Iako nas 8600 serija nije oduševila svojim performansama (kao
prošle godine 7600 GT), ako želite DX10 karticu srednjeg segmenta, moramo ju
preporučiti jer za sada nemamo alternativu. Istina da je AMD nedavno predstavio
svoju HD 2600 seriju, no po prvim usporednim testovima HD 2600XT je sporija i osjetno jeftinija od GeForcea 8600 GTS, tako da je ova model GTS zapravo još uvijek nema pravog takmaca na tržištu. Premda se GeForce 8600 GTS solidno ponaša u DX9 naslovima, o DX10 performansama ne možemo govoriti jer ih jednostavno nema. Dva demoa
koja smo isprobali nisu finalni proizvod, pa možda tu treba tražiti razloge
loših rezultata, ali s druge strane Company of Heroes s DX10 zakrpom 1.71 je gotova igra,
no i tu su rezultati vrlo loši. U svakom slučaju uskoro bi na tržištu trebalo
biti sve više DX10 igara pa ćemo vidjeti da li ih postojeći hardver može "vrtiti"
ili treba čekati DX10 druge generacije. Na pitanje da li će nVidija ponoviti
uspjeh 6600 modela odgovor je vjerojatno ne, no nisu u lošoj situaciji jer
im konkurencija za sada ne stvara previše problema.

Što se tiče Ledtekove implementacije GeForce 8600 GTS čipa, nismo naišli na nikakva iznenađenja. Kartica radi na standardnim taktovima koje je NVIDIA odredila za GeForce 8600 GTS, a ista je stvar s hlađenjem – iskorišten je referentni hladnjak. Performanse su prilično dobre kada je riječ o DX9 naslovima, no u DX10 aplikacijama koje su trenutno dostupne za testiranje ova kartice, kao i sve ostale bazirane na GeForce 8600 čipu, ima izuzetno loše performanse. Rezultati overclockanja nisu loši, ali očekivali smo više što se može donekle pripisati Leadtekovoj odluci da koristi standardni hladnjak. Ipak, pozitivna stvar u cijeloj priči je što hladnjak nije bučan. Još jedna prednost ove kartice u odnosu na snažnije GeForceove je dobra podrška za HD video. GPU podržava hardversko dekodiranje VC-1 i AVC video zapisa, a na DVI izlazima su ugrađeni dvostruki HDCP ključevi tako da je moguće bez problema gledati HD-DVD i Blu-ray filmove u maksimalnoj rezoluciji (2560×1600). Na kraju spomenimo i bundle koji dolazi s Leadtekovom karticom. Premda smo u paketu našli dvije igre, riječ je o starijim naslovima koji čak niti u vrijeme predstavljanja nisu bili veliki hit.

Cijena Leadtek PX8600 GTS TDH u hrvatskim trgovinama je nešto manje od 1500 kn što nije niti više niti manje od ostalih kartica baziranih na jednakom GPU-u.

Conclusion in English

Altough we are not exactly thrilled with performance of graphics cards based on GeForce 8600 GTS GPU, if you are searching for a faster mainstream solution compatible with DirectX 10, we have to recommend them. The reason is simple – currently these cards have no real competition on the market. Yes, its true, few weeks ago AMD launched their own DX10 mainstream solution, cards from HD 2600 series, but even HD 2600 XT is slower and considerably cheaper than GeForce 8600 GTS. Altough GeForce 8600 GTS cards have pretty solid performance in DX9 games, there is nothing good to be said about DX10 performance. Two demos we used for benchmarking Leadtek’s card (Call of Juarez DX10 and Lost Planet) are not finished products so that may be the reason for poor benchmark results. On the other hand, Company of Heroes with patch 1.71 (which brings DX10 support) is a very mature gaming title but even with this game, after switching to SM4.0 (DX10) mode, we see extremly big drop in performance which makes the game unplayable. In any case, more DirectX 10 games will arrive on the market before the end of the year and then we will able to see whether these games will run fine on presently available DX10 solutions or will we be forced to wait for second generation of DX10 compatible graphics cards. If you are wondering will NVIDIA with GeForce 8600 cards have same success like with GF 7600 or GF 6600, answer is probably no. Still, we should keep in mind that competition is not creating too much problems for NVIDIA in this market segment.

Regarding Leadteks implementation of GeForce 8600 GTS chip, there was no suprises. Leadtek PX8600 GTS TDH is working on standard clocks defined by NVIDIA and we have same situation with cooling – Leadtek used standard reference cooler designed by NVIDIA. Card has pretty good performance in DX9 titles but like all other GF 8600 based cards, Leadtek’s card failed to show decent performance in currently available DX10 benchmarks and games. Overclocking results are not bad, but we have to admit that we expected more. One reason for such results is maybe Leadtek’s decision to use standard cooler. On a positive note, cooler is pretty silent, even when card is under full load. One very big advantage GF 8600 cards have in comparison to their more powerful siblings (yes, we are talking about GF 8800) is much better support for HD video. GF 8600 support almost full hardware acceleration of VC-1 and AVC encoded video streams and has two HDCP decription keys what enables this card to play any HD-DVD or Blu-ray movie in maximal resolution (2560×1600). In the end we must mention bundle that came with Leadtek’s GF 8600 GTS. Altough bundling two games with a mainstream graphics card is a nice gesture, we can’t fail to note that both games are pretty old.

Price of Leadtek PX8600 GTS TDH in croatian computer part shops is little less than 1500 kn (about 200 €) which is pretty similar to price of GeForce 8600 GTS based cards from other brands.