally is. Given that this is an old, cut down card, can it be worth it? First, yeah, 'course someone's going to like it, and it's one of the cheaper GSOs, too. And Leadtek's is special, with its factory overclock and stylin' custom cooler. But it's results are the real interesting bit: for a budget card, it's future-proof.     First Impressions The heatsink is edgy-looking. With a huge opening, transparent orange plastic fan, visible aluminum shell, and industrial design, it's the first card I've handled in a long time that looks better for green PCB and fat solder points. It's a great combination of mechanical and electrical. And no stupid manga girl rendering for a sticker!    Inside the oversized box, under the card, are the cables for power, adapters for VGA, some paper and a manual that I didn't bother looking at, and a CD with out-of-date drivers. To make sure that all the pastel shades are included inside and out of the box, the video card is shrouded in pink bubble wrap. The card's classic style doesn't cease to impress me. I keep thinking about that first multi-hundred video card I bought, wishing I had the money for a card even cooler, a card like this. Specifications Technical Specifications GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GSO Graphics Bus: PCI Express 2.0 Memory size: 384MB GDDR3 GPU/Memory clock: 600/900MHz Memory data rate: 1800MHz Output: Dual Dual-Link DVI, HDTV Memory Interface: 192-bit Data bandwidth: 43.2 GB/s Fill Rate: 28.8 Billion texels/s Stream processor: 96 RAMDACs: 400 MHz Features NVIDIA unified architecture with GigaThread technology NVIDIA Lumenex Engine Full Microsoft DirectX 10 Shader Model 4.0 Support NVIDIA SLI- Ready NVIDIA Quantum Effects physics processing technology True 128-bit floating point high dynamic-range (HDR) lighting Built for Microsoft Windows Vista OpenGL 2.1 Optimizations and Support Package Contents WinFast PX9600 GSO EXTREME graphic card Maunal & Driver disc Quick installation guide Power cord 4-pin to 6-pin Y splitter power cable DVI-to-VGA Adaptor x 1 WinFast Graphics Driver CD (w/ WinFox II) x 1 System Requirements Window XP, 2000, or Vista A PCI Express or PCI Express 2.0 compliant motherboard with 1 full-height free slot Installation software requires DVD-ROM drive VGA or DVI compatible monitor A Minimum 400W or greater system power supply (with 12V current rating of 26A) with 6 pin power cord support Test Setup In this review, we'll be comparing the Leadtek GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB Extreme to: - PowerColor Radeon HD 4850 512MB - Chaintech GeForce 9600 GT 512MB - PNY GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB XLR8 All cards were benched on the same test computer with recent drivers (April or newer).  Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3GHz Asus Rampage Formula 2GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR2 800 @ 4-4-4-12 (Sponsored by Crucial) Thermaltake Toughpower 1000 (Sponsored by Thermaltake) Windows Vista Ultimate x64 (Sponsored by Microsoft)
Page 1: Introduction, First Impressions, Specifications & Test Setup
Page 2: DirectX 10 Titles Page 3: DX9, OpenGL, and Synthetics Page 4: Video, Power, and Overclocking Page 5: Conclusion 
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Add Comment
1 User Comment 1 - Posted by
Vasily Favoroff
on September 5, 2008 - 2:56 pm Got myself a 8800 GS card for 75$ with free shipping. Really can't complain about the performance at that price.
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