Nvidia GeForce 9600GT 512MB Video Card
Product(s): Nvidia GeForce 9600
Provided By: Memory Express
Price: Estimated MSRP ~169.99 USD
Introduction:
A while back we were able to take a look at the new GeForce 8800GT (Reviewed Here) and we compared it up against the GeForce 8600GTS. Today we are going to look at a video card that looks like it might be the new replacement for the 8600GTS line from Nvidia, the GeForce 9600GT.
With the 8800GT selling very well in retail outlets, it's not surprising that Nvidia is bringing out another card to battle it out for the budget market, and from the looks of the 9600GT, it appears that the not-so-popular-anymore 8600GTS is going to be phased out over time.
First Impressions:
The looks of our card are pretty much identical to the 8800GT that we took a look at a while back, as they are both reference samples, so chances are good that the card you buy at your retail store isn't going to look much like it, but for you curious types out there, here is what the 9600GT looks like.
 Geforce 9600GT - Side View |
 Nvidia Geforce 9600GT - Inputs |
 Nvidia Geforce 9600GT - Back View |
Well the looks of the card aren't very exciting, but now we will move onto some of the key data that is going to determine where this card fits into the Nvidia family.
| GeForce 8800GT | GeForce 8600GTS | GeForce 9600GT | |
| Memory | 512MB GDDR3 | 256MB GDDR3 | 512MB GDDR3 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 57.6 GB/s | 32 GB/s | 57.6 GB/s |
| Stream Processors |
112 | 32 | 64 |
| Shader Clock Speed | 1500 MHz | 1450 MHz | 1625 MHz |
| Memory Interface | 256-bit | 128-bit | 256-bit |
| Fabrication Process | 65 nm | 80 nm | 65 nm |
So before we go any further, let's take a look at the chart above, and from the information in it we can pretty much guess where the 9600GT is going to fit performance-wise into the Nvidia family. The Shader clock has been bumped up for the 9600GT, and the memory bandwidth is the same as the 8800GT, but the big bottleneck of the whole setup is going to be the stream processors (pixel shader engines). The 9600GT has 64, which is double what the 8600GTS has (32), but still only half as many as the 8800GT (128). This card should perform somewhere right in the middle of the 8600 and the 8800 series, and could make it a very attractive card for a budget consumer who doesn't want to drop a whole bunch of money on a video card, but still wants to play the latest and greatest games. Let's move onto the testing to see how well this card actually performs, and if our assumptions were correct.
