Foxconn 8600 GTS Video Card Review

Today we are back with another review of a NVIDIA 8600 GTS from Foxconn. This Foxconn 8600 GTS is stock clocked like the PNY 8600 GTS we reviewed previously. If you are looking for a lower cost HDCP capable DirectX 10 graphics card Foxconn my have just the 8600 GTS you are looking for. Read on for all the details.

Gallery

3 images

Benchmarks

Features & Specifications
The Foxconn 8600 GTS we are looking at today shares in common all of the same features with the other 8600 GTS graphics cards we have looked at recently. HDCP is part of the bag of tricks for the Foxconn 8600 GTS as well so watching next generating HD content via Blu-Ray or HD DVD should be no problem thanks to NVIDIA’s PureVideo HD. The Foxconn 8600 GTS is clocked at 675 MHz on the core and 2000 MHz on the memory. There are 32 stream processors and 256MB of GDDR3 memory along with a 128-bit memory interface.

Test System
The test machine I used for benchmarking the Foxconn 8600 GTS is the same that I have used for the other 8600 GTS reviews I have performed. The test machine specifications are as follows:

• CPU- Intel QX6700
• OS- Windows XP Pro SP2
• RAM- 2GB PNY XLR8 PC2-8500
• Mainboard- EVGA 680i

Benchmarks & Testing

3DMark06
The first test up for the Foxconn 8600 GTS was with 3DMark06 which I ran at default settings in the application and default settings in NVIDIA control panel. The results of the test were as follows:

• Total 3DMarks- 5812
• SM2.0- 2291
• HDR/SM3.0- 2040
• CPU- 3979
• Return to Proxycon- 17.652
• Firefly Forest- 20.539
• Canyon Flight- 18.024
• Deep Freeze- 22.785
• CPU1- 1.337
• CPU2- 1.895

To compare the PNY Verto 8600 GTS scored 5831 total 3DMarks and the fastest 8600 GTS I have tested to date, the XFX 8600 GTS XXX scored 6309 3DMarks.

Quake 4
Next up was Quake 4 which I ran at 1280 x 1024 screen resolution, 4x AA, multi-core on and all settings on high. I used Fraps to record frame rate data as follows while playing a single player game:

• Min- 26
• Avg- 52.912
• Max- 63

FEAR
The next test was with FEAR which I ran at a screen resolution of 1280 x 1024, no soft shadows, 4x AA, 16x AF and all settings on max. I used the Fear in game test loop to record the following frame rate data:

• Min- 20
• Avg- 37
• Max- 81

Percentages tell a clear story for performance in Fear and showed that 5% of the time frame rate was below 25 fps, 68% of the time frame rates were 25 to 40 fps and 27% of the time frame rates were above 40 fps.

Battlefield 2142
The final test was with Battlefield 2142 which I ran at 1600 x 1200 with 4x AA and all settings on high. Frame rate data was recorded with Fraps on the single player map “Fall of Berlin.” Fraps recorded the following frame rate data:

• Min- 23
• Avg- 31.982
• Max- 38

Final Thoughts
Looking back at the numbers you can see that to date the Foxconn 8600 GTS is the slowest of the 8600 GTS cards that I have tested. It is a virtual wash with the performance of the PNY Verto 8600 GTS but is significantly down on performance compared to any of the factory overclocked 8600 GTS cards. The good news is that the Foxconn 8600 GTS is one of the lowest priced 8600 GTS cards and can be found online from $189. Foxconn also bundles a couple utilities with their Foxconn 8600 GTS graphics cards, one of the applications is VirtualDrive v10 and the other is RestoreIT v7.

Verdict

Conclusion

Pros

• Low cost
• Bundled applications included

Cons

• Performance is down compared to other cards in the class

Verdict
At the end of the day you can get faster 8600 GTS graphics cards, but you won’t get faster performance and lower cost. With the Foxconn 8600 GTS online at $189 the Foxconn stock clocked 8600 GTS is very attractive for gamers on a tight budget or those who simply need a quality DirectX 10 HDCP compliant video card for their media center machines.

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