DX10 on the cheap: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 and 8500

by Christopher Grant { Apr 10th 2007 at 4:35PM }

Despite what John Romero thinks, the PC gaming world has a long ways to go before it can match a dedicated gaming console on a dollar per graphical gewgaw basis. Thankfully, in just one week, dedicated (and subsequently cash poor) PC gamers will be able to upgrade their boxen to Microsoft's double digit DirectX 10 for a lot less loot with the introduction of the GeForce 8600 GTS, 8600 GT and 8500 GT cards. The cards, retailing at $199-$229, $149-$159, and $89-$129 respectively, help bring DX10 home for a lot less than the current (and only) DX10 card, the princely GeForce 8800. Any Vista early adopters upgrading their cards?

[Via Engadget]

Tags: DirectX10, Geforce, Nvidia, Vista

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

why not the LS2/LS7? @ Apr 10th 2007 4:44PM

More VRAM please.

I'm not in the market for an 8800, it takes too much power, runs too hot and won't even fit in my case.

But I need more than 256MB RAM on the card. My current monitor is 1920x1200, which is about 14MB per z-buffered frame buffer (x3 if you want triple buffering) and that takes a lot of texture RAM away from the game. So I need at least 384MB I would think.

I'd love to buy a 65nm 8600 with 384MB of VRAM.

Shmil @ Apr 10th 2007 4:49PM

that's nice
my computer is biege

Zertoss @ Apr 10th 2007 4:49PM

I had to look up 'gewgaw.' Thanks Joystiq, my vocabulary gained a level! I'm trying to learn a new word, but I know too many words already. Delete an older word to make room for the new one?
Yes.
Which word?
Antidisestablishmentarianism.
1, 2, and... Poof!
Zertoss forgot Antidisestablishmentarianism, and Zertoss learned Gewgaw!

Damn word was too long.

Arthur Gustafson @ Apr 10th 2007 4:53PM

I'm just going to get the 8800, after I upgrade my processor anyway. I think I have either a 500 or 600 watt PS, so I should be fine.

mike @ Apr 10th 2007 4:55PM

Do these new cards have HDMI output? If so, im in. Ive been wanting to upgrade my pc for some time now but dont want to go top of the line. Just want something thats good enough for current games and hdmi for hook up to hdtv coming soon.

Dash @ Apr 10th 2007 5:03PM

Nope, I'm waiting for ATi's DX10 cards to come out.

Zertoss @ Apr 10th 2007 5:08PM

"Do these new cards have HDMI output?"

Not built on to the card, but one of the DVI ports can be dedicated to HDMI. Says so in the linked article.

If you want an onboard HDMI port, wait for ATI's AVIVO cards.

Personally, I'm skipping the Geforce 8000's and any ATI equivalents. My 7800GT is doing fine in the rig I built last year, and if Vista continues to support games the way it is now, I'll be skipping the Geforce 9000's and ATI's equivalents too. For now, I'm sticking to XP and DirectX 9.

Liquid @ Apr 10th 2007 5:15PM

LOL...nice Brian Regan reference. Could have been unintentional but it made laugh.

GamerG @ Apr 10th 2007 5:16PM

One of my best days in Gaming is when I realised I couldn'y be arsed to keep upgrading my PC and got a 360, I felt so Liberated!

I dont have to worry about Vista, DX10, Dual Core CPU's or any other of that crap BLISS

Poisoned Al @ Apr 10th 2007 5:18PM

Meh, I'm going to wait until some DX10 games come out first. My old card can run current games well enough thanks, so why waste money now when the higher end cards will come down a lot by the time the likes of Crysis come out.

Buckshot @ Apr 10th 2007 5:38PM

Hoping the 8900's are out on the 1st of may, if not buying 2x 8800's. New rig, just needs memory and video cards to boot up. Have been using ATI for 5 years, but will not anymore since AMD crippled them. Hector Ruiz needs to GTFO.

ganrob @ Apr 11th 2007 6:54AM

@ATI: waiting for your dx10 fxcard!

Deeznuts420 @ Apr 11th 2007 9:34AM

Damn AGP Motherboard!!!!!

syco @ Apr 10th 2007 5:55PM

Damn. $89 is just barely over my budget when I think about upgrading graphics cards. I usually try to stick to the $50-$75 range. But that's pretty amazing, considering I'm still running a Radeon 8500LE.

syco @ Apr 10th 2007 6:00PM

Not that I would ever consider actually using Vista. I mean, just... ewww....

thunderleg @ Apr 10th 2007 6:10PM

My XP 2500+ and 6800GT are keeping quite nicely, thx.

Plus I REALLY don't feel like using Vista. Ever.

However this is a nice step to see. The 8800 series are pretty nice, so these should be, too.

Ken @ Apr 10th 2007 6:30PM

Sure, I'll upgrade -- just as soon as Nvidia releases some decent Vista drivers.

Asok @ Apr 10th 2007 9:00PM

@ #2
"that's nice
my computer is biege"
That's pretty much the most unusual comment I've ever read. Awesome.

Eschatos @ Apr 13th 2007 3:25PM

I'll upgrade the moment Crysis comes out.

LongshotX @ Apr 10th 2007 6:52PM

I think Vista Ultimate is a superb platform, I feel not only does it look good but it runs somewhat faster than Xp. With that said I'm looking for a midrange dx10 solution for my computer. Right now I am using a x700 pro and so far it has held up relatively well. I just need some extra power, well basically its time for an upgrade. Can anybody help me?

Norm @ Apr 10th 2007 7:11PM

I got an FX 5200 for 30 bucks.That thing is awesome!

you should see it run MAME and Kawaks!

bearxor @ Apr 10th 2007 7:13PM

I thought they were releasing a 8300, not an 8500. Need to reevaluate now, but I was looking at a 8600 for my htpc to replace my X1300

Kwipper @ Apr 10th 2007 7:43PM

Umm here is the question. Do the 8600 and 8500 cards have enough horsepower to run complex DX10 games on a 19" monitor at full resolution, and still get a decent playable (30 FPS) performance level.

Shawn D @ Apr 10th 2007 7:32PM

Prices are coming down big time...

hmmmm...now to find an AGP version.....

Phillip @ Apr 10th 2007 8:03PM

@19

Good luck. Assimilate or die. :)

maguszxz @ Apr 10th 2007 8:04PM

PC gamers know what to expect when it comes to upgrades. Every year Nvidia and ATI make cards and we go apecrap until the next one comes out. I feel only upgrade when it's a big upgrade. Don't upgrade for a 20% increase in framrates. If you have X300 128Mb then upgrade to a 256 7600 GT. But if you have 7900, don't be in a hurry to go 8800 if you only want DX10. Save your money for the big grades not the little ones

Phillip @ Apr 10th 2007 8:05PM

@17

Yeah, that card will actually run Worms World Party. Sadly, after about the FX5900 series and past a certain driver revision the menus in WWP become almost unusably slow.

Dansk @ Apr 10th 2007 9:24PM

@17

I thought i would take the cake with my Radeon 9600PRO.

Jedi Knights II is my ho'

Autocrawler @ Apr 10th 2007 9:31PM

Myself, I'm looking forward to the R600 series instead. I never really was an NVidia person.

"I dont have to worry about Vista, DX10, Dual Core CPU's or any other of that crap BLISS"
"Bliss" it isn't. Because now, you'll have to wait for at least five years for DX10 to actually show up on consoles.

aylera @ Apr 10th 2007 10:35PM

While it's a nice to see entry dx10 cards available for cheap, it's not really a shocking move.

Every card from nvidia/ati at this point will be dx10 compatible, and it was only a matter of time before they put out their mid and low level cards for the 8 series.

Still, even the 8800GTX is worlds above the GTS model. I can't imagine what performance these cards have, or don't have :P

Shadowrun, Halo, and a few other Vista only games are coming out this year, with UT3 and Crysis probably not until next.

Unless you're upgrading from junk to reasonable, there's not much reason to get these cheaper DX10 cards, over their beefier brothers.

ps. There's nothing wrong with Vista. I'm sure half the people talking bad about it, haven't even installed it before. But I heard it's cool to hate on Microsoft, just because.

Mark @ Apr 11th 2007 12:36AM

So...would the $89 model be a large jump up from, say, a 6150LE? I upgrading my computer, and this looks pretty good....

UO Guy @ Apr 11th 2007 12:27AM

I will not buy another AMD/ATI product given their non existent linux support and complete lack of 3D Stereo drivers.

If they remedy those two things then I will think about it.

Defenestrator2.0 @ Apr 11th 2007 12:55AM

Um, Norm, a 5200FX will hardly run anything nowadays.

mc @ Apr 11th 2007 10:08AM

The current 8800 vista drivers (sli aside) are decent enough. I have no problems with oblivion at full settings (excluding some shadows) on my 8800gts. Oblivion is what I built my new rig for, so I'm happy.

Geo @ Apr 11th 2007 11:42AM

No i better wait for the new ATI R600`s plus this new video cards include audio surround sound; a smart move from AMD/ATI...

Geo @ Apr 11th 2007 12:11PM

"THE LAST NEWS ABOUT ATI R600"
Secret Weapon Revealed

R600 HAS A secret weapon, an internal sound card. This is the one thing that Nvidia's G8x can't match, other than HDCP on dual-link HDMI.
The ATI sound implementation is not GPGPU code. It is dedicated silicon, probably brought on by the Vista DRM infection and MS twisting arms to force it on people.

In any case, R600 will be compliant with the Vista requirements and can send sound directly over a HDCP/HDMI link. We are told this is a full HD sound setup, not a cheesy 2.1 channel thing.

In contrast, NV G8x parts can't do this. They have to run an external cable from the sound chip to the GPU. This may not sound like much but it blows out several kinds of auto configuration and worse yet violates Vista logo requirements. One has to wonder if this is why NV can't seem to make a functional Vista driver six months in.

The problem with Vista is that the DRM infection mandates that you do not share S/PDIF output over unencrypted links. R600 does this by combining audio and video streams, then pumping them out over HDCP infected links. This is user antagonistic DRM, but it complies with MS logo requirements, and they don't care about user experiences any more than the content mafiaa.

Add in that the R600 can do dual-link HDCP and you are going to be swimming in bandwidth, more than enough to pipe sound down.

Nvidia's G8x on the other hand can't do dual link HDCP at all, so if you have a 30-inch monitor, you will get a black screen. At that point, sound is the least of your problems.

Basically it looks like the sound card in R600 is going to be the killer app for home theatre type apps. G8x simply can not do what is needed here, buggy drivers or not. While the DRM infection stinks, at least R600 will be able to comply.

Tim @ Apr 11th 2007 7:49PM

Too bad the good games aren't coming out till fall or later (Alan Wake, Bioshock, Crysis). I think I'll hold off.

Mack_Daddy @ Apr 12th 2007 8:40PM

#36 Tim what do you mean good games? There isn't even 1, not even 1 game out right now that supports DX10... I think Flight Sim X will finally have a patch out in Sept. to support DX10... So everyone just wait until there is at least 1 reason to have a DX10 card....