Tags : 512Mb   DDR3   g94   Geforce   Geforce 9600GT   MSI   N9600GT   nvidia   Reviews   T2D512 OC   Video Cards  

Introduction Specifications Photos and Pictures Installation and Package Test Setup and GPU-Z Benchmarks: F.E.A.R. (DX9) Benchmarks: Call of Juarez (DX10) Benchmarks: Lost Planet (DX10) Benchmarks: Crysis (DX10) Benchmarks: 3DMark 2005 Benchmarks: 3DMark 2006 Verdict and Conclusion

MSI unleases a slightly overclocked verison of the Geforce 9600GT ... but will it be enough for the mainstream gamer?

 

INTRODUCTION 

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Over the past few months, Nvidia have been busy preparing a massive assult on the enthusiast gaming market. Since March 2008, we've seen Nvidia's Geforce 9600GT, the recently announced 9800GX2 and now the 9800GTX. They had to come up with something quick to compete against AMD/ATI, which recently released their Radeon HD3870x2, the first graphics card to feature dual GPUs on a single PCB board.

The Geforce 9600GT is based on Nvidia's G94 GPU using 65nm technology. It's aimed and targeted at the mainstream gaming with performance that's just below a Geforce 8800GT. The best thing about it ... is the price. It's much cheaper than the 8800GT and competes directly against the Radeon HD3850 in price, but offers performance to match the Radeon HD3870. So you can see ... Nvidia is now aggressively attacking this market, trying to reaffirm its dominance among mainstream gamers. This all helped by the fact that more and more manufacturers are jumping on the Geforce bandwagon. You now have manufacturers such as XFX, BFG, Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, Foxconn and many more, all producing Geforce based gaphic cards.

 

 

 

When it comes to graphics cards, MSI is no stranger. As you are probably aware, MSI produce a lot of PC components, especially motherboards. Using their expertise, they've also moved on to produce graphics cards with their own thermal solutions. Some are tweaked and overclocked for better performance. It wasn't so long ago, we reviewed MSI's RX3870 OC Edition graphics card which we thought was very good. Being partners with both AMD/ATI and Nvidia, you'll that find MSI are big enough to produce both Radeon and Geforce graphic cards. Normally, it would be one or the other. Still, having both cards produced can only increase brand and product awareness.  

In this review we'll be taking a look at the MSI N9600GT - T2D512 OC graphics card. It uses a slightly overclocked Geforce 9600GT (G94) GPU, which runs at 700Mhz (default is 650Mhz). It also features 512Mb of DDR3 ram, slightly overclocked to 1.9Ghz (default is 1.8Ghz). To cool this overclocked card, MSI includes a custom heatpipe VGA cooler which looks pretty impressive.

 

 

Looking at the specifications, the MSI N9600GT OC features an overclocked GPU, which runs at 700Mhz. It's 50Mhz more than Nvidia's default speed of 650Mhz, so it should perform pretty well. However, in our comparison tests, all our other Geforce 9600GTs have a higher overclock than the MSI N9600GT OC. Take for example, the Gigabyte GV-NX96T512HP which we reviewed recently, its GPU runs at 720Mhz ... while the GPU on Vvikoo's 9600GT Turbo remains the same ... its memory is runs at a slightly higher clock of 2Ghz. Could all of this have an effect in the performance of the MSI N9600GT OC?

 

          

 

We'll be testing the MSI N9600GT OC with several GPU intensive DX10 games ... with both 4xAA and 16xAF options enabled, as well as the usual 3DMark 2005 and 2006 tests. Our test rig comprises of an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ default 2.4Ghz, Gigabyte GA-P35 DS4 motherboard, OCZ DDR2-800 2Gb Kit, PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 860W PSU and a 19" Dell Ultrascan P990 monitor. All-in-all, it's a decently spec'd system for DX10 gaming.

OK, lets not waste any more time and see how well the MSI N9600GT OC will compete against similar cards in its class.

 

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Introduction Specifications Photos and Pictures Installation and Package Test Setup and GPU-Z Benchmarks: F.E.A.R. (DX9) Benchmarks: Call of Juarez (DX10) Benchmarks: Lost Planet (DX10) Benchmarks: Crysis (DX10) Benchmarks: 3DMark 2005 Benchmarks: 3DMark 2006 Verdict and Conclusion