![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Tuesday , April 17, 2007
- Author:
- Brent Justice
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
BFGTech and XFX GeForce 8600 GTS
NVIDIA’s DX10 answers to the mainstream video card market are finally here with new GeForce 8 series GPUs ranging from $89-$229. We have the BFGTech GeForce 8600 GTS OC and the XFX GeForce 8600 GTS XXX we put to the test playing real games and the newest STALKER.
Introduction
On November 8th, 2006 NVIDIA launched a new GPU generation known as the GeForce 8 series. Specifically, the GPU was known internally to NVIDIA as “G80.” In the retail market we know it as the GeForce 8800 GTX and GeForce 8800 GTS. The GeForce 8800 GTX and GTS were NVIDIA’s first DirectX 10 capable GPUs that are priced for the high-end market. The GeForce 8800 GTX was introduced with a suggested retail price of $599 and the 8800 GTS was introduced at $449.
Our recent evaluation of the BFGTech GeForce 8800 GTX OC2 shows that this is simply the fastest single video card we have ever had the pleasure of playing games with. The GeForce 8800 GTX and GTS being above $450 certainly puts these cards at the high end if the scale; they do not cater to the mainstream market.
NVIDIA addressed this to an extent on February 12th, 2007 by launching the 320 MB GeForce 8800 GTS. The 320 MB GeForce 8800 GTS is identical in GPU specifications to the 640 MB GeForce 8800 GTS; same clock speeds and features, but instead of 640 MB of memory was reduced to 320 MB. This allowed NVIDIA to set a suggested retail price of $299-$329 making the GeForce 8 series affordable for more people. While $299 is a better price than $450, it still isn’t at the level that most mainstream gamers like to spend on a video card. That sweet spot for the mainstream is $149 and $199 and is addressed today.
New Video Processor
Before we dive into the new GPUs there is one new piece of technology within these new GPUs that NVIDIA is delivering. In the GeForce 7 series NVIDIA introduced PureVideo HD. PureVideo HD is the umbrella of which all their video features are contained, including video acceleration and quality enhancements associated with H.264 of HD DVD and Blu-ray media, among others.
PureVideo HD was carried over to the GeForce 8800 GTX and GTS. However, it was done in the same way as it was with the GeForce 7 series. This means that in hardware it accelerated motion compensation and deblocking in the video pipeline, but left inverse transform and bitstream processing up to the CPU. NVIDIA decided that these new video processors needed to be upgraded. In all of the new video cards being announced today NVIDIA has created what they are calling their “Video Processor 2.”
This new video processor in the 8600 GTS has some new features that the GeForce 8800 GTX and GTS do not which should make home theater enthusiasts happy. NVIDIA has added a bit stream and AES128 engine into the silicon so that they can do full specification HD DVD and Blu-ray acceleration. The bitstream engine accelerates entropy coding schemes such as Context Adaptive Variable Length Coding (CAVLC) and Context Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding (CABAC) as well as inverse transform from the GPU offloading work from the CPU. The AES128 engine accelerates the decode of AES128 encryption protocols to support video content security like Advance Access Content System (AACS) and Windows Vista PVP-UAB.
This doesn’t mean anything for gamers, but for video enthusiasts who use their computer for multimedia decoding or editing, this will off load work from the CPU onto the GPU. This is more important on systems with weaker CPUs which are likely to be running the cheaper versions of the GeForce 8 series GPUs from $89-$200. Those individuals that are able to afford a GeForce 8800 GTS or GTX most likely have the CPU performance to do those HD DVD and Blu-ray decoding features on their CPU according to NVIDIA.
In our opinion it makes us feel a bit slighted not to have that feature in the 8800 GTS and GTX as well. It reminds us of their issue way back with the GeForce 6800’s lack of WMV-acceleration that was touted to be supported but was broken. That feature made it into the GeForce 6600 and below. It isn’t the same, but it is reminiscent of that in a sense. However, again, this isn’t something that is going to affect gamers, only those that put an 8800 GTS or GTX into a system with a slow CPU and are avid HD DVD and Blu-ray movie watchers or video editors.
There is also another note of concern; PureVideo HD support won’t be available on the 8600 series under Windows XP until June 2007. The only way to currently benefit with PureVideo HD is going to be with Windows Vista for right now on the 8600 series. It will be a couple of months before you can enjoy the PureVideo HD experience the 8600 series has to offer if you are running Windows XP.
New GPUs
Today NVIDIA is going to satisfy gamers and enthusiasts alike by delivering DirectX 10 capability and GeForce 8 series technology from the low-end at $89 up to the performance mainstream segment at $199-$229. With the five GPU models NVIDIA is announcing today they will have a complete top-to-bottom offering of their GeForce 8 series all which have DirectX 10 Shader Model 4.0 capability.
Here is a quick rundown of the specifications of each new GPU being announced today. Full details of each video card are explained on the follow page, the BFGTech and XFX video card are explored on the pages after that and then after that you will find our 8600 GTS gameplay evaluations.