Power Consumption and Conclusions
Graphics cards are quickly becoming the most power hungry components in our systems today and that can be somewhat of a cause for alarm as we begin to receive 1200+ watt power supplies in our offices!  How does the ASUS EN8600GT stand up against the HD2600XT?

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The HD2600XT consumed less power under idle conditions than the EN8600GT, but proved to be more power hunger under load conditions. The OC Gear LED Display also takes 4 watts to operate, which might have contributed to the EN8600GT’s idle results.

Conclusions

The ASUS EN8600GT OC Gear video card gives PC gamers and enthusiasts an excellent mid-range option for running today’s latest and greatest DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 game titles. The price point should also entice many consumers into giving this card a double-take when they see it in stores or online. The 5.25” OC Gear LED Display is also a bonus to an already feature-packed product.

Performance

The NVidia driver issues Ryan experienced in his previous review of the EVGA 8600GT were non-existent when we used NVidia’s latest 163.69 drivers. NVidia has had several months to fine tune them and work out any bugs that may have come up during Vista and DirectX 10 testing.

Our benchmarking results yielded some fairly consistent conclusions. The EN8600GT barely edged out the HD2600XT in most of our gaming benchmarks and even lost in the battle for highest FPS. Both graphics cards performed on par with each other in almost all of DirectX 9 and 10 game titles too. The EN8600GT’s stock GPU core and memory clocks are most likely the culprits in the stagnant performance results it received. The only two benchmarks where we saw decent frame rates were in F.E.A.R. and Half Life 2: Episode 2. As we stated before, we think ASUS left plenty of headroom to overclock both components, and allow users to take advantage of the OC Gear utility and real-time overclocking display panel.

Recently-released games like BioShock and World in Conflict really tortured both graphics cards at 1600×1200 and 1280×960. I’m sure if we bumped the resolutions down to 1024×768, we would have seen more playable frame rates. The FPS figures we computed during both these games makes me wonder how future proof they will be even a year from now. Modern video cards should easily be able to handle at least 1280×1024 resolutions and give gamers a decent frame rate and image quality. Overclocking the EN8600GT would have definitely resulted in better performance gains and made it a more appealing solution as a possible upgrade for gamers transitioning from older NVidia and ATI cards.

ASUS EN8600GT OC Gear

The ASUS EN8600GT OC Gear video card compliments gamers who prefer manual overclocking over purchasing an overclocked card. The EN8600GT uses NVidia’s reference specs on the GPU and memory clocks, which definitely leave plenty of room for novice and experienced overclockers alike to experiment and push this card to farther than might have been achieved by vendors.

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The extra OC Gear LED Display is an excellent addition and adds a unique accessory that gives users direct GPU data right on the front panel of their PCs. I know lots of gamers and enthusiasts who love filling their 5.25” optical drive bays with everything from fan controllers and card readers to temperature monitors and even cup holders!

One downfall with purchasing the EN8600GT is the limited warranty policy through ASUS. While most graphics card vendors offer a lifetime warranty, ASUS only has a three-year warranty. Keep this in mind when you are weighing the pros and cons of purchasing this card.

Pricing and Availability

According to NVIDIA, the GeForce 8600 GT cards should fall into the $149-159 price range, which is right around what the ASUS EN8600GT OC Gear costs.  A quick look at the pricing in our real-time pricing engine shows that we can’t get an 8600 GT for anything lower than $162 plus shipping.  The HD2600XT only cost $100, so it might be a better choice for people looking to save a few bucks.

Final Thoughts

The ASUS EN8600GT OC Gear really didn’t impress us with its performance prowess, but it did have a host of other features and options that distracted us enough to make us feel pretty good about this graphics card. While the card’s GPU and memory clocks are much lower than other 8600GTs available, gamers definitely have the option and opportunity to overclock this card past what vendors have achieved.

The OC Gear LCD Display is absolutely beautiful and will enhance any gaming rig’s appearance. The display is bright, clear, and shows real-time frame rates as accurately as our FRAPS program we use for benchmarking. The highest price we found on this card was about $160, which is a little more expensive than typical 8600GTs on the market today.

The EN8600GT targets mainstream users who are looking for a little extra for their money than just a video card upgrade. We are not sure if it’s the best time to purchase this card with the new NVidia 9 Series graphics cards scheduled to be released sometime in November.

Be sure to use our pricing engine to find the best prices on NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards and anything else you might need:

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