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G84 and G86 based graphics cards pixellated

Published on 16th March 2007 by Tim Smalley

GeForce 8600, 8500 and 8300 cards pixellated on MSI's stand weeks ahead of release. Bye bye allocation?

Many enthusiasts have been waiting to get a glimpse at Nvidia's mid-range graphics cards based around G84 and G86. The wait is over as MSI was showing cards based on the two new GPUs on its stand at the show.

Using a process of elimination and twenty probing questions (no rubber gloves needed - Ed), we worked out that G84 is used in Nvidia's mid-range GeForce 8600/8500 cards and there will be at least two SKUs based on the chip.

MSI was showing both GeForce 8600 GT and GeForce 8500 GT parts with interesting aftermarket cooling solutions. There were two 8600 GT cards, one diamond and one standard, and a GeForce 8500 GT too. Both G84 and G86 support HDMI, and one of the GeForce 8600 GT cards had an HDMI connector.

From what we can gather after spending quite some time looking at the cards, there's no on-board sound processing on GeForce 8600/8500/8300, or at least this is the case with MSI's implementations. Instead, audio sent over HDMI is transferred to the card via a cable from the sound card to an S/PDIF connector on the PCB.

G86, on the other hand, is Nvidia's low end GeForce 8300, but we can't confirm the number of different model numbers in the 8300 family at the moment. MSI was showing just the one G86 based card, but being the low end, we reckon there's going to be more. The card we saw was low-profile and had both HDMI and DVI connectors along with a passive cooling solution. We've attached some images of the various cards on show below.

Discuss in the forums.

18 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

Ramble 16th March 2007, 21:51

Any word on the price?

Mathmarauder 16th March 2007, 22:00

Any word also on the 8600 ultra? I really like the idea of a midrange card but the 128 bit bus really angers me. Will the core and memory clocks make up for that deficiency? :?

Jipa 16th March 2007, 22:38

AFAIK they changed the Ultra to GTS.

The card with the black PCB looks exactly like the 7600GT Diamond :o Also the HDMI-system with the external loop for the SPDIF is similar. There's an image of the 7600GT if someone wants to compare the differencies http://metku.net/index.html?path=reviews/7600gt/index_eng4

I'm really looking forward to seeing the performance of these things.

Bluephoenix 16th March 2007, 23:21

those making HTPC's are probably dancing around right now over the 8600 with HDMI :D

With most who build HTPC's using an add-on soundcard anyway, it was a smart move to have a plug for the audio rather than adding a complex and potentially messy sound processor to the card.

Jipa 16th March 2007, 23:25

Well with digital output it doesn't make too much of a difference what sound card you're using. The bits either are or are not, there shouldn't be any of the problems we've seen with cheap analog onboard-solutions. The differencies are mainly on THX/DTS/whatever-sector..

rupbert 17th March 2007, 00:06

Some early 8600 benchmarks:

http://www.fx57.net/?p=501

Unless the 8600 is around £130, the performance does not seem that impressive...

Bluephoenix 17th March 2007, 00:30

what I meant by potentially messy was not quality, but another potential weak link that might have made for some driver issues.

Also those with no soundcard will be using the onboard audio so why should Nvidia/etc complicate things by adding their own processor to an already new concept/hardware configuration?

r4tch3t 17th March 2007, 02:07

That 8300, is low profile, yet has a heatsink extending above it? Well its not low profile then is it? Looking food though. May just have to get one of those HDMI 8600s for when I build a HTPC.

Mathmarauder 17th March 2007, 02:46

Yea I really want these to perform well, if it can play Age of Conan, Hellgate London, and UT3 I will be happy.

Woodstock 17th March 2007, 06:31

i would rather use the new amd 690 chipset (intergrated hdmi) would be the better choice for the htpc, less noise, heat and power all good factors for a htpc

bubsterboo 17th March 2007, 06:53

I want to see a fair amount of performance out of the 8600ultra or gts (whatever it is), otherwise id rather spend a little more and get a 8800gts 320mb.

inflatable 17th March 2007, 07:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by rupbert
Some early 8600 benchmarks:

http://www.fx57.net/?p=501

Unless the 8600 is around £130, the performance does not seem that impressive...

If those numbers are correct I also have to wait and see what I will do when they become available.. Price will be an important factor..

Right now I have a Asus 7900GS 256MB Top Edition (slightly faster then a 7900GT), so bassicly all a 8600GTS will give me is DX10.. No performance gain, unless offcourse games run faster in DX10 then DX9.. 8800GTS 320/640MB always remains antoher option..

But we'll see.. I'm not in a hurry aslong as there are no DX10 games..

Woodstock 17th March 2007, 07:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mathmarauder
Yea I really want these to perform well, if it can play Age of Conan, Hellgate London, and UT3 I will be happy.

It should play them but the question is at what res/aa/details thats the big question

DXR_13KE 17th March 2007, 15:23

any news on the price/performance?

Mathmarauder 18th March 2007, 00:34

Tim should just apprehend those cards from their displays and test them for us. :D

Bluephoenix 18th March 2007, 16:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Woodstock
i would rather use the new amd 690 chipset (intergrated hdmi) would be the better choice for the htpc, less noise, heat and power all good factors for a htpc

well, unless you're playing a game at full res; in which case SLI is an appealing option barring an HDMI 8800GTS.

also with those you can use the 680i chipset and crank up a C2D (or C2Q :D )

phillj 18th July 2007, 14:05

Hi Guys,

It is now nearing the end of July and I still haven't seen any cards with onboard HDMI / HDCP and SPdif input for sound. What actually happened to the cards from cebit as per:

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/03/16/msi_shows_g84_and_g86/1

I am looking at buying a card for my new HTPC and an 8500 with these features would be perfect. I would be grateful for any information on this.

Kind regards,

Phill

DarkOne42 18th July 2007, 15:31

I have not seen the HDMI card (passively cooled) for sale in the UK. Would be interested in getting one myself if they were around.