Whether you like it or not, all gamers have to upgrade to Windows Vista sooner or later to enjoy DirectX 10 titles like BioShock or Crysis. For this, you need a DirectX 10 compliant graphics card, and it doesn't hurt if it's HDCP compliant and natively supports HDMI output, Shader Model 4.0 and of course all manner of High Definition content. Enter a new GPU contender board from Palit, namely the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB Sonic graphics card. This NVIDIA G94 based GeForce 9600 GT class video card comes conveniently pre-overclocked from the factory floor with 512MB of GDDR3 memory. So a reference version, but dressed up to the Palit standards according to the Sonic family edition. - PCStats

Palit GeForce 9600 GT 512MB Sonic Graphics Review

The Palit GeForce 9600 GT Sonic video card is tweaked to run with 700MHz core, 2000MHz memory and 1750MHz shader clock. This is up from the NVIDIA default settings of 625/1800MHz memory with a 1600MHz shader for the new GeForce 9600 GT family. The new NVIDIA G94 GPU is a mainstream video card to officially replace the GeForce 8600 GT, but in this instance offers significantly more in the way of value. Palit's tweaking makes the Sonic edition roughly at par with NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 GTS. The GeForce 9600 GT features 64 stream processors, supports SLI and is PCI Express 2.0 and HDCP compliant.

Supports Palit have built a non reference video card, and while the supplied thermal solution is good the entire heatsink is encased in a not very impressing big orange boxy plastic cage. The video card requires one 6-pin auxiliary power connector, a big step up for a mainstream card such as this. With the GeForce 9600 GT Sonic, Palit are emphasizing a few aspects you're not likely to notice, a 3-phase power supply, a little black plastic shim around the edge of the G94 graphics core, and DisplayPort. The first two don't really get the blood boiling, and DisplayPort is still very new and unknown, though interesting.

Starting with the GeForce 9600 GT core first, we increased the clock speed in 25MHz increments. The Palit GeForce 9600 GT easily overclocked with NVIDIA's nTune software, and in a matter of minutes the GPU was humming at 775MHz. There were some artifacts at that speed, so the core clock was dropped down a notch to 765MHz. This got rid of the artifacts. Anything higher and nTune would complain that the vcard failed its internal test. Next we set about overclocking the 512MB of GDDR3 memory. Beginning at 2000MHz the memory was increased in 40MHz increments, ended up at a reliably stable speed of 2240MHz.

Palit are still relatively new to us, so we'll have to hold back our judgement on the company. From a cursory level, the Palit GeForce 9600 GT Sonic seems well engineered. The bright orange plastic cage around the video card cheapens things, but honestly, it's irrelevant when the pixels hit the screen. The flurry of GeForce 9600 GT cards entering the market only testify to the appeal of this GPU. Within the mainstream class, the Palit GeForce 9600 GT offers great game performance. If you have a modest budget, you might want to consider the Palit GeForce 9600 GT Sonic for your next computer upgrade.