Bang4buck and overclocking
The HEXUS.bang4buck analysis takes the benchmark scores from the previous tests, performs some mathematical magic and produces an at-a-glance comparison of the relative cost of the performance of the cards.
Of course, this takes no account of extra features - DirectX 10 tests, for instance, are not yet part of our calculations and nor are video decoding tests, so these have to be taken into consideration separately.
| Graphics cards | Inno3D iChiLL 8600GTS XStriker3 | ECS N8600GTS-256MX+ | Inno3D iChill 7900GS Arctic Cooling Silencer 6 | ASUS EAX1950PRO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actual aggregate marks at 1280x1024 4xAA 8xAF | 190.60 | 196.54 | 263.87 | 230.31 |
| Aggregate marks, normalised, at 1280x1024 | 181.25 | 186.64 | 221.94 | 205.16 |
| Price | £135 (Estimated) | £145 | £101.05 | £99.16 |
| HEXUS.bang4buck score | 1.343 | 1.287 | 2.196 | 2.069 |
| Acceptable framerate (Av. 60FPS) at 1280x1024 4xAA 8xAF | No (SC) | No (SC) | Yes | Yes |
The Inno3D draws ahead of the ECS in our bang4buck results. However, we've had to estimate the Inno3D price and if this turns to be higher than anticipated, this could easily be reversed.
Despite the 8600GTS-based cards falling slightly in price since the original launch, they still can't come close to the 7900GS and X1950Pro. Both are faster and available for almost dead on £100.
Overclocking
Overclocking the Inno3D iChiLL 8600GTS Striker3 saw a 745MHz top speed being reached for the core and 2290MHz for the memory.
Despite the non-standard heatsink, this was still bested, considerably, by the ECS N8600GTS-256MX+ which we were able to push to 802MHz core and 2420MHz memory.
The Inno3D's relatively low memory results goes some way to confirming our suspicions that the aluminium ramsinks fitted to the XStriker3 are not able to match the stock cooler in terms of memory cooling.
Once it was overclocked, the ECS N8600GTS-256MX+ was able to match the performance of the 7900GS in the Splinter Cell HDR test, whereas the Inno3D iChiLL 8600GTS XStriker3 can't stretch to this level.
The XStriker3 is able to creep ahead of the ECS's stock results but the gains are not overly significant.
