Galaxy GeForce 8600GT OC Edition Graphic Card Review
September 11th, 2007 | This article was viewed 2,789 times so far...
The Appearance
The Galaxy GeForce 8600GT OC Edition is easily identified with Galaxy’s signature blue PCB and a copper version of CoolerMaster’s CoolViva G1 VGA cooler. Interestingly the unit comes with black-colored video output connectors and instead of having dual-DVI it comes with 1 DVI and 1 VGA (analog) connector.
The card looks great, it’s short and doesn’t require additional power from the power supply to run. The cooler itself was easily removed should you ever wish to dust it or apply a fresh thermal compound.
The Bundle
- HDTV-out
- S-video out cable
- Installation guide & driver CD.
- Galaxy Technology case sticker
Card Details
Here’s a summarized detail of the card.
| GPU | 8600GT |
| GPU Code Name | G84 |
| Memory Type | DDR3 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 128-bit |
| Memory Capacity | 256MB |
More details at the official product page
Test Setup
Processor : AMD X2 3600+ @ 2.5ghz
RAM : 2GB DDR2 667
Monitor : 20″ Dell Ultra-sharp Wide-screen LCD
Operating System : Windows XP (SP2)
Driver : ForceWare Release 162 (Version: 162.18)
The Performance & Overclocking
The GeForce 8600GT OC Edition comes with default core speed of 600mhz and RAM speed of 800mhz (1.6ghz DDR speed).
I managed to push this card from the stock 600/800 to 660/860 and there were noticable performance gains. To make it more interesting, I’ve also decide to test this card at a down-clocked speed of 540/700 which is the default speed of an 8600GT to find out how much gain does the OC Edition gain from the stock version of 8600GT.
3Dmark06
Default setting.
| Core / Memory | Score |
| 540/700 | 4573 |
| 600/800 | 4990 |
| 660/860 | 5431 |
F.E.A.R.
CPU performance settings to minimum while the graphic settings to maximum. Resolution was set at 1152 x 864.
| Core / Memory | Lowest | Average | Highest |
| 540/700 | 20 | 39 | 79 |
| 600/800 | 22 | 43 | 86 |
| 660/860 | 25 | 46 | 91 |
Need For Speed : Carbon
Maximum settings for every graphic detail. Screen resolution was 1280×1024.
| Core / Memory | Lowest | Average | Highest |
| 540/700 | 18 | 22 | 25 |
| 600/800 | 18 | 25 | 29 |
| 660/860 | 22 | 27 | 31 |
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Medium settings. Screen resolution was 1680×1050.
| Core / Memory | Lowest | Average | Highest |
| 540/700 | 7 | 17 | 23 |
| 600/800 | 8 | 18 | 25 |
| 660/860 | 9 | 19 | 28 |
The boost in Core and Memory was great in boosting framerates, however it doesn’t help much when it comes to running graphically demanding game with maximum settings.
With Arctic Cooling MX-2 applied on the heatsink, it operated (stock core & memory speed) at 41°C on idle and 58°C on load when ambient temperature was around 25°C.
Conclusion
I like this card. It’s small, it doesn’t require additional power. It comes with a copper cooler already, furthermore the cooler is easy to unmount and even the purple covering is easily removed. It’s good to know that this is pre-overclocked card CAN be overclocked further. What else do you need? 
Probably the only thing I didn’t like was that it came with 1 DVI and 1 VGA instead of dual-DVI, I prefer dual-DVI. It’s going to be a minus point for it but a minor one.
At least I get something that other...
September 11th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
What happen to your x1950?
September 12th, 2007 at 12:28 am
No longer in use.
Moving on to try other cards.
September 12th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
yeah another dude who like to do OC and research in pc hardware yah especially graphic card. Erm… You support Geforce or ATI ? I think will most probably Geforce for the extreme high end performance right? GG~
September 13th, 2007 at 2:30 am
when u wanna try 8800gts la…i really wanna get one..but duno how much of an improvement it will be over x1950 =b…and whether the price will jsutify the upgrade :p
btw, the copper cooler on this card is coolviva G1 > which is actually quite good
September 13th, 2007 at 2:36 am
It’s not exactly the G1 since the G1’s heatsink is aluminum. That’s why I mentioned it’s the copper version.
As for the 8800GTS
Only time will tell.
September 13th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
How much it cost?
An estimate price maybe?
It’s cool, damn cool!!!!
September 13th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Estimated price? Should be around RM 450 - 500 range.
Pretty nice considering there’s a nice heatsink + cooler and whatever it is that I mentioned above.
September 14th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
My 7900GS use the same heatsink but the performance isn’t really that good.
Idle at 50+, Load around 70.
September 15th, 2007 at 2:10 am
Just saw Glare’s comment in my anti-spam
Well I actually like the ATI HD2900XT. 
shinjun, AFAIK 7900GS is the hotter GPU. You need a power connector for that, right?
September 16th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
goldfries: Yea the 79GS nid a power connector and the card is pre-clock so i think that’s the reason .
September 26th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
How is the 8600GT and Radeon X1650Pro fare in these benchmarks? Which one will be much faster, if you don’t count in the DX10 features?
Also, is this a major jump from a Geforce 7300GT (ddr3) ? Could both of these cards play any Unreal3-engine-based-games (Ghost Recon, Rainbow6:Vegas) in max details (AA and AF I put only 2x) with 1024×768 res smoothly ?
September 27th, 2007 at 6:08 am
YongGrand - I’ve no idea how is the X1650Pro but I would put 8600GT and HD2600XT together instead because if I were to compare, I’ll put the same generation (with DX10) together for comparison.
I’m sure it’s a major jump from a 7300GT because I was previously using a BFG 6800 Ultra OC Edition. That card performs similarly to a 7600GT and even then I can’t run Need For Speed : Carbon at full details on 1024×768.
With the 8600GT / HD2600XT, I could run the same game with full details and 1280×1024 and have acceptable gaming framerates.
September 27th, 2007 at 9:29 am
Hey there,
Is it possile to play in full details if I play those GRAW1/2 using the X2600XT? I’ve seen your GRAW2 review - apparently the screenshots look like they are all using max details - especially the textures. My 7300GT has very poor framerates in GRAW1 and worse, I have to turn down almost everything, and that isn’t even going to cut it! :haha:
Can you tell me the exact graphics settings in GRAW2 when you are using the X2600XT or that Geforce 8600GT? How are those framerates in my normal stock 3800+? That’ll be nice.
September 27th, 2007 at 11:52 am
HD2600XT CAN play at full details but the framerates are around 20 or less, tune down the details for better framerates, say medium for everything and no AA.
The 8600GT OC Edition that I have on the other hand, could play at better details.
And yes, both cards work fine with X2 3xxx+.
September 27th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Thanks man for the help,
Guess that I’ll have to go for the Galaxy 8600GT OC edition - I want that solid caps and Nichicon ones. I enjoyed my Galaxy 7300GT ddr3 very much, each every second that I have but I have to part with it since I’ll be pushing my comp a little bit more for my upcoming TF2 and HL:Ep2 game, modding HL2 and also extensive programming. (that doesn’t need a faster processor, but only thing is the modelling, mapping and hosting game server, as my current rig crawls above 5 players in multiplayer mode)
So will it worth every of my cents? And, better caps for the GC is important as I turn on my comp almost a whole day every day, and I don’t really enjoy exploding caps.
Also, where did you purchase this card? What’s the price? Seen in Czone/cycom that it’s around RM425…
September 27th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
How much worth it is, depends on you.
If the OC Edition is RM 425, that’s a nice price I’d say.
September 27th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Yes - with selling off my older parts lying in my bedroom, that’s going to be pretty good.
And yes also - the OC edition is RM 425. Lemme double check if this is still in stock.
Is that 8600GT a suitable candidate for GRAW (I choose this because many games are now using Unreal3 engine) games too? From what I’ve seen in the 8800 packages, they are pasting the GRAW all over the box and it might imply that it’s 100% functional with the card?
So, did you put any physics card when playing these games? I heard that the 8 series card have their own physics processor there.
September 27th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
If GRAW is on the box then I’m sure they’re saying you can play GRAW on it.
I didn’t install any other thing else for physics.
September 28th, 2007 at 11:52 am
Hey there,
I intend to purchase either one of these 8600GT or the X1950pro now - but before attempting to purchase, is my Coolermaster extremepower 430W PSU take these video cards okay?
Here’s the specs:
+3.3V = 28A
+5V = 30A
+12V1 = 14A
+12V2 = 15A
-12V = 0.8A
+5Vsb = 2.0A
They said they need both more than 20A in the dual-rail currents…
September 28th, 2007 at 11:57 am
I’m using CM RealPower 450w.
Yeah, it’s enough.
8600GT’s power consumption isn’t high. It doesn’t even need to be connected to a power source.
September 28th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
Okay thank you very much for the quick reply, I appreciate it very much!
Another last thing - I checked the comp stores in the last minute - the price of X1950Pro isn’t too far from the 8600GT at all - looks like a good deal.
But the X1950Pro is MSI - are they going to melt because I’m turning on the PC for a whole day everyday (yeah, you know-lah…) and they don’t have solid caps like my Geforce 7300GT?
Or is it okay if any videocards can run 24/7 regardless of cap type? I afraid the cap will… urm… explode.
September 28th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
I personally would go for the X1950Pro over 8600GT / HD2600XT.
The OC Edition of 8600GT isn’t far from an X1950GT in performance but the HD2600XT is quite far off.
24/7? you’re not 24/7 gaming, so the card is on idle. Why fear?
September 28th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Yeah, I see. Great one.
And is that MSI X1950Pro going to fit into my mATX casing? The card looks long…
September 28th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
Hehe. That you have to find out yourself.
September 28th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
Hey there,
Thanks for your recommendations Goldfries!
I finally got myself an X1950Pro because the price isn’t too far away from the 8600GT!
And that’s a killer card - at the very least it can play Medal of Honor:Airborne smoothly with maxed out details. My HL2 still lags a little in 8-player mode, but I’ll turn off the V-sync.
I’ll enquire about the X1950Pro in your X1950 section in the meantime!
September 28th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
Hehe, glad you liked it! I liked it too.
October 13th, 2007 at 7:27 am
[...] S1’s mounting points fit exactly the mounting holes on the Galaxy 8600GT OC Edition but due to the location of the GPU core, the position of the cooling unit was way off in placement [...]
October 31st, 2007 at 12:40 am
yonggrand, wat brand of x1950pro did u buy? where did u buy it? how much? i am considering to upgrade from my geforce 7300gt and i think i can have around rm400 for a new gpu. do u guys think it is worth an upgrade from geforce 7300? any recommendations as i’m still puzzled about the difference in performance of 8600 gt vs x2600xt. thx in advanced
November 3rd, 2007 at 2:17 am
hi, do you still remember what is your Galaxy 8600GT OC temperature with 660/860??? my Galaxy 8600GE 650/1000 having 52 (idle) and 80 (load). are this reading normal?
November 10th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
[...] I’m actually quite surprised and how this game performs on my Galaxy 8600GT OC Edition. [...]
November 20th, 2007 at 11:10 am
Hi Goldfries,
Would like to know how many versions of Galaxy 8600GT OC is there?
I’ve seen some which do not come with the CM Cool VIVA.
And how many ns rams are these babies running on, i mean is there any difference between these models except for the cooler?
November 20th, 2007 at 11:28 am
I have no idea, so far I’ve seen 2 versions and I’ve not taken a second look at their RAM settings.
I’m not at my HQ now, so I can only check it later.
The card in this review is different from the one I have currently since it was RMAed. Basically it’s now dual-DVI instead of 1 DVI and 1 VGA as in the review.
December 6th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Hi there, uncle fries,
First of all, thanks for the card - it’s a cool one!
But I have some questions - when I start my PC, the front BIOS information of the GFX card said something like G84, Model 0000 and SKU - I suspect it’s a Beta or a Sample product.
Could I get problems playing with sample products, or even beta versions?
December 8th, 2007 at 4:26 am
I have no idea whether it’s a Beta / Sample version. I did try it out before it got to you and it worked great! Hope you enjoy it too.
December 8th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
So far so good lo. And you forgot the driver CD.
Is it the OC edition anyway? It looks like it’s a plain version.
December 19th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
Hi where can I post my review on the Point of View 8800GTS 320MB Extreme Overclock edition?
I’m getting 340fsp peak in FEAR on MAX EVERYTHING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just sat there and stared at the screen for out 5 mins, thinking
December 20th, 2007 at 5:05 am
Try http://www.techarp.com