Inno3D GeForce 8500 GT and 8600 GT Comparison - Page 3 of 7
Review by Kyle Kerley - June 1, 2007
COUNTER-STRIKE: SOURCE VIDEO STRESS TEST RESULTS
The Counter-Strike: Source video stress test offers a consistent benchmark using pre-Lost Coast Source Engine's most demanding effects. The chart below details the video options used in game. These same settings were used for each benchmarking run-through.
Source Engine Settings
Surprisingly, both cards performed exceptionally well; especially the 8600 GT at 2560x1600. I ran the stress test that high simply as amusement to see how terribly the cards ran and I was blown away at how well both performed with no MSAA enabled and even more impressed with the 8600 GT for keeping an average at just shy of 30 frames per second with 4xMSAA.
CS:S Performance Test Results
Peformance across the board for the 8600 GT, even at stock speeds, is incredible. The 128-bit bus is definitely holding back performance but not to a level anywhere near where I thought it would be. I expected this card to absolutely choke at any resolution with antialiasing enabled and proved yet again that its paper specs are just that and real-world performance is a completely different story.
Next, a look at how the cards handle Source's most advanced features...
