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EVGA GeForce 8600 GTS 512MB Superclocked

Does size matter? Will we see any advantages to gameplay experience with 512MB of memory on the EVGA 8600 GTS Superclock versus the standard 256MB? Will the extra clock frequency provide any real-world gameplay experiences? We will find out in today’s evaluation.

Introduction

EVGA is a familiar name to most PC hardware enthusiasts and are known for their lifetime warranties and 90 days setup-up program. They were founded in 1999 and are located in California. This past year they have made a name for themselves in the motherboard low end and high end enthusiast market with their motherboards based on NVIDIA nForce 680i chipset.

In this evaluation we will be looking at the EVGA GeForce 8600 GTS 512MB Superclocked in comparison to an EVGA GeForce 8600 GTS 512MB non-Superclocked as well as an NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB.

The EVGA 8600 GTS 512MB Superclocked features 512MB of GDDR3 video memory; that is double the standard 256MB for this GPU. We want to know if 512MB will really affect the gameplay experience in a positive way with this level of GPU. What we are going to do is test this video card in comparison to a standard 256MB GeForce 8600 GTS at the same clock speeds to see if memory size will affect performance at all.

The moniker “Superclocked” indicates that this video card is “highly” factory overclocked; at least you would think so. The EVGA 8600 GTS 512MB Superclocked’s GPU is running at 706 MHz (31 MHz over the reference design of 675 MHz). The video card memory, however, is not factory overclocked at all. The memory comes clocked at precisely 2016 MHz (1008 MHz actual), which is the reference memory frequency for GeForce 8600 GTS cards.

Overall, these overclocking frequencies are highly underwhelming. When we think of "Superclocked" we expect more than 31 MHz on the GPU and no overclock what-so-ever of the memory. To compare the advantage of EVGA’s “Superclocked” we will compare the EVGA 8600 GTS 512MB Superclocked to EVGA’s own standard clocked 8600 GTS 512MB by downclocking our Superclocked to the non-Superclocked speeds. We want to know if the extra $20 the Superclock carries ($259.99) versus the standard clocked 512MB ($239.99) is worth it.

If you would like to read more about the GeForce 8600 GTS architecture you can read here.

EVGA GeForce 8600 GTS 512MB Superclocked

The box is EVGA’s standard design. Though standard is not always the best thing, they need to update the graphics and text on the box to coincide with what is actually inside the box. The picture of the video card on the front, sides and back of the box doesn’t match up exactly with what you will get in the box. On the picture of the card on the box it shows a PCI-Express auxiliary connector on board. However, the actual video card itself in our box came with a 4-pin Molex power connector. On the side of the box under Minimum System Requirements it lists: “One PCI-Express supplementary power connector or two available hard disk drive power connectors.” You do not need a PCI-Express supplementary power connector for this card or arguably the two “disk drive power connectors.” You only need a free 4-pin Molex connector.

On the front of the box there are no fairy tale characters, just from afar a seemingly black and white theme. Upon closer inspection you can see that the black is not solid and has an ‘E’ pattern to it. The standard information is placed on the front of the box: SLI Ready, HDCP Capable, DX10 Ready, 512MB DDR3, and PCI Express. The bottom left corner shows that this card is eligible for the 90 day setup-up program. There is also a “Superclocked” sticker on the front, but we are disappointed to find that nowhere on the box does it say how much either the GPU or the memory are overclocked.

The back left side of the box states the features of the card. On the right side it has a window showing you the sticker on the back of the card; to make sure you do not accidently get the wrong card. Overall it is a very clean and straight to the point box, which is how we prefer it. We just wish that EVGA would have updated there box’s graphics and text to reflect the cards specifications.

The EVGA GeForce 8600 GTS 512MB Superclocked uses a green PCI board, metal IO bracket and is seven and half inches long. The top of the heatsink is black and on the side is gunmetal colored. It is a basic GeForce 8600 GTS heatsink. It requires a 4-pin Molex connector, not the 6-pin PCI-Express connector that we are used to seeing these days.

Notice on the back of the card we can see some of the memory modules exposed. This is an unbalanced cooling system because the memory modules on the front of the video card are actually making contact with the heatsink, meaning they are receiving active cooling. Without any heatsinks on those memory chips on the back it might hinder the memories maximum overclockability.

The memory modules being employed are Samsung K4J52324QE-BJ1A chips. The “1A” part indicate that these are 1ns chips rated at 1000 MHz. Since we are already running at 1000 MHz by default they are already at their rated frequency and thus we don’t expect a large amount of overclocking, but we will see. The video cards bundle comes with a manual, a driver CD, a 4-pin female Molex to two 4-pin male Molex connector, two DVI to VGA adapters, and an S-Video cable.

Price and Availability

EVGA’s recommended price for their GeForce 8600 GTS 512MB Superclocked is $259.99 and they are currently backordered on their own site. We had to look off the beaten path even to find stores that carried them. The lowest price we found was $220. Looking on Newegg we can find GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB default speeds for as little as $150 and heavily overclocked starting at $180, which means the extra memory carries a hefty price, literally.