8600 Series

[BALISTX]

NVIDIA's specs for the 8600 Ultra and GT look really sweet. Not to mention the price range is right on the money. These cards look like they are going to be an OCer's dream.

The specs aren't anything to sneeze at, either, with both 8600 cards being built with an 80nm process and 300 million transistors. The GT runs at 350MHz, with 256MB of RAM to call its own, while the Ultra sports a 500MHz core, with 512MB of memory. The launch is supposedly timed to coincide with the R600's launch, will certainly steal a bit of ATI's thunder.

- Endgadget Article: NVIDIA's GeForce 8600 series brings DX10 without breaking the bank
Date: Feb 2nd 2007


Specs: Taken from Guru3D.com

8600 Ultra
Shaders: 64
Core: 500MHz
Memory Speed:1.4GHz
Memory: 512MB
Price: $179 USD

8600 GT
Shaders: 48
Core: 350MHz
Memory Speed: 1.2GHz
Memory: 256MB
Price: $149 USD

I had heard at one point that ATi wanted to basically do a "top to bottom" launch so that their mid-range DX10 and low end DX10 would be out almost the same time as the high end....

If that's the case, then the ATi launch could potentially be even more exciting than the nVidia launch.

[omgwtf]

If the 8600series are launched on 17April I will certainly buy the 8600Ultra that seems to be pretty cheap for what it can do. I was going to buy Radeon x1950pro but now I've changed my mind. I hope that I can find 8600Ultra at dc.

[SKYMTL]

I keep hearing that there will be no 8600 Ultra released.

I posted this on NCIX the other day and we will see how true it holds.

So far I have been spot-on with my first three predictions.

8800GTX 768MB = 7800GTX 512 (launch price = $649 USD)
8800GTS 640MB = 7800GT (launch price = $450 USD)
8800GTS 320MB = 7900GT (launch price = $299 USD)
8600GTS = 7900GS (launch price = $220 USD)
8600GT = 7600GT (launch price = $200 USD)
8500GT = 7300GT (launch price = $99 USD)

[omgwtf]

We shall see, but I hope there will be the ultra edition :)

[werty316]

As it stands I don't think there will be a 8600Ultra, even though specs for it are floating around, which is a shame as the 128-bit bus on the 8600GTS hurts its performance. Maybe the 8600Ultra willl be released in the future and if it does that wouldn't make sense since the 8600 lineup would have already been released.

[omgwtf]

I don't understand if the 8600Ultra isn't gonna be released then why the .... 8600GTS will have only 128bit?
it sucks

[SKYMTL]

It is very simple: if they came out with a 8600Ultra with a 256-bit memory interface, it would:

A) Be too close to the 8800GTS 320MB in terms of price

B) Be too close to the 8800GTS 320MB in terms of performance

Either way you cut it, the release of the Ultra version would muddy the waters far too much.

[werty316]

Having a 256-bit bus wouldn't make the performance of the 8600Ultra close to the performance of the 8800GTS 320MB version.

[Supergrover]

Sad

I was hopeing that the 8600 would be a performer.
32 shaders