Albatron 8600GT-256 Graphic Card Review

The Appearance

Albatron’s 8600GT is build on blue colored PCB. It comes with an aluminum heatsink with heatsink base that comes in contact with the memory chips. The card also comes with a mix of solid and non-solid capacitors.

The card comes 2 DVI output and an S-Video output and the interesting part about the output is that the primary DVI output is black in color.

The Bundle

– HDTV-out
– S-Video cable
– DVI-VGA converter
– Installation guide & driver CD.

Card Details

Here’s a summarized detail of the card.

More details at the official product page

Test Setup

Processor : Intel E2140 Overclocked @ 3.2ghz
RAM : 2GB DDR2 667
Monitor : 20″ Dell Ultra-sharp Wide-screen LCD
Operating System : Windows XP (SP2)
Driver : ForceWare Release 163 (Version: 163.71)

The Performance & Overclocking

The Albatron 8600GT-256 runs at 540Mhz core and 700Mhz memory speed. What’s nice about this card is that it’s overclockable to 600Mhz core and 800Mhz memory speed easily and the highest I could push this card was to 655Mhz core and 850Mhz memory speed!

Here are the results

3Dmark06

Default setting.

F.E.A.R.

Graphics were set to maximum details, resolution at 1680 x 1050.

Need For Speed : Carbon

Graphics were set to maximum details, resolution at 1680 x 1050.

Lost Planet : Extreme Condition

Default graphic settings, resolution at 1680 x 946.

This card was a real pleasure to use. I managed to push the card to 655 / 850 and run some benchmarks.

After a little benchmarking, artifacts begin to appear, which is a clear sign of heat issue. It also meant that I’ve not yet touched the maximum potential of the card due to the limitation of the stock

How far can you overclock this card (and any other computer components) depends on the ambient temperature and the air-flow of your casing.

Was the heatsink an issue at all? In my opinion – NO. The heatsink was meant to work with stock conditions and from my tests, it even works fine on overclocked 600Mhz core and 800Mhz RAM speed. Of course, speeds closer to 655 / 850 would generate much more heat so you might want to consider 3rd party cooling solutions.

The card runs at 49°C on idle and 74°C on load. When overclocked, the card idles at 51°C and 76°C on load. Readings were taken when ambient temperature was around 25°C.

Conclusion

I must say that this card is gem, considering how much further you can push it! With a little effort, the card runs just like an Overclocked Edition 8600GT and if you’re adventurous, there’s more to push for. 🙂

Great Job, Albatron!

The Albatron 8600GT-256 retails at around RM 420 but it could easily be acquired for less than RM 395 at Low Yat Plaza.

I’ll be releasing a review on the Albatron 8400GS later this week, so stay tuned!