SPCR

Posted: **Fri Feb 15, 2008 1:50 am**

I was wondering if the 9600GT would be worth the wait or is it going to be much more power hungry than the 8600GTS.

I am building this system soon, but it will have to be powered by a single Antec Phantom 350.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz

Mobo: ABIT IP35 Pro

RAM: 8GB (4 sticks in all)

HDD: Two Drives new WD3200AAKS-00B3A0 version

Fans: One or Two Papst 4412 NGL 120mm fans.

Would the 9600GT require too much power?

-Ed

Posted: **Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:05 am**

I saw this info about the D9M family.

"Other details of the D9M family have already surfaced. ChileHardware published slides yesterday claiming the GeForce 9600 requires a 400W power supply that requires 26A on the 12V rail. Unlike previous mid-range GeForce cards, the D9M will require a 6-pin supplementary power connector."

26A? Ouch. I hope that's the Dual Core 9800 GX2 they're talking about.

-Ed

Posted: **Fri Feb 15, 2008 7:44 am**

I have heard that the 9600GT will draw more power than the 8600GT, to the point that it really will need that that extra power connector.

26A @ 12V? Let's think about that. 26A x 12V is 312 W. If the card drew that kind of amperage, you'd be seeing a lot of magic blue smoke.

I've read all of the reviews I can find, but I still wouldn't trust any of them. So far the consensus is that it will draw 95 W max (sounds like something nvidia said...)

Either way, you should be good with the PSU you have. I don't think that you computer will draw more than 220 W at max load.

Posted: **Fri Feb 15, 2008 7:52 am**

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm OK. My current Althon 64 set up barely tops 100 watts.

Posted: **Fri Feb 15, 2008 11:58 am**

I'd wait for 9600GT if you plan to play any games on that machine. 9600GT will be a hell of a lot more powerful than 8600GT.

Or you could buy 8800GS right now

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814150275

Of course then you'd have to go and find aftermarket cooler for that.

Posted: **Fri Feb 15, 2008 7:20 pm**

Edwood wrote:I saw this info about the D9M family.

"Other details of the D9M family have already surfaced. ChileHardware published slides yesterday claiming the GeForce 9600 requires a 400W power supply that requires 26A on the 12V rail. Unlike previous mid-range GeForce cards, the D9M will require a 6-pin supplementary power connector."

26A? Ouch. I hope that's the Dual Core 9800 GX2 they're talking about.

-Ed

They recommend a 400W power supply with 26A for the whole PC not just the card.

The PCI-E slot can only supply the card with a max of 75w, the 6pin PCI-E connector can only supply 75w so from that you can expect this GPU to use anywhere between 75w to 150w.

The Dual PCB 9800 GX2 will use a 6pin + 8pin PCI-E connector, the 8pin can supply up to 150w, considering that nvidia didn't use 2x 6pin you can expect the 9800GX2 to use between 225w to 300w

Posted: **Sat Feb 16, 2008 9:22 am**

First review of 9600GT, here's the power part

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1293/19

I don't remember how much 8600GT/GTS series consume, but it consumes less than 8800GT, especially in idle.

Posted: **Sat Feb 16, 2008 9:50 am**

JazzJackRabbit wrote:First review of 9600GT, here's the power part

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1293/19

I don't remember how much 8600GT/GTS series consume, but it consumes less than 8800GT, especially in idle.

Thanks for the link.

Idle power usage is less with the 9600GT than the 8600GT.

Yet, they measure the 8800GT and the 8600GT as having the same idle power usage?

Difference in power usage between the 8800GT and 9600GT under load is nearly identical?
Not sure if their measurements are accurate.

They are using an overclocked Q6600 which should be significantly more power hungry than a stock E8400, right?

-Ed

Posted: **Sat Feb 16, 2008 10:26 am**

Well, if I were to go off of relative ratings, perhaps I should consider ATi.

-Ed

Posted: **Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:29 pm**

I'm rebuilding my bedroom HTPC (mild gaming) right now and I'm really considering this card. I'm wondering if I'll have to upgrade my PSU first (currently the Earthwatts 380 that comes in the NSK-2480).

What I have in my case:

E4500
DDR2 667
1 HDD
LG Blu-Ray/HD DVD combo drive
TV tuner card (digital/analog)
Wirless Network Adapter.

My current card played games fine, but wouldn't accelerate my HD/Blu-Ray movies.

Any thoughts?

Posted: **Thu Feb 21, 2008 4:04 pm**

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware ... view.ars/4

Arstechnica has it completely different from Tweaktown, they say it uses less power even than 3850. Personally Id trust Arstechnica over Tweaktown but will wait for further reviews before buying.
I dont think the nVidia 9xxx cards are a die shrink from 8xxx so would lean towards ATI 38xx still using less power so maybe Tweaktown is more accurate, need some more decent reviews

Performance reviews seem to vary a lot too, not sure yet if its closer to a 3850 or a 8800GT (Crysis on HQ)

Edit: On topic, dont get a 8600GTS. Get a 3850 or 9600GT, the 3850 is a ton faster and uses less power also

Posted: **Thu Feb 21, 2008 5:41 pm**

You want reviews? Here are links to more than 20 different ones.

Posted: **Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:07 pm**

Damn. So what to get? 9600GT, 3850, 3870 or 8800GT?

Posted: **Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:24 pm**

I've got an EVGA 9600GT SC headed my way. I'll post my take next week

Posted: **Fri Feb 22, 2008 1:05 am**

It seems in most cases 9600 GT is head to head with 3870 so that seems to be very good choice. Unless you live in the states where HD 3800-series price drops have already taken place.

Posted: **Fri Feb 22, 2008 6:53 am**

If I'd compare two graphic cards and they had the same performance and price (they're equal), although one was new and one was 6 months old, then I'd buy the new one.
Why? Because surprising things can happen with new cards when they get new drivers, which they will get, sooner or later. Todays nVidia drivers are probably not optimized for 65 nm GPU's. I'm not saying it's a guarantee that they will get better, but it's likely. The HD 3800 drivers will probably not get much better than they're by now.
Just my speculations.

Posted: **Fri Feb 22, 2008 6:28 pm**

True... 9600 GT just... is.... loud! It runs cooler than 8800GT because fan spins a lot faster.

Posted: **Fri Feb 22, 2008 7:34 pm**

Is the 9600GT really that loud? I was considering buying the "Akimbo" cooler as it looks like the 8800GT and 9600GT might have the same mounting...

Posted: **Sat Feb 23, 2008 6:02 pm**

farns wrote:http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware ... view.ars/4
Arstechnica has it completely different from Tweaktown, they say it uses less power even than 3850. Personally Id trust Arstechnica over Tweaktown but will wait for further reviews before buying.
I dont think the nVidia 9xxx cards are a die shrink from 8xxx so would lean towards ATI 38xx still using less power so maybe Tweaktown is more accurate, need some more decent reviews

The idle power figures vary dramatically between the reviews which must be partly due to the large variation in VGA configurations available and also to not all manufacturers supporting the under-clocking and under-volting in 2D mode.
It seems a risk to purchase a 9600GT in the hope that it will idle close to the wattage of a HD 3850.

Posted: **Sat Feb 23, 2008 8:15 pm**

thejamppa wrote:True... 9600 GT just... is.... loud! It runs cooler than 8800GT because fan spins a lot faster.

I thought it was because of the lower power draw.

Posted: **Sat Feb 23, 2008 8:36 pm**

Considering a 8600 GTS, 8800 GT, 9600 GT? It was a no brainer for me. I got a HD 3870 and I'm really impressed with it.

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:54 am**

Anandtech compares the GeForce 9600 GT and Radeon HD 3870 in a second review. The two cards are very close to each other. They will make a third review next week, which will include HD 3850 512 and 8800 GT 512.

Posted: **Sat Mar 01, 2008 4:59 pm**

The Tech Report concluded:

The Tech Report wrote:The pattern in our performance testing was unmistakable: the GeForce 9600 GT is just a little bit slower than a GeForce 8800 GT and a little bit faster than the Radeon HD 3850 and 3870. Of course, that statement needs some qualification, since we tested the 8800 GT and HD 3870 at bone-stock clocks, while the 9600 GT and HD 3850 we tested were both overclocked considerably. But the basic trends we spotted were consistent, even when we reduced the 9600 GT card to Nvidia's base clock speeds. The 9600 GT also impressed us with the lowest power draw under load of any card we tested and very low noise levelsâ€”despite its amped-up clock speeds.

With approximate price parity between the 9600GT and 3870, there's great competition in the mid-range market, making the choice pleasantly difficult

Posted: **Sun Mar 02, 2008 2:34 am**

If it helps, The Inquirer reviewed a passively cooled GF9600GT.

Granted, they aren't known for doing thorough reviews, but at least we know that there is a fanless solution.
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/ ... ons-silent

Posted: **Sun Mar 02, 2008 4:19 am**

I'm also undecided... The 9600 is plenty fast and uses less power than the 3870, but the latter might be more future-proof.

Posted: **Sun Mar 02, 2008 9:15 am**

The question is do you play Oblivion. If so the benches favor ATI by a large margin.

If not you can choose based on passive cooling and price.

Posted: **Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:55 am**

I ended up with the 8600GT, because I got it really cheap at a Best Buy Clearance sale.

Buys me plenty of time to upgrade to whatever later on.

Now if only the Accelero s1 rev2 were in stock...

-Ed

Posted: **Mon Mar 03, 2008 5:42 am**

Hi People

If I can give my opinion wether to go for the 8600 GT or the 9600 GT.

I was all for the 8800 GT until I reseacherd a bit deeper and I have decided now for the 9600 GT one. The reason being is the much lower power consumption but only a small difference in the performance.

The 9600 GT one is a monster: idle 31Â°C / load 48Â°C
The gainward 8800 GT withe same cooler: 60Â°C on load....

(big thank you to my friend pvhk who has both cards)

Even neddless to buy a third part cooler!

Posted: **Mon Mar 03, 2008 9:51 am**

Hi, I've just tried a sparkle passive 9600gt against my passive msi 8600gts;

8600gts = 60 watts idle
9600gt = 74 watts idle

(I have a typical MODT system), I've seen the odd post about some
suppliers not implementing the proper 2d clockdown etc, I dont
know whether this is true.

Anyway I was disappointed by the 9600gt and will next try the
powercolor 3870 passive card.

Posted: **Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:22 am**

Just fired up my new E8400 system with the 8600GT. Holy crap, the fan is loud in the 8600GT. Nvidia simply does not care to include any fan speed management in the hardware itself, unlike ATi.

I will definitely be ripping the stock cooler off tomorrow and put my old AC VM-101 on it. When the Accelero S1 Rev2 is back in stock, perhaps I'll get that one as well, if the VM-101 does not perform as well as I'd like.

-Ed

SPCR

Buy Nvidia 8600GTS now, or wait for 9600GT ?

Buy Nvidia 8600GTS now, or wait for 9600GT ?