In order to test the performance of the GeForce 8600 GTS, GT and 8500 GT cards, we used a motherboard based on the NVIDIA 680i SLI chipset. The processor of the test platform is an Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 Socket LGA 775. The Core 2 Extreme X6800 is a dual-core chip with a clock speed of 2.93 GHz. The total memory of the test system was 2 GB. We used two G.Skill F2-6400CL4D-2GBHK memory modules, each with a capacity of 1 GB. The operating frequency of the RAM was 400 MHz and had timings of 5-5-5-15. The HD was the WD1600JS, which uses an SATA interface and has a total capacity of 160 GB with a 7200 RPM. The power supply unit for the test system was an Enermax Infinity 720 Watt unit.

Test Platform

• motherboard: Foxconn C55A01 ( nVIDIA nForce 680i SLI chipset, Socket 775 LGA)
• processor: Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 2.93 GHz
• memory: G.Skill F2-6400CL4D-2GBHK, 2x1 GB
• power supply unit: Enermax Infiniti 720W
• operating system: Windows XP SP2
• NVIDIA Forceware Win XP 32 bit International 158.16 Drivers

Benchmarks were run at 1280x1024, 1600x1200, and 1920x1200 except for Oblivion, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and Battlefield 2142. For games that lacked integrated benchmark utilities, we used FRAPS to record performance. In all benchmarks anisotropic filtering was set at 16x.