With practically half of the year gone, we have already seen the mid-range DirectX 10 cards promised by NVIDIA in the form of the GeForce 8600 and GeForce 8500 series, not to mention the budget OEM-only GeForce 8400 and GeForce 8300 variants. The high-end enthusiast segment is secure, even if the GeForce 8800 Ultra has been shown to be an over indulgent demonstration of the G80's prowess. The mobile versions have quickly followed, with new notebooks now featuring these GeForce 8M chipsets. Of course, manufacturers are not sitting idly during these exciting developments. They are likely to be tweaking and customizing specific variants for the consumer. - Hardware Zone

Foxconn GeForce 8600 GT 256MB OC Edition Review

Foxconn for one has been trying to break into the graphics business and the company has unsurprisingly gone with NVIDIA for its products so far. Taking the oft-trodden route of overclocking its graphics cards in order to differentiate from competitors, Foxconn has a couple of these accelerated cards for its GeForce 8800 and GeForce 8600 series. And yes, we take a look today at one of these overclocked cards, the unimaginatively named Foxconn GeForce 8600 GT 256MB OC Edition. Foxconn has opted for a rather large two slot circular cooler that keeps things cool and quiet.

Though users should have no complaints about the noise or heat, the drawback is the loss of one expansion slot. Of course, with so many components migrating to the motherboard these days in the form of onboard modules or integrated onto the motherboard, the adjacent expansion slot may not be as crucial as it was previously. As such, many users should have no issues with the larger cooler of the Foxconn for the advantages offered. What matters more probably is the performance and Foxconn has ensured that its cooler is put to good use by overclocking this GeForce 8600 GT.

The core has increased from 540MHz to 580MHz, admittedly a rather small boost, while the memory has gone up by a more respectable amount, from 1400MHz to 1620MHz. Besides the overclocked core and memory, Foxconn seems to have tweaked the shader clock for its 32 stream processors, raising it to 1232MHz from the standard 1190MHz. This minor boost should lead to slightly higher performance numbers against a similarly overclocked GeForce 8600 GT, in terms of core and memory clocks only. Foxconn did not go overboard with the bundled software and accessories.

Foxconn may have entered the graphics scene with a single NVIDIA based graphics card last year but putting its considerable resources and factories to the task, it has now assembled a commendable selection of NVIDIA products. A glance at its website shows that the company practically has a complete collection of GeForce 7 and 8 graphics cards for sale. In case you think they are all reference models, there are a number of custom and non-standard models. The Foxconn GeForce 8600 GT OC edition is one of these special editions, though the overclocking on this particular model may not that aggressive.

With an online price of around $149, this Foxconn card is quite decent considering its overclocked pedigree, but it will almost certainly face price pressure from the many rivals in this crowded market. There are already a number of competing overclocked cards at very attractive prices. However, it is probably in the marketing and brand awareness that this newcomer will find its biggest problem and that will take more time, marketing dollars and the gradual building of a good track record.