jammin Posted September 17, 2007 Posted September 17, 2007 OCC Review of the ASUS 8600GTS Silent Graphics Card See how this graphics card stacks up under our testing. Will it manage to stay cool as well as silent? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest christopher3393 Posted September 17, 2007 Posted September 17, 2007 (edited) Nice practical step-by-step review and benchmarking info! Especially liked comments on the stiffness of 90 degree swivel---you wouldn't know that otherwise. Guide to config. just walks you right through it. Additional info I would find helpful: temps at idle and under load, stats on test system config. ,esp airflow since it's gotta be important for a passive card, power usage at idle and load, and additional height that top heatsink adds to the card. Given the other passive choices at the 8600GTS level---Gigabyte's Silent Pipe III and MSI's silent card--- this one is attractive. The Gigabyte card has been plagued by samples that make a very audible buzzing sound under load. They don't all do it, but buying one is a crapshoot. The MSI card is about $40 cheaper, and it's main heatsink is on the back, which works well on some motherboards, but not on my matx. I do wonder about that top heatsink design. It's optimized for that 90 degree swivel, but most of the CPU coolers used on quiet systems aren't compatible with it. And in its regular position, the direction of the fins isn't good for any front-to back airflow, so the heat probably doesn't dissipate efficiently. Might be nice if it could rotate 90 degrees to the left as well as to the right. I wonder what it would take to mod it? Edited September 17, 2007 by christopher3393 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verran Posted September 17, 2007 Posted September 17, 2007 According to price grabber, the EN8600GTS Silent can be had for approximately $200.00 US, which won't break the bank; although, you can get the X1950 Pro for a little less. This seemed like quite an understatement to me. You can get a 1950Pro for $120, and the one with the upgraded (and from my own experience, very quiet) cooler for $130. I wouldn't call $130 vs. $200 a "little" difference. Also, I think it's worth noting that had the tests gone to 1600x1200, you would have seen the 1950 shine more. Given the trends in the resolution tests, I think the 1950 showed itself to be the better card at higher resolutions. That has been my experience with mine, so far. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest christopher3393 Posted September 18, 2007 Posted September 18, 2007 Worth noting that this Asus card is available at Newegg for $175.00. Still the X1950 Pro with that nice HIS cooler costs $129.00 AR: pretty quiet and removes heat from case, an underated feature in these days of 8800s with lots of slots that leak half the hot air back into the case (how about a bigger fan for that cooler, nvidia?). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mussicho Posted September 23, 2007 Posted September 23, 2007 Thanks for all your comments and they are all duly noted. Of course, one must realize that there is a bit of a time delay from when a review is written until it is published. There is no doubt that over time the price will drop. $175.00 for the 8600GTS Silent on Newegg is in my opinion a good deal and I still would recommend it. And, now with the Canadian dollar at par with it's US counterpart, this is even a better deal for Canucks and could even be a better deal in the days ahead. Now for the comment "This seemed like quite an understatement to me. You can get a 1950Pro for $120, and the one with the upgraded (and from my own experience, very quiet) cooler for $130. I wouldn't call $130 vs. $200 a "little" difference". You get no argument with me on that one; however, when I orignally wrote the article, I had based it on one of my colleagues review price of $176.99. $176.99 vs. 200.00 is insignificant as far as I am concerned. Also noteworthy, I have recently upgraded my monitor to a 24 inch Syncmaster 245bw with 1920x1200 res. which I hope to use in my benchmarks. Also, playing with my Vista Ultimate. Mussicho Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Raven65 Posted September 24, 2007 Posted September 24, 2007 Your comparing apples to oranges. We are talking about a Directx 10 card as opposed to a Directx9 card that might be obsolete in a month or 2. It would be like saying well I could buy a 939 for x amount instead of getting the 940. So for a DX10 card i'll have to back up Mussicho and agree for the performance etc and being a DX10 card it is most likely worth the price. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verran Posted September 24, 2007 Posted September 24, 2007 Your comparing apples to oranges. Well actually... he's comparing apples to oranges. The review made the comparison between the two cards, not me, I just corrected the pricing info and phrasing. We are talking about a Directx 10 card as opposed to a Directx9 card that might be obsolete in a month or 2. I'll give you 9-12 months, but 2 is pushing it a bit I think. I haven't seen a single DX10 title yet that really actually utilizes DX10 enough to make it worth my money. It would be like saying well I could buy a 939 for x amount instead of getting the 940. I understand the apples/oranges argument, but again I think paralleling DX9/10 with desktop/enterprise is a considerable stretch. TONS of people are still using DX9 cards and are VERY content in doing so. On top of that, as a reviewer, shouldn't you be comparing all of the options? Isn't the point to tell potential buyers how the card fares against it's competition? If you think people aren't pricing x1950Pro's against this card, think again. So for a DX10 card i'll have to back up Mussicho and agree for the performance etc and being a DX10 card it is most likely worth the price. Fair to say... as a shopper. Your buying choices are your own. But as a reviewer, I think your duty is more to the facts than opinions. Tell me one card does DX10 and the other doesn't. Tell me the 1950Pro might be obsolete soon. Tell me the GTS performed better at low res and the 1950 at high. I'll make the decision from there. There are still a lot of people out there who don't really care about DX10, especially at a 50% premium. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco Posted September 24, 2007 Posted September 24, 2007 Good points Ryan One thing that people have to remember is the fact that if they go to Vista a X1950 is pretty much useless I think that is the point that everyone is trying to make. There is only going be certain games that can run on DX10 so why not have a card that will do both DX9 and D10 and loose a little framerates because of it seems like the smarter thing to do. But at the end of the day its going to come down to what the user wants games on DX9 or games on DX10. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingdingeling Posted September 24, 2007 Posted September 24, 2007 Another point towards the X1950Pro vs 8600GTS comparison, is that the 8600GTS will most likely be way too slow when some real DX10 games come out. As far as I know, the DX10 demo's are barely viewable with a HD2900XT or a 8800GTX/Ultra, so that could be something you mention in your review as well. Other than that, nice review Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco Posted September 24, 2007 Posted September 24, 2007 So far I find the 8600GTS playable on DX10 mind you I know there is better games are coming so time will tell. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingdingeling Posted September 24, 2007 Posted September 24, 2007 I don't have a 8600GTS, nor do I have Windows Vista to try out some DX10 stuff with this 2900XT, but I'm just saying that that's what I've read. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco Posted September 24, 2007 Posted September 24, 2007 I don't have a 8600GTS, nor do I have Windows Vista to try out some DX10 stuff with this 2900XT, but I'm just saying that that's what I've read. Well get on it then lol Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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