So with the latest bunch of game releases are you noticing that your system just isn't quite up to the task of playing these games? Is the new GeForce 8800 line of video cards just not in your budget, but yet you still need to upgrade to something better? There are budget cards out there that are very capable of running the latest games in DirectX 9.0c and DirectX 10, of course you're not going to max the video settings but the games still look great. We've got two EVGA e-GeForce 8600 GTS video cards, not quite a budget card but they won't set you back too much either. They're quite capable of playing the latest games, like Crysis, Gears of War or Call of Duty 4. - DragonSteelMods

EVGA GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB Video Board Review

Sure we would like to own a couple of GeForce 8800's but it's not in our budget, so we get what we can afford, cheap but not too cheap. We still like to be able to play games and have them look nice as well. We went with these specific cards mainly because of the GDDR3 memory that is on them, there are other cards at this price point but not many that have the GDDR3 memory. We shopped around quite a bit and did a lot of research before buying these. The EVGA e-GeForce 8600 GTS video cards come in colorful but still rather bland boxes, other companies boxes are fun shaped and much more interesting.

Then again, sometimes less is better and the product inside is what should really be highlighted. The boxes have got lots of information on them, including the list of specifications and features on the backs. Lately we've noticed that things like video cards and motherboard are no longer being shipped in anti-static bags, but in plastic boxes. It's interesting that this is happening, we are guessing the plastic has some sort of anti-static properties. The first thing that caught my eye with these cards is the slim and sleek looking coolers that are attached to the cards. They are very thin and don't take up another slot.

The e-GeForce 8600 GTS does require an external power in the form of a 6-pin PCI Express power connection, so if you have two of these card you'll need to make sure your power supply has the required connections. And while these cards do perform admirably well, we are still a bit disappointed in them. We upgraded from two GeForce 7900 GT video cards and was quite honestly expecting much more from these cards than what we've seen so far. We have to take into account they are essentially a budget card, and we guess we really cannot expect spectacular results from them.

In the end we should have saved our money and waited a couple months and got a GeForce 8800 GT or GTS. For the price they are, and the fact of HDCP ready and that they are SLI ready, are a good deal really, We are not getting down on these cards they are very good for the price point they sell at. If we had to do it all over again though we wouldn't have bought them, and would have saved some more money and got one of the GeForce 8800 series cards.