Albatron 9600GT-512X Graphic Card Review
March 22nd, 2008 | This article was viewed 4,039 times so far...
The Albatron 9600GT-512X, the mid-range 9-level card that entered the market recently. 
Does this card disappoint? Not at all!
The Appearance
The Albatron 9600GT-512X uses the reference model’s cooler, in fact the card looks exactly like the 8800GT - which is why I couldn’t be bothered to take pictures of it. You’ve seen the 8800GT with reference cooler, you’ve seen the 9600GT with reference cooler
The Bundle
- Power connector
- HDTV-out
- S-Video cable
- 2x DVI-VGA converter
- Composite TV Video Cable
- Installation guide & driver CD.
Card Details
Here’s a summarized detail of the card.
| GPU | 9600GT |
| GPU Code Name | G94 |
| Memory Type | DDR3 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 256-bit |
| Memory Capacity | 512MB |
| Core Clock | 650Mhz |
| Memory Clock | 900Mhz (1.800Ghz DDR) |
| Shader Clock | 1625Mhz |
More details at the official product page
Test Setup
The computer setup used for this review.
| Processor | Intel E2140 Overclocked @ 3.2ghz |
| RAM | 2x 1GB Kingston DDR2 667 @ DDR2 800 |
| Motherboard | ASUS P5K-E |
| Cooler | Xigmatek HDT-S963 |
| Monitor | 20″ Dell Ultra-sharp Wide-screen LCD |
| Operating System | Windows XP (SP2) |
| Driver Version | ForceWare Release 174 (Version: 174.16) |
*Yes, the test was done prior to the 174.53 release.
The Performance
The Albatron 9600GT-512X runs at 650Mhz core clock and 972Mhz memory clock. Shader clock is at 1625Mhz. All tests were done with 16xQ CSAA when possible.
3Dmark06
Default setting.
| Card | Score |
| 9600GT-512X | 10220 |
| 8800GT-512X | 10962 |
| 8800GTS-512X | 11926 |
Lost Planet : Extreme Condition
Graphic Detail : Maximum at 1680 x 946
| Card | Snow (Average) | Cave (Average) |
| 9600GT-512X | 19.7 | 28.1 |
| 8800GT-512X | 25.1 | 35.6 |
| 8800GTS-512X | 25.1 | 36.1 |
F.E.A.R.
Graphic Detail : Maximum at 1680×1050
| Card | Average |
| 9600GT-512X | 65 |
| 8800GT-512X | 68 |
| 8800GTS-512X | 74 |
Company Of Heroes : Opposing Fronts
Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050
| Card | Average |
| 9600GT-512X | 46 |
| 8800GT-512X | 41.1 |
| 8800GTS-512X | 52 |
Overclocking
I’ve managed to push this card to 750 / 1100 and got it to successfully pass 3dmark06. Shader was at 1875 Mhz.
3Dmark06
Default setting.
| Core / Memory | Score |
| 9600GT-512X | 10220 |
| 9600GT-512X Overclocked | 11119 |
| 8800GT-512X | 10962 |
| 8800GTS-512X | 11926 |
Interesting enough, it comes to the 8800GT performance level. On the side note, I’m using nVidia’s Control Panel for overclocking and it limits the memory overclock to only 1100 Mhz. 3rd party applications such as Rivatuner would allow more overclocking space.
Operating Temperature
The card runs at 45°C on idle and 61°C on load. When overclocked, the card idles at 45°C and 64°C on load. Readings were taken when ambient temperature was around 25°C.
Conclusion
IMPRESSIVE! Considering that this card is usually around 80% the price of the 8800GT and around 60% of the 8800GTS while delivering performance that’s much closer to the higher range cards.
The 9600GT indeed is the best value card available for the masses and it sure beats the lacklustred introduction of the 8600GT.
I do face some performance issues that annoyed me. For example, some of the 3D applications that I run would actually sort of hang and the system goes into a pause. It’s not a crash, neither does it create any artifacts. It’s just the rendering goes totally off as seen in the pictures below. Here’s a screen shot of what happened with Supreme Commander : Forged Alliance. I usually play it in WINDOWED mode so that I could attend to many other things while playing, all I did was MINIMIZE the game and restore it and the rendering goes back to normal.
From my best educated guess, it looks like a driver issue since this is the 174 drivers. The other 8 series cards and even the ATI counter-parts had no issues with the game.
UPDATED : The latest driver solved the above problem. So if ever your 9600GT card experiences any similar issues, do try checking for the latest drivers!
Anyway, I still love this card for it’s sheer simplicity, nice pricing and great performance. I just hope the issue resolves with the new 174.53 drivers that I’ll be testing the game on this weekend.
At least I get something that other...
March 30th, 2008 at 2:29 am
wanna ask, wats the different between 174.16 n 174.53 drivers?
im using MSI 9600GT OC version with 174.16 driver. Is it better updating to 174.53? will there be any different in term of performance?
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:29 am
Hi there goldfries,
Nice review here but i am wondering, is there significant difference between the 9600GT and the 8800GTS? Would a player see a huge difference in them? How about comparison between the 3870 and 8800GTS?
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:18 pm
@hafiz
I’m not sure of the differences but I do see that my problem is solved.
However I’ve not done any more benchmark after I used the new drivers. Generally newer drivers are always recommended as they fix problems / bugs and of course, may come with better optimization for applications.
@akachester
9600GT vs 8800GTS (G92)? I find that there is.
the 8800GTS is a fast card.
the 3870? it’s somewhere around 9600GT / 8880GT.
April 14th, 2008 at 8:36 am
when you tested this card what PSU did u use?thanks
April 14th, 2008 at 10:15 am
I’m on a Gigabyte Odin GT 550w.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:11 am
can ur 450W psu handle this card.i do know u tried it with the hd3870×2 though ….
April 16th, 2008 at 8:01 am
@Sharvin,
I am sure, if it can handle the 3870X2, it will be able to handle the 9600GT without any problem
April 16th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Yes, the power consumption of the 9600GT is far from that of 3870X2.
April 24th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Is this graphic card not compatible with biostar TA770 A2+ mobo? Becoz I hardly to on my pc due to mobo can’t recognize any GC or due to bad memory for GC. Any solution for this problem?
April 24th, 2008 at 1:30 am
Really? I’ve no problem using this card on my board and it shouldn’t be having problem for any other boards as well.
April 25th, 2008 at 12:27 am
dude i have a powerlogic magnum 450W.can power this 9600gt ah?i have c2d E6600 ,a HDD ,4 fans,mild OC and a dvdrom.thx for the info.
May 1st, 2008 at 7:24 am
I tested on my rig PowerLogic Magnum 450w + A64 2800+ 2HDD + a few fans. balblabla…….. yeah it works fine.
May 4th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
I want to ask about power connector that provided, which is a molex-to-6pin power connector…
What are those for? Is it necessary to plug it? In what situation?
and one more question, can my 420w PSU handle this card?
Thank you
May 5th, 2008 at 12:49 am
see, some people don’t have a PCI-E connector for their graphic card. so what this device does is it converts one of the molex from your PSU (the 4 pin thing, the one people connect to IDE drives) into a PCI-E device power connector.
420w? true power? Anyway 420watter shouldn’t face any issue UNLESS you’re devices already drain most part of the provided power.
May 5th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Oooh, that’s a nice card, and I regretted buying my X1950Pro… for almost the same price!!!
… and now I’ve even seen 8800GS sold in quite a bargain price!
D’oh! D’oh!
May 5th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
And price is still dropping with new cards coming.
May 6th, 2008 at 1:33 am
Bro, wanna ask: since this card is PCIE 2.0, will it lower down the performance if i run it on Biostar TA690G which is PCIE 1.6?
May 8th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Nah, no issues.
July 1st, 2008 at 12:29 pm
this is the card i wanted to get but due to low budget… had to settle for 8600GT instead…
July 1st, 2008 at 12:42 pm
why didn’t get 8800GT?