Index
Testing i Overclocking
We compared the 8500GT with the Asus 8600GT which is a reference clocked card, more here. The 8500GT is a cheaper card, so don’t expect too much.
Overclocking this already overclocked card gave us a performance boost of about 20% in the tested games. We raised the speed from 600MHz to 760MHz, which is a 310MHz overclock compared to the default 450MHz frequency.
While playing the games, we didn’t go above 730MHz, due to stability issues. The memory worked at 1460MHz. We tested Quake 4 and FEAR and at the end we tried Lost Planet. FEAR being one of the most demanding games on the market, could easily be played with this card.
3DMarks
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03 |
3DMark 03 |
Game2 |
Game3 |
Game4 |
Gainward BLISS 8500GT PCX 600/1400 MHz |
11196 |
89.3 |
69.7 |
64.2 |
Asus EN8600GT 540/1400MHz |
15247 |
105.5 |
88.7 |
107.0 |
|
|
|
|
|
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03 |
Single Texturinng |
Multi Textur. |
Vertex Shader |
Pixel Shader 2.0 |
Gainward BLISS 8500GT PCX 600/1400 MHz |
2164.8 |
3721.2 |
34.0 |
164.4 |
Asus EN8600GT 540/1400MHz |
2023.7 |
7028.5 |
55.1 |
168.2 |
|
|
|
|
|
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05 |
3DMark 05 |
Game1 |
Game2 |
Game3 |
Gainward BLISS 8500GT PCX 600/1400 MHz |
6327 |
30.0 |
19.2 |
28.1 |
Asus EN8600GT 540/1400MHz |
8924 |
38.5 |
28.7 |
41.2 |
|
|
|
|
|
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05 |
Single Texturinng |
Multi Textur. |
Pixel Shader |
VS/VS |
Gainward BLISS 8500GT PCX 600/1400 MHz |
2230.7 |
4196.0 |
85.4 |
88.4/74.7 |
Asus EN8600GT 540/1400MHz |
2166.7 |
7399.2 |
140.1 |
63.0/95.1 |
The 8500GT has fewer shader processors than the 8600GT, and that has the biggest impact on performance. The performance difference is obvious in multi texturing results that are almost 50% less with the 8500GT. What that means in real-life, we’ll see further down.
Composite Figures 3Dmark 06 |
3DMark 06 |
|
|
|
Gainward BLISS 8500GT PCX 600/1400 MHz |
3101 |
|
|
|
Gainward BLISS 8500GT PCX 760/1480 MHz |
3717 |
|
|
|
Asus EN8600GT 540/1400MHz |
4513 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SM2.0 Test |
Score |
GT1 |
GT2 |
|
Gainward BLISS 8500GT PCX 600/1400 MHz |
1189 |
9.352 |
10.467 |
|
Gainward BLISS 8500GT PCX 760/1480 MHz |
1462 |
11.490 |
12.875 |
|
Asus EN8600GT 540/1400MHz |
1830 |
14.549 |
15.958 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
HDR/SM3.0 Test |
Score |
HDR1 |
HDR2 |
|
Gainward BLISS 8500GT PCX 600/1400 MHz |
1079 |
9.029 |
12.558 |
|
Gainward BLISS 8500GT PCX 760/1480 MHz |
1299 |
11.007 |
14.970 |
|
Asus EN8600GT 540/1400MHz |
1590 |
14.094 |
17.709 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
CPU Test |
Score |
CPU1 |
CPU2 |
|
Gainward BLISS 8500GT PCX 600/1400 MHz |
2640 |
0.834 |
1.337 |
|
Gainward BLISS 8500GT PCX 760/1480 MHz |
2639 |
0.833 |
1.337 |
|
Asus EN8600GT 540/1400MHz |
2631 |
0.830 |
1.333 |
|
The overall 3Dmark06 result shows us that the overclocked 8500GT (760/1460MHz) is 20% faster than at the default Gainward clocks. Even if the overclocked card works at speeds far beyond the Asus 8600GT, this card can't compete with the better and €40 more expensive Asus card.