8600 is already out...

[The_YongGrand]

Hey there,

Just checking in the comp vendors, I found some 8600 species... the 8600GT, GTX and the normal vanilla GT.

The GT and the GTX are equipped with DDR3, while the plain 8600GT works on DDR2.

My question is, how are they compared to 7600GT, or a 7900GS? I know the 8600GT is DX10 compatible (maybe the 8xxx series are Dx10)... but how far will it go?

and do these cards equipped with the Physics Processing Unit? I searched ALL over the box (the Gigabyte ones) but they never stated it at all.

From what I know, the 8800GTS must have one since they pasted the Ghost Recon all over the box. But not sure about the 8600.

If the 8600 is a good buy, I'll sell off the 7300, and get one instead. What do you think? :D

[Pride]

I think it has about the same power the only difference being because it is DX10 compatible it can play DX10 graphics. But overall not a lot of difference.

[Panama Red]

I think it has about the same power the only difference being because it is DX10 compatible it can play DX10 graphics. But overall not a lot of difference.

You have any comparative data for that opinion or are you just guessing? Some test specs would be nice. He already noted the DX10 and DDR differences.

[mojo]

I'm just guessing, but the 8600 any flavor should be much faster than the 7600, might be a different story with the 7900. Generally the midrange SKUs will just have less memory and a lower clockspeed, and sometimes less processing units enabled, but it will use the same new architecture, so it should be pretty darn speedy.

[Mr.Ferrari]

I know the GTS version edges out a 7900GT. My guess is the 8600GT should be ~par. Heavier shaders should also make for better gameplay.

I know www.ewiz.com had a 8600 in stock, not sure if they took it down by now or not.

http://vr-zone.com/?i=4883

[The_YongGrand]

Great info.

Maybe the 8600 (GTS) could be slightly better than 7800 series cards.

The 8600 (GT) with the DDR2 could be slightly (maybe) better than the 7600 GT.

And uh... are all these 8600s equipped with PPU also? I am very sure that the 8800s are already equipped with all these since I see Ghost Recon game pasted all over the box. :)

[Mr.Ferrari]

Like a dedicated physics unit?...can't say i've heard of that on the 8800...But with advanced directX10 shaders, physics should definitely be better. I doubt that theres a ageia like PPU fused in there.

As GPU architecture get better, physics processing will get better too no doubt...

And if the 8600GTS beats a 7900GT, it will definately push past a 7800..:)

Great mid range cards.

[snarkys]

any hope the prices will drop any time soon . most sites predeicted lower pricing : (

[The_YongGrand]

I checked the webpage, and the PPU is something like this:

NVIDIA Quantum Effects™ Technology
Advanced shader processors architected for physics computation deliver amazing performance and visual effects such as smoke, fire, and explosions.

Don't know whether nVidia is developing its own PPU, or it's a seperate thing. However since they include this feature inside these cards, I suspect they might have embedded it inside. :)