Gainward a well-known brand when it comes to the graphic card industry, they’ve recently returned to Malaysian shores and I’ve been given the opportunity to review their products. Today, I have with me the Gainward Bliss 8600GT 512MB, I know it’s an aged GPU unit but what got me interested in this unit is the passive cooling.
Another 8600GT review? Yes, it seems so. The difference being that this is a 512MB DDR2 version, unlike my other reviews where they’re 256MB DDR3 versions.
The Appearance
This card looks impressive, when I first held it I found the heatsink to be damn solid. Really, it is. It’s not the usual thin and almost fragile aluminum fin, the fins are actually solid and cover almost the entire graphic card.
The heatsink is pretty huge, making the card occupying nearly 2 PCI slots but in comparison with other graphic card with the not-so-special heatsink or 3rd party heatsinks, we’re looking about 5mm to 10mm variance in terms of overall thickness.
Not a big issue to me, since it’s no different from running those 8800GTS and 3870X2. While the 8600GT DDR2 version isn’t exactly a performance card by today’s standard, this card should be great for silent operation and decent graphical performance. I’m particularly impressed that memory chips are given heatsink units as well. Neat!
The card comes with DVI, VGA and S-video output.
The Bundle
– S-Video converter to Composite Cable
– Installation guide & driver CD.
Card Details
Here’s a summarized detail of the card.
| GPU | 8600GT |
| GPU Code Name | G84 |
| Memory Type | DDR2 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 128-bit |
| Memory Capacity | 512MB |
| Core Clock | 540Mhz |
| Memory Clock | 400Mhz (800Mhz DDR) |
More details at the official product page
Test Setup
The computer setup used for this review.
| Processor | Intel E2140 Overclocked @ 3.2ghz |
| RAM | 2x 2GB OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 Reaper HPC Edition |
| Motherboard | Albatron PXP35 |
| Cooler | SunbeamTech Core-Contact Freezer |
| Monitor | 20″ Dell Ultra-sharp Wide-screen LCD |
| Operating System | Windows XP (SP2) |
| Driver Version | GeForce Release 169.21 |
The Performance
It’s a low end card, the performance gain would be too little to justify the time spent on overclocking.
So here are the benchmarks. I’ll be comparing it with Albatron 8600GT-256 DDR3 with a similar driver (169.09) and the card running at 540 / 700 (1400Mhz DDR).
3Dmark06
Default setting.
| Card | Score |
| Gainward Bliss 8600GT | 4142 |
| Albatron 8600GT | 5071 |
F.E.A.R.
Graphic Detail : Maximum
| Card | Resolution | Average |
| Gainward Bliss 8600GT | 1024 x 768 | 33 |
| Albatron 8600GT | 1024 x 768 | 51 |
| Gainward Bliss 8600GT | 1680 x 1050 | 16 |
| Albatron 8600GT | 1680 x 1050 | 26 |
Decent performance at lower resolutions. Higher resolutions would require some reduction in graphic detail to attain acceptable performance.
Company Of Heroes : Opposing Fronts
Graphic Detail : Custom
| Card | Resolution | Average |
| Gainward Bliss 8600GT | 1024 x 768 | 53.2 |
| Albatron 8600GT | 1024 x 768 | 51.2 |
| Gainward Bliss 8600GT | 1680 x 1050 | 33.1 |
| Albatron 8600GT | 1680 x 1050 | 31.2 |
I’m surprised actually, could it be that the extra RAM actually helped the performance? It could be, the performance is surely decent.
Operating Temperature
The card runs at 49°C on idle and 63°C on load. Readings were taken when ambient temperature was around 25°C. It’s actually a good temperature, considering it’s using a fanless heatsink.
Conclusion
The strong point of this card is the heatsink. I love it very much, I’m a fan of silent PCs and this card really makes my PC silent, it’s just the performance is rather low for my taste but it would work fine on 1440×900 resolution or lower and with generally lowered graphical detail.
The card currently retails for less than RM 260 and it comes with a good heatsink that is cooling enough and it is silent. 🙂 I think it’s great, especially for those who don’t mind the lesser performance BUT insist on silence. There’s also the DDR3 version with the same heatsink, it’ll cost more but you’ll get some performance boost along with it.
Can u do OC this baby..? wan to know how it peform and can any fan fit the heatsink..?
Well I did try to overclock, core couldn’t reach 600 while memory was around 530 at most.
I wouldn’t recommend anyone spending time to OC it though. DDR2 at 530Mhz is far from being DDR3 at 700Mhz. So you’re looking at time spend to get this card operating somewhere between it and the DDR3 versions, which is not worth spending the time on.
fitting fan on the sink? There’s no mounting points for fan. Do you need it? I find it defeats the purpose of having such a heatsink if you install any fan on it. 🙂
A fan with such heatsink can provide a better cooling.. but when u say that this card can do well in oc , i think there’s no point to add the fan.. hehe
Do you want this card? 🙂
Thinking of getting one for my bro..
this card cant overclock? my forsa 8600GT.. the core can be overclocked from 540mhz to 715mhz no problem but the memory can only overclocked from 400 to 410mhz…
regreted buying the 512mb ddr2 version.. coz if i add another rm30, i can get 256mb ddr3 version… was rushing to buy 1 the other day…
@sub_noob post more comments here then you can win this card for your bro hehe.. then don’t forget to recommend me 😉
this card is good, but ask goldfries give a better one 😛 goldfries, can?
wow 2 of you actually have the same number of comments. but i got more 😛
Ok guys, might as well toss my hat over the proverbial wall.
Just want to ask, would 2 8600GT in SLi mode give me better gains then a single 7950GT card?
Right now, churning away on my old AMD4200+ Socket 939 computer, and I can definitely see the signs of aging.
IMO, 8600gt sli would be better that single 7950gt single card but 7950gt sli will beat 8600gt sli..
Owh, i miss reading ur post kenji.. If i can win this for my bro.. I will feel very happy coz can give him a new gc.. Very sad to see his gc using x550 only.. Sure with open hand and heart.. 🙂
@BlackTrix, depends on your OS, Vista or XP, and DirectX version.
8600GT is DirectX 10 capable, but 7950 only DirectX 9.
@ BlackTriX,
definitely 2 8600GT SLi mode will give you better gains than a single 7950GT card.
2 cards in SLi mode give you not just double, but more than double’s performance.
But with the price of 2 8600gt.. i think it would be nicer to get other single card unless u want to show off that u running SLi mod.. 🙂
haha, get a 8800GT 256MB, onli RM4xx
yup i do agree.. or just add a little bit and go for HD4850..
HD4850 x2 crossfire!!
i cant remember the benchies. but is the 4870 better than 4850 CF?
right now the drivers not optimised for CF yet so i wouldnt put any money on the 4850 CF..
a single 4850 would suffice for a moderate user imo. quite futureproof. probably for the next year or so.
wait. is there even going to be a 4850X2?
i thought only 4870X2? o_O
lolz!
o sh*t, you guys are talking about 4 series already, i wana join!
4870 won’t be better than 4850 crossfire.
i guess the launch of 4850×2 is just a matter of time.
as you can see, ATi is giving its partner a lot of room to modify the design (eg, Asus 3850×3).
I dont think they will produce 4850×2.. I also dont quite remember but i think 4850 cf a little bit better that 4870..
haha.. ATI is going the cheap way. targeting the low – med income enthusiasts rather than pushing the envelopes and hitting the high income enthusiasts, which is how nvidia is doing it.
i have no surprise since its under AMD..
This is good AMD good marketing plan. Nvidia and ATI make the graphic world become more balance, both survive in their own way.. High end gamer go for nVidia and ATI fulfill the mid end gamer. They are giving the choice for the us.. advantage is go for us too..
For now as far as i know, nVidia still dominate the market by 56%.. and when ati market grow later.. im sure nvidia will think of something else to get back the market..
sadly AMD’s processors have yet to put up a decent fight with intel. long are the glory days of AMD’s processors.
w00t what a nice card !!
but it is a DDR2 type, i wish it is DDR3
@sub_noob
thats competition for you. As far as it goes, i think that for ati to regain so much in such a short period of time is quite commendable, as is their relase of the 48xx series.
nethalem (is that how its spelt?) appears to open the processor divide even more, sadly.
@g, it should be Nehalem.
integration of memory controller to the cpu is a way to increase performance.
however, one could integrate them only once, AMD did it before, so any pther possible way to upgrade its cpus besides pumping the clock?
helo, can this GC beat my 8500GT DDR3 version?
anyway i saw there is another Gainward DDR2 version with 1GB Ram O.O”
8600GT will always beat the 8500GT. 🙂 but the performance shouldn’t be too far off.
1GB on the 8600GT would be pointless either.
Oooo… but nowdays hardly find Gainward GC in malaysia, oh well, i need to upgrade mine then, i hope i could just get this card which is perfectly match with my “Red” MOBO.. 😀
BTW Thanks for answering MR Gold 🙂
Hi All, just to clarify:
1. All Gainward 8500 and 8600 (DDR2 & DDR3) models have Silent Cooling (Dual Slot Heatsink).
2. Even the new Gainward 9500 also has Silent Cooling.
3. Like Goldfries said, no point overclocking DDR2.
4. Gainward is available in many popular IT centers like Low Yat, Digital Mall PJ etc. Try PC Zone and ATE in Low Yat.
Thanks everyone for the comments. We appreciate it.
5. Gainward is also availiable via a few online sellers, such as http://www.karom-enterprise.com🙂 Distance is not an issue.
All in all, Gainward products are easily accessible in Malaysia. You can contact http://www.netraid.com.my to find out where you can acquire Gainward product, even if you’re not in the Klang Valley.
will i be better of with 8600GT 512MB DDR3 or 9500GT 512MB DDR2
@Suyash – good question. It’s been a while since I have the 8600GT but I think the 9500GT 512MB DDR2 would be a better option. If you have a little more budget to spare, get a HD4670 DDR3 card. 🙂