Today we have a GeForce 8600 GT review for you, but unlike the wave of generic and boring 8600 series graphics cards we have exposed you to over the past few months, this one is a little different. The new ASUS Extreme N8600GT OC Gear comes fitted with a nice little heatsink and fan combo, as well as an interesting overclocking module called OC Gear!
This is actually going to be the first Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT product review we have published since the product was released back in April of this year. While we have looked at the GeForce 8600 GT in past graphics card roundups, this will be the first review to focus exclusively on a production version of this light weight Nvidia GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). Although the GeForce 8600 GT is the latest mainstream product from Nvidia and it does have quite a few neat features, we have tried to avoid it like the plague.
In all fairness the GeForce 8600 GT has dropped significantly in price since we first canned it back in April. Initially the 8600 GT was priced at around $170 US where as the 7600 GT which offered a similar level of performance to gamers cost just $110 US. Today the 8600 GT has dropped down to around $110 US giving it a similar retail value to that of the 7600 GT. Honestly it is not that we think the 8600 GT is a bad product, it is more to do with the fact that it is not really any better than the 7600 GT in terms of performance.
Now at $110 US the GeForce 8600 GT no longer leaves that bad taste in our mouths like it did originally. While the 8600 GT is more appealing at this new price point, this is not what pushed us to post our first 8600 GT product review. Rather it was a new and unique feature being offered by the ASUS Extreme N8600GT OC Gear graphics card. Over the past few years factory overclocked graphics cards have started to pop up in large numbers. These pre-overclocked graphics cards generally offer 10-20% more performance which is nice, but often they come at a price premium that kind of makes these gains pointless.
The Extreme N8600GT OC Gear is a little different from your pre-overclocked graphics card. Rather than do all the fun stuff for you, ASUS has included what they are calling the first hardware overclocking device for graphics cards. This device fits into a 5.25” bay and using a single knob gamers can quickly adjust their core frequency at any time. The OC Gear is an impressive feature, but like most first attempts it does have a number of limitations that make it more of an eye candy thing than a practical overclocking tool.
