9600GT full-spectrum roundup - reference, OCed, OCed more and SLI
Author: Luka Rakamaric
Date: 21 Feb 2008

Almost a year ago, NVIDIA launched its new lineup based on the G84 and G86 GPUs, which was labeled as either 8500 or 8600 series. Unlike the extremely successful 6600GT, or its successor the 7600GT, the 8600GT (and GTS) failed to live up to expectations. The reason for that was that the basis of the card was the GPU which was essentially only one quarter of the G80 flagship, with its 32 stream processors compared to the 128 of the G80. Both the 6600 and the 7600 had half of the processors, which made them a much more attractive offer. Today we are looking at the card that is looking to correct this problem, the 9600GT.

Unlike all the previous generations, this time NVIDIA introduced the new series with a mid range card. In reality, the 9600GT is not a new generation. It uses the same architecture as the G92 chip that is present in 8800GT and 8800GTS 512 cards. The only difference is that it has ?only? 64 shader processors, which is still twice as much as the 8600 series. The transistor count of the GPU is 505 million, which is quite a lot, but when we take into account that it is built using a 65 nm manufacturing process, we have all of the predispositions to have a very quiet and cool card. Reference models come with 512 MB of GDDR3 memory operating at 900 MHz, while the GPU itself operates at 650 MHz, just like its bigger brother, the 8800GTS 512. The shader clock is also the same, 1625 Mhz. Unlike the 8800GS, this card uses 256 bit memory interface, which enables a throughput of 57.6 GBps. One of the main reductions in the G92 chip when compared to the G80 was the exclusion of 8 ROPs, so the G92 has only 16. The 9600GT GPU also has 16, but here we will not use the word only since this is quite enough.

The card itself resembles the 8800GT, but is slightly smaller. It uses a single slot cooler, and doesn?t get all that hot even when under full load for extended periods of time. NVIDIA claims that the maximum power consumption is 95W, and one 6-pin connector is included for supplying additional power. It uses a standard NVIDIA green PCB, with one SLI connector. The chip supports HDCP, and although NVIDIA reference boards have two DVI-I connectors, the board partners can also decide to put HDMI or DisplayPort connectors, which are becoming increasingly popular.