- Conclusion

Gainward offers many different cards based on the Nvidia 8600GT series, either with higher memory configuration or with HDMI output or passive cooling. In any case, users can choose exactly what they need and therefore buy the proper product. So far so good.

The Gainward 8600GT PCX 512MB is an "enhanced" 8600GT card with an additional 256MB and passive cooling. The core/memory frequencies remain the same (540/700MHz), while it fully supports DirectX10 geometry shaders, offering superb visual quality, when of course the game supports it.

In this review, we included many DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 games. The performance of the Gainward 8600GT PCX 512MB was not exactly what we had hoped for, since for most games, without enabling AA/AF, it was even slower than a generic 7900GS card. With DirectX10 games, the performance was poor, so it's also not the best possible solution for hardcore gamers. The card supports HDCP output so we can say its a futureproof buy. The passive cooling does work, even though the card runs very hot at full load, 70° Celsius! For this reason, we didn't even consider trying to overclocking the card.

The card costs around €150, whereas, a passive cooling 7900GS costs around €100. That's €50 difference just for having DirectX 10 and HDCP support. We cannot be sure if this card is the best solution for your needs, but from its performance, its a basic 8600GT series card with passive cooling.

An plus is that High Definition hardware acceleration is possible with the latest Nvidia drivers and of course PowerDVD 7.30. So if you need a card for basic gaming needs, that's quiet and is able to play High Definition content (Mpeg4 AVC) without burdening the CPU, the Gainward 8600GT PCX 512MB could be your choice.

Performance
Overclocking	-
Bundle
Value for money
Futureproof buy