XFX GeForce 8600 GT 256MB Fatal1ty Professional Review

The XFX GeForce 8600 GT 256MB Fatal1ty Professional Edition is a passively cooled and overclocked PCIe video card, which features 256MB of DDR3 memory, a 128-bit memory interface, and 32 stream processors.

The card has a core clock speed of 620Mhz and 1700Mhz memory clock, which is higher than 540Mhz and 1400MHz respectively in the GeForce 8600 GT reference model.

Made for budget-minded gamers and multimedia users, the XFX GeForce 8600 GT Fatal1ty incorporates support for DirectX 10 games and NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology for hardware decoding of high definition multimedia content.

This video card is HDCP-capable. It has two Dual-Link DVI ports providing a resolution of up to 2560×1600 and a TV-Out/HDTV connector for an output of up to 1080p. There is also a SLI Bridge for dual card configurations. The unit does not require an additional cable from the power supply and takes up one slot in a computer case.

Besides the GPU, the XFX GeForce 8600 GT 256MB Fatal1ty Professional retail package includes an S-Video cable, DVI-VGA adapter, drivers CD, and a free Company of Heroes game DVD.

XFX offers the Double Lifetime Protection warranty for its 6, 7, and 8 Series graphics cards, which means that if you decide give the card away to someone, XFX will still honor the protection plan for the second owner as well.

XFX GeForce 8600 GT 256MB Fatal1ty Benchmarks

I have tested the XFX GeForce 8600 GT 256MB Fatal1ty on a system featuring the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ processor at 2.2GHz, the Asus M2N-E SLI motherboard, 2GB of DDR2 800MHz memory, and Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit operating system.

This configuration has a 3DMark06 score of 5138, 3DMark05 score of 10100, PCMark05 score of 5465 points, and a Windows Experience Index base score of 4.0 (Desktop performance for Windows Aero: 4.0; 3D business and gaming graphics performance: 4.5).

In Quake 4 game benchmark, at a 1280-by-1024 display resolution and Ultra-High graphics detail settings with anti aliasing (AA) turned off, the average performance is 80.16 frames-per-second. When I turned AA on, the average frame rate dropped to 45.64fps.

F.E.A.R can be played at a 1280×960 resolution and Maximum settings at 43fps on average, according to a built-in performance test.

Optimal settings for playing Crysis on the tested machine with the XFX GeForce 8600 GT 256MB Fatal1ty are a resolution of 1024×768 pixels and Medium detail settings with anti aliasing turned off. An average frame rate was 23.5. At Very High settings and AA turned off, average is only 5fps.

Company of Heroes at a 1280×1024 resolution with DirectX 10 turned on, AA off, and with graphics settings recommended by the game, gives an average of 28fps. At 1280×1024 and the highest settings with AA off the average is 14fps, while with AA on it’s 13fps.

A high-definition movie playback (Coral Reef Adventure trailer in a HD 1080p .wmv format) consumed between 17% and 22% of CPU power.

During the tests, the XFX GeForce 8600 GT Fatal1ty temperature was 72C. On idle, it was 58C.

Conclusion

Priced below $150, the XFX GeForce 8600 GT 256MB Fatal1ty Professional Edition is a decent factory overclocked graphics solution for budget gamers and those looking for a silent but powerful GPU for a media center PC. The card is not suitable for playing the latest games on higher screen resolutions, but for those still having 17-inch displays it can be a good choice. Also, if you intend to buy the XFX’s 8600GT Fatal1ty, be prepared to sacrifice higher graphics settings and anti-aliasing in the name of better frame rates.