A new card a NEW Break -Through
VVikoo 8600GTS VGA card reviewed
It is not often in the PC Industry that we have a ?newcomer? in the Computer industry these days, with everyday names such, NVIDIA, ATI, AMD and INTEL dominating the scene. Today is one of those rare cases where we do have such a new entry into the market and what an entry they have made!
VVikko Graphics cards.
Who are Vvikoo and WHY haven?t we heard of them?
Vvikoo may be new company just started this last year, however they do have a strong team behind them. Coming from illustrious backgrounds such as Universal Abit (although they are by no means connected in anyway) Vvikko graphics cards have some ?heavy fighters? in their midst and indeed they have come out of the corner swinging!
Today Vvikoo has knocked me sideways with their first sally with not one, but FIVE new graphics cards releases, based on the NVidia/ATI chipsets.
The video cards on review today all have 256MB of RAM installed and are as follows:
NVIDIA
8600GTS
Equipment used to test.
Abit IP35 PRO rev 1.0 mainboard
4X1 gigabyte modules (4 gigs) of Crucial Ballistix DDR2 1066
Intel QUADCORE Q 6600 CPU (B3 Stepping)
Corsair HX620 PSU
Mountain Mods U2 UFO case
CPU ONLY water cooled using a Thermochill PA 120.3 Radiator.
Introducing the VVikoo 8600GTS
There have been many incarnations of this mid-range graphics card, from XFX, Gigabyte and others however I have never seen a box that was as uninspiring as this one. The box is a rather bland grey/silver colour with few diagrams and images on the box to show what you are getting for your hard-earned money. However the box does have a very nice professional look and feel to it, which helps to detract from its uninspiring look.
BOX shots
http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/5804/dsc02945xu5.jpg
The bundle included with this card is also uninspiring, including only a VGA splitter, DVI dongle and an installation disk! Hey but if you think about it when they say a free game is included, we all know that it is not actually free, you just pay more for the graphics card initially. Whilst we are on the subject usually these so-called free games are mostly one-year old plus games that do not utilise the full power of the card. So looking at this on a fairly it could be said that Vvikoo has accredited the purchaser of their cards with some intelligence and the price of this card reflects such thinking.
MY first impressions of the card were that this is a very plain card. One word leapt out to me upon first inspection and this word was the word ?generic?. However upon closer inspection we can see a rather large copper Zalman Heatsink/fan sat upon the GPU Core. This card also sports rather generic looking RAM sinks that tells me it is possible that these could be the downfall of the card. However let us see the test results for our selves!
Card Shots
http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/62/dsc02947np1.jpg
http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/6710/dsc02948pl3.jpg
http://img459.imageshack.us/img459/9255/dsc02949hj0.jpg
Software Testing
Benchmarking Software used, 3DMARK06, FRAPS, X3 Reunion, Oblivion and BioShock! It were also my intention to include Far Cry 2 and Clive Barkers Jericho benchmark results, however time constraints stopped this from happening.
Software Drivers used on all Nvidia tests were 163.44.
BIOSHOCK Results
XP Bioshock
The card handled Bioshock with ease on 1024x768 resolution. In 1280x1024 the lowest framerate of 22 FPS was recorded under Windows XP with all the games details set to maximum!.
1024x768 shots
http://img101.imageshack.us/im...200701262019060zi6.jpg
http://img264.imageshack.us/im...200701262019236pc5.jpg
http://img249.imageshack.us/im...200701262019285kl6.jpg
http://img249.imageshack.us/im...200701262020514nh2.jpg
http://img155.imageshack.us/im...200701262020186ak2.jpg
http://img510.imageshack.us/im...200701262022179xi2.jpg
http://img508.imageshack.us/im...200701262023125md6.jpg
http://img222.imageshack.us/im...200701262029132td8.jpg
http://img249.imageshack.us/im...200701262029514zj5.jpg
1280x1024 screenshots
http://img517.imageshack.us/im...200701262039076ou4.jpg
http://img233.imageshack.us/im...200701262039261cu9.jpg
http://img517.imageshack.us/im...200701262040574ua8.jpg
http://img503.imageshack.us/im...200701262041288mm0.jpg
http://img124.imageshack.us/im...200701262042454xc8.jpg
http://img228.imageshack.us/im...200701262043401ku1.jpg
http://img229.imageshack.us/im...200701262050180su3.jpg
VISTA Bioshock
http://img230.imageshack.us/im...200701262159384vr8.jpg
http://img529.imageshack.us/im...200701262200000cw4.jpg
http://img517.imageshack.us/im...200701262201232dq3.jpg
http://img529.imageshack.us/im...200701262203156je7.jpg
http://img265.imageshack.us/im...200701262204097kq2.jpg
http://img517.imageshack.us/im...200701262210415qy0.jpg
However in a few sections of the game and DirectX 10 enabled, the game takes a few hits on the FPS as the screenshots clearly demonstrate.
Oblivion
Oblivion is a game that though it is ?a little long in the tooth? it still can clearly bring even high specification cards to its knees! The 8600GTS all game details set on maximum and HDR enabled it still manages to pull of some very nice frame rates even set on the highest the test monitor would allow.
1024x 768 screenshots
http://img526.imageshack.us/im...200701262112029kq8.jpg
http://img135.imageshack.us/im...200701262112249jm2.jpg
http://img265.imageshack.us/im...200701262113411cf3.jpg
1280x1024 screenshots
http://img510.imageshack.us/im...200701262116267xp4.jpg
http://img511.imageshack.us/im...200701262117272gn5.jpg
http://img512.imageshack.us/im...200701262117322hj4.jpg
X3 Reunion
All test results in the game were easily into double figures on both resolutions
1024x768 screenshots
http://img181.imageshack.us/im...007012620545957ta0.jpg
http://img504.imageshack.us/im...007012620555396me8.jpg
http://img505.imageshack.us/im...007012620561123xv7.jpg
1280x1024 screenshots
http://img250.imageshack.us/im...007012620583457zr2.jpg
http://img503.imageshack.us/im...007012620595639tm9.jpg
http://img505.imageshack.us/im...007012621003220pe0.jpg
CRYSIS
We all know about this game and how much strain it puts on even the most expensive of systems. My 8800GTS at 1024x768 at 4XAA can only achieve between 24 and 32 frames a second with details set to high (NOT very high) under Windows XP. SO with this in mind it will be fun to see how this card fares.
Screenshots
http://img215.imageshack.us/im...007103020120614pg7.png
http://img521.imageshack.us/im...007103020121095uy3.png
http://img251.imageshack.us/im...007103020151212sa1.png
http://img108.imageshack.us/im...007103020152676kd7.jpg
http://img111.imageshack.us/im...007103020155860ka4.jpg
http://img108.imageshack.us/im...007103020164434hb2.jpg
http://img363.imageshack.us/im...007103020164503ik2.jpg
As you can see this card struggles on this game at these settings, however what card doesn?t with this game? For reference purposes the XFX 8800gts on the same settings runs between 42and 29FPS. So factoring this into the equation the Vvikoo card isn?t the bad at all.
3DMARK 06
We all know what 3DMARK06 and to be honest these are only synthetic tests and do not apply in ?real life? gaming however I have included the results here
Before Overclocking
http://img510.imageshack.us/im...3dmark06resultsyb5.jpg
After Overclocking
http://img229.imageshack.us/im...3dmark06resultswt8.jpg
As we can see from the screenshots the VVikoo 8600GTS eats through all my tests, with room to spare in most cases.
Temperature Results
On Idle
http://img233.imageshack.us/im...tempreadoutidlepu4.jpg
Overclocking
As far as the GPU core is concerned I managed a very nice respectable overclock of
817MHZ and the memory speed of 1116mhz. Overclocking further only produced artefacts on the screen. It is my opinion that the overclocking potential of this card and indeed all of both of the cards reviewed here, that the memory heatsinks need to be very much upgraded to handle higher overclocks.
8600 GTS Pros/Cons
PRO CONS
Overclocks VERY WELL No Extras (could also be a good thing)
Quiet fan (compared to Stock) Generic looking card/ Heatsinks
Cheaper Street Price (£15 less)
Handles games intensive games
Conclusion
I ask the reader of this review a question? Are you of the same thinking as I? Do you also think Fatal1ty products offer no extra performance and yet cost more to boot? If you are than these cards are right up your street, these cards are FASTER than their fatal1ty counterparts and run cooler to boot (on the whole). Other reviews of this card have shown a 5FPS over the same model Fatality card, which lends credence to my view on Fatality products in general. With a street Price of £109 UK pounds compared to £121 for a XFX version. Whilst in my testing 1280x1024 may seem a low resolution to some, however to the average user whom has a 19?LCD then it?s a great resolution to test on.
The 8600 GTS from VVikoo is a great first entrance for them and is one of the easiest cards I have ever Overclocked.
This is my personal opinion only, please discuss.
gilgamesh
VVikoo 8600GTS VGA card reviewed
It is not often in the PC Industry that we have a ?newcomer? in the Computer industry these days, with everyday names such, NVIDIA, ATI, AMD and INTEL dominating the scene. Today is one of those rare cases where we do have such a new entry into the market and what an entry they have made!
VVikko Graphics cards.
Who are Vvikoo and WHY haven?t we heard of them?
Vvikoo may be new company just started this last year, however they do have a strong team behind them. Coming from illustrious backgrounds such as Universal Abit (although they are by no means connected in anyway) Vvikko graphics cards have some ?heavy fighters? in their midst and indeed they have come out of the corner swinging!
Today Vvikoo has knocked me sideways with their first sally with not one, but FIVE new graphics cards releases, based on the NVidia/ATI chipsets.
The video cards on review today all have 256MB of RAM installed and are as follows:
NVIDIA
8600GTS
Equipment used to test.
Abit IP35 PRO rev 1.0 mainboard
4X1 gigabyte modules (4 gigs) of Crucial Ballistix DDR2 1066
Intel QUADCORE Q 6600 CPU (B3 Stepping)
Corsair HX620 PSU
Mountain Mods U2 UFO case
CPU ONLY water cooled using a Thermochill PA 120.3 Radiator.
Introducing the VVikoo 8600GTS
There have been many incarnations of this mid-range graphics card, from XFX, Gigabyte and others however I have never seen a box that was as uninspiring as this one. The box is a rather bland grey/silver colour with few diagrams and images on the box to show what you are getting for your hard-earned money. However the box does have a very nice professional look and feel to it, which helps to detract from its uninspiring look.
BOX shots
http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/5804/dsc02945xu5.jpg
The bundle included with this card is also uninspiring, including only a VGA splitter, DVI dongle and an installation disk! Hey but if you think about it when they say a free game is included, we all know that it is not actually free, you just pay more for the graphics card initially. Whilst we are on the subject usually these so-called free games are mostly one-year old plus games that do not utilise the full power of the card. So looking at this on a fairly it could be said that Vvikoo has accredited the purchaser of their cards with some intelligence and the price of this card reflects such thinking.
MY first impressions of the card were that this is a very plain card. One word leapt out to me upon first inspection and this word was the word ?generic?. However upon closer inspection we can see a rather large copper Zalman Heatsink/fan sat upon the GPU Core. This card also sports rather generic looking RAM sinks that tells me it is possible that these could be the downfall of the card. However let us see the test results for our selves!
Card Shots
http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/62/dsc02947np1.jpg
http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/6710/dsc02948pl3.jpg
http://img459.imageshack.us/img459/9255/dsc02949hj0.jpg
Software Testing
Benchmarking Software used, 3DMARK06, FRAPS, X3 Reunion, Oblivion and BioShock! It were also my intention to include Far Cry 2 and Clive Barkers Jericho benchmark results, however time constraints stopped this from happening.
Software Drivers used on all Nvidia tests were 163.44.
BIOSHOCK Results
XP Bioshock
The card handled Bioshock with ease on 1024x768 resolution. In 1280x1024 the lowest framerate of 22 FPS was recorded under Windows XP with all the games details set to maximum!.
1024x768 shots
http://img101.imageshack.us/im...200701262019060zi6.jpg
http://img264.imageshack.us/im...200701262019236pc5.jpg
http://img249.imageshack.us/im...200701262019285kl6.jpg
http://img249.imageshack.us/im...200701262020514nh2.jpg
http://img155.imageshack.us/im...200701262020186ak2.jpg
http://img510.imageshack.us/im...200701262022179xi2.jpg
http://img508.imageshack.us/im...200701262023125md6.jpg
http://img222.imageshack.us/im...200701262029132td8.jpg
http://img249.imageshack.us/im...200701262029514zj5.jpg
1280x1024 screenshots
http://img517.imageshack.us/im...200701262039076ou4.jpg
http://img233.imageshack.us/im...200701262039261cu9.jpg
http://img517.imageshack.us/im...200701262040574ua8.jpg
http://img503.imageshack.us/im...200701262041288mm0.jpg
http://img124.imageshack.us/im...200701262042454xc8.jpg
http://img228.imageshack.us/im...200701262043401ku1.jpg
http://img229.imageshack.us/im...200701262050180su3.jpg
VISTA Bioshock
http://img230.imageshack.us/im...200701262159384vr8.jpg
http://img529.imageshack.us/im...200701262200000cw4.jpg
http://img517.imageshack.us/im...200701262201232dq3.jpg
http://img529.imageshack.us/im...200701262203156je7.jpg
http://img265.imageshack.us/im...200701262204097kq2.jpg
http://img517.imageshack.us/im...200701262210415qy0.jpg
However in a few sections of the game and DirectX 10 enabled, the game takes a few hits on the FPS as the screenshots clearly demonstrate.
Oblivion
Oblivion is a game that though it is ?a little long in the tooth? it still can clearly bring even high specification cards to its knees! The 8600GTS all game details set on maximum and HDR enabled it still manages to pull of some very nice frame rates even set on the highest the test monitor would allow.
1024x 768 screenshots
http://img526.imageshack.us/im...200701262112029kq8.jpg
http://img135.imageshack.us/im...200701262112249jm2.jpg
http://img265.imageshack.us/im...200701262113411cf3.jpg
1280x1024 screenshots
http://img510.imageshack.us/im...200701262116267xp4.jpg
http://img511.imageshack.us/im...200701262117272gn5.jpg
http://img512.imageshack.us/im...200701262117322hj4.jpg
X3 Reunion
All test results in the game were easily into double figures on both resolutions
1024x768 screenshots
http://img181.imageshack.us/im...007012620545957ta0.jpg
http://img504.imageshack.us/im...007012620555396me8.jpg
http://img505.imageshack.us/im...007012620561123xv7.jpg
1280x1024 screenshots
http://img250.imageshack.us/im...007012620583457zr2.jpg
http://img503.imageshack.us/im...007012620595639tm9.jpg
http://img505.imageshack.us/im...007012621003220pe0.jpg
CRYSIS
We all know about this game and how much strain it puts on even the most expensive of systems. My 8800GTS at 1024x768 at 4XAA can only achieve between 24 and 32 frames a second with details set to high (NOT very high) under Windows XP. SO with this in mind it will be fun to see how this card fares.
Screenshots
http://img215.imageshack.us/im...007103020120614pg7.png
http://img521.imageshack.us/im...007103020121095uy3.png
http://img251.imageshack.us/im...007103020151212sa1.png
http://img108.imageshack.us/im...007103020152676kd7.jpg
http://img111.imageshack.us/im...007103020155860ka4.jpg
http://img108.imageshack.us/im...007103020164434hb2.jpg
http://img363.imageshack.us/im...007103020164503ik2.jpg
As you can see this card struggles on this game at these settings, however what card doesn?t with this game? For reference purposes the XFX 8800gts on the same settings runs between 42and 29FPS. So factoring this into the equation the Vvikoo card isn?t the bad at all.
3DMARK 06
We all know what 3DMARK06 and to be honest these are only synthetic tests and do not apply in ?real life? gaming however I have included the results here
Before Overclocking
http://img510.imageshack.us/im...3dmark06resultsyb5.jpg
After Overclocking
http://img229.imageshack.us/im...3dmark06resultswt8.jpg
As we can see from the screenshots the VVikoo 8600GTS eats through all my tests, with room to spare in most cases.
Temperature Results
On Idle
http://img233.imageshack.us/im...tempreadoutidlepu4.jpg
Overclocking
As far as the GPU core is concerned I managed a very nice respectable overclock of
817MHZ and the memory speed of 1116mhz. Overclocking further only produced artefacts on the screen. It is my opinion that the overclocking potential of this card and indeed all of both of the cards reviewed here, that the memory heatsinks need to be very much upgraded to handle higher overclocks.
8600 GTS Pros/Cons
PRO CONS
Overclocks VERY WELL No Extras (could also be a good thing)
Quiet fan (compared to Stock) Generic looking card/ Heatsinks
Cheaper Street Price (£15 less)
Handles games intensive games
Conclusion
I ask the reader of this review a question? Are you of the same thinking as I? Do you also think Fatal1ty products offer no extra performance and yet cost more to boot? If you are than these cards are right up your street, these cards are FASTER than their fatal1ty counterparts and run cooler to boot (on the whole). Other reviews of this card have shown a 5FPS over the same model Fatality card, which lends credence to my view on Fatality products in general. With a street Price of £109 UK pounds compared to £121 for a XFX version. Whilst in my testing 1280x1024 may seem a low resolution to some, however to the average user whom has a 19?LCD then it?s a great resolution to test on.
The 8600 GTS from VVikoo is a great first entrance for them and is one of the easiest cards I have ever Overclocked.
This is my personal opinion only, please discuss.
gilgamesh