We tested a total of two XFX cards in this article. Although we already looked at these cards in a previous article, we included them for completeness and to ensure that readers are given a larger variety of performance numbers to look at.

The 8600 GT uses the same PCB as the 7600 GT. This means that compared to the XFX GeForce 8600 GTS card it is slightly smaller. Because its power requirements are lower, the card does not require an additional 6 pin PCIe connector.

The 8600 GTS has a brace to strengthen the PCB. The cooling solution of the card is simple and based on the NVDIA reference design. There is a 6 pin PCIe connector for the 8600 GTS that provides additional power as the slot cannot provide all the power this card requires.

Looking at the technical characteristics, the XFX 8600 GTS has a faster clock speed than the XFX 8600 GT. The XFX 8600 GTS comes overclocked at 730 MHz for the GPU, and 2260 MHz memory. The 8600 GT, on the other hand, has a clock speed of 620 MHz for the GPU 1600 MHz for the video memory. Keeping in mind that clock speeds ultimately do affect power draw, the lower clock speeds of the 8800 GT might potentially result in lower power consumption as a whole for the card.