Leadtek PX8600 GT SLI

INTRODUCTION

It's been a while since the mid-range G84 hit the market. To be frank, after testing this card I had my doubts of its hierarchy in the community. Regardless the class, these cards along with entry level ones are the actual dough makers (do not confuse it with kitchen dough). High-end and enthusiast products are just a loose change, however they play a very important role in the market. Prestige and respect among (pardon the term) fanciers.

We don't always review uber-performing graphic cards here at Bjorn3D. Neither do we review many entry-level cards. Mid-range SKUs are fascinating because they shape all kinds of trends for the graphics market, plus they won't cost you an arm and a leg. Okay, enough of the philosophy.

Leadtek has got quite a few PX8600 models for you to chose from. The one I have on my bench today is located on the bottom of the food chain -- SLI setup to be precise. It's the entry-level WinFast PX8600 GT TDH board featuring blistering fast GDDR2 memory. A nice way to diversify your SKUs isn't it? Now let's get off Leadtek's back and check out what these two can do for us when it comes to gaming.

KEY FEATURES

Full Microsoft® DirectX® 10 Support

World's first DirectX 10 GPU with full Shader Model 4.0 support delivers unparalleled levels of graphics realism and film-quality effects.

NVIDIA® Lumenex™ Engine

Delivers stunning image quality and floating point accuracy at ultra-fast frame rates.

• 16x Anti-aliasing: Lightning fast, high-quality anti-aliasing at up to 16x sample rates obliterates jagged edges.
• 128-bit floating point High Dynamic-Range (HDR): Twice the precision of prior generations for incredibly realistic lighting effects

PCI Express support

Designed to run perfectly with the next-generation PCI Express bus architecture. This new bus doubles the bandwidth of AGP 8X delivering over 4 GB/sec in both upstream and downstream data transfers.

NVIDIA® PureVideo™ HD technology

The combination of high-definition video processors and NVIDIA DVD decoder software delivers unprecedented picture clarity, smooth video, accurate color, and precise image scaling for all video content to turn your PC into a high-end home theater. (Feature requires supported video software. The HDCP function is available on PX8600 GT w/ HDCP configurations. Find the information on retail package.)

NVIDIA® ForceWare™ Unified Driver Architecture (UDA)

OpenGL® 2.0 Optimizations and Support

Full OpenGL support, including OpenGL® 2.0