Today we have a GeForce 8600 GT review for you, but unlike the wave of generic and boring GeForce 8600 series graphics cards we have exposed you to over the past few months, this one is a little different. The new ASUS Extreme N8600 GT OC Gear comes fitted with a nice little heatsink and fan combo, as well as an interesting overclocking module called OC Gear! Although the GeForce 8600 GT is the latest mainstream product from NVIDIA and it does have quite a few neat features, we have tried to avoid it like the plague. In all fairness the GeForce 8600 GT has dropped significantly in price since we first canned it back in April, which is certainly very good news for everyone. - Legion Hardware

ASUS Extreme N8600 GT 256MB OC Gear Card Review

Initially the GeForce 8600 GT was priced at around $170 where as the GeForce 7600 GT which offered a similar level of performance to gamers cost just $110. Today the GeForce 8600 GT has dropped down to around $110 giving it a similar retail value to that of the GeForce 7600 GT. Honestly it is not that we think the GeForce 8600 GT is a bad product, it is more to do with the fact that it is not really any better than the GeForce 7600 GT in terms of performance. Now at $110 the GeForce 8600 GT no longer leaves that bad taste in our mouths like it did originally, which a very big step in the good direction.

While the GeForce 8600 GT is more appealing at this new price point, this is not what pushed us take a second look at it. Rather it was a new and unique feature being offered by the ASUS Extreme N8600 GT OC Gear graphics card. Over the past few years factory overclocked graphics cards have started to pop up in large numbers. These pre-overclocked graphics cards generally offer more performance which is nice, but often they come at a price premium that kind of makes these gains pointless. The Extreme N8600 GT OC Gear is a little different from your pre-overclocked graphics card.

Let's start with the OC Gear overclocking device rather than the actual GeForce 8600 GT graphics card. The OC Gear module looks very impressive, featuring a black mirror finish that looks quite elegant when powered down. Now ASUS claims that this is the world's first hardware based overclocking device, and while essentially it is, the device actually interfaces with the ASUS SmartDoc software rather than the graphics card itself. While this software is very good, we had hoped that requiring the use of third party software would not be mandatory. The device itself only becomes active once the SmartDoc software is running.

Currently the cheapest you can usually get a GeForce 8600 GT for is around $110, with the average price hovering around the $125 price mark. The ASUS Extreme N8600 GT without the OC Gear retails for $135 and at this point in time we are yet to see how much more the OC Gear edition will cost. The ASUS Extreme N8600 GT graphics card itself is impressive, it offers loads of overclocking head room, it is quiet and the product looks quite good. The downside is it offers very little in the way of performance, at least when compared to products like the GeForce 7900 GS, which have been available since 2006.

While we have found the OC Gear module to be rather limited in its functionality, we would still consider buying this product as the module is a nice touch and providing it does not come at a crazy price premium, could be worth including. For now we really hope ASUS are working to refine this product to include core and memory overclocking abilities as well as digital frequency, temperature and fan speed read outs.