XFX GeForce 8600 GT 256MiB DDR3 PCI-E XXX
Since it's an XFX XXX, you get 620/1190/800 clocks, up from 540/1190/700 (base/shader/mem) frequencies on the reference hardware. 8600 GT runs a full G84 configuration too, making it less than an 8600 GTS in frequency only. You get 256MiB of memory, like the GTS, too.
The PCB and cooler are different, the PCB 174mm long this time and the cooler much smaller, providing no active DRAM cooling unlike that on the GTS. The fan's noise profile seems to match that of that fitted to the GTS. They're both the same size, but the GT's fan has more blades. We couldn't monitor the speeds on either board with the software available at the time of writing, but idle noise is nearly inaudible and load noise is bearable if you can stand the similar hiss.
XFX choose Qimonda devices, HYB18H512321AF-14 and rated to 700MHz, with Qimonda set to discontinue them in the 2nd half of this year. The right time for 8600 GT to use them and XFX to overclock them, then, before they disappear from the parts list.
Annoyingly, NVIDIA don't mandate HDCP support on the GT, AIB partners free to decide whether the SKUs they offer will provide the support. In this instance, XFX don't add HDCP support to either DVI port at all, even just for one of the dual links. Whether that's a problem for you depends on how entrenched you want to get in the mess of AACS, HDCP, protected and unprotected content, players that care not either way, etc, etc.
You don't get GRAW in the box this time, but like the GTS you get a DVI-to-VGA adaptor for use with an analogue display, S-Video cable (but no component one, strangely), Y-splitter for turning a pair of 4-pin power connectors into the PEG 6-pin version, should you PSU not have one of its own (not that it's needed here of course, but there was one anyway!), and a decent instruction manual to round things off.
The core clock is on the box, the SLI support is advertised and the snarling mutt wears the gayest green mask this side of l-b's closet. There's no naughty materials used in the production of any of it, too, so says the RoHS stamp.
Time to outline the test system before we dig in good and proper.
