Review: XFX GeForce 8600 GTS XXX Edition - hardcore and expensive! - Graphics - HEXUS.net

Final thoughts, HEXUS.certification, HEXUS.where2buy, related reading

XFX should be applauded for continually pushing the boundaries of graphics-card performance by releasing heavily overclocked XXX Edition models.

The XFX GeForce 8600 GTS XXX ships with 730/1565/2260MHz frequencies and, thus, is the fastest of our trio in our performance section. That's the good part.

The bad news is that its high price - at around £160 - makes it simply too expensive to recommend. After all, you can purchase a default-clocked GeForce 8600 GTS for £115 or, going the other way, enjoy near-double the performance by spending just £30 more.

That, in a nutshell, is why the XXX Edition doesn't make much sense right now.

Looking ahead just a couple of days and AMD's midrange Radeon HD 2000 series is rumoured to provide matching performance at a lower price point, so we cannot recommend this card unless you absolutely need a fast GeForce 8600 GTS. Yes, its performance will look better than its DX9 rivals when a multitude of DX10 titles hit Windows Vista, but that still doesn't take away from the fact that there are more compelling solutions out there that provide more value for money.

Bottom line: save a bunch of cash and go for a default-clocked version or spend a little more for a lot more performance.

HEXUS.certification

The tested SKU passed all of our tests without failure. The certification logo is a graphical embodiment of this fact. It's not a recommendation to buy, however.

XFX GeForce 8600 GTS XXX Edition

HEXUS Where2Buy

The XFX GeForce 8600 GTS XXX Edition can currently be purchased for around £160 here.

HEXUS Right2Reply

At HEXUS.net, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any of XFX's representatives choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.

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HEXUS Forums :: 1 Comment

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Posted by deleted - Thu 28 Jun 2007 02:37

This article is badly written. The first page has a photo of the card and waffle about the context of its release. The second page is called ‘card appearance and thoughts’, has exactly the same photo on, repeats the same boilerplate contextual stuff just ‘incase anyone skipped the first page’?!? What the hell is this? Why also do we need a ‘keep reading to find out’ at the bottom of every page?!? This amateurish writing typifies this site all too often, I think.

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