EVGA's 9600 GT SSC is a top notch card and it offers much more than the previous 8600 generation. Therefore, we compared it to several other 9600 GT cards to see the impact of higher clocks on performance.

Testbed

Motherboard:
EVGA 680i SLI (Ustupio EVGA)

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo 6800 Extreme edition (Ustupio Intel)

Memory:
OCZ FlexXLC PC2 9200 5-5-5-18  (Ustupio OCZ)
        na testu CL5-5-5-15-CR2T 1066MHz at 2.2V

PSU:
OCZ Silencer 750 Quad Black ( Ustupio OCZ)

Hard disk:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB SATA (Ustupio Seagate)

CPU-Cooler:
Freezer 7 Pro (Ustupio Artic Cooling)

Case Fans:
Artic Cooling - Artic Fan 12 PWM
Artic Cooling - Artic Fan 8 PWM

Futuremark tests



In 3Dmark06 the EVGA 9600 SSC is a mere 3 percent slower than a reference 8800GT. A reference clocked 9600 GT, on the other hand, is around 12 percent slower. Althugh the core on EVGA's SSC has a 14 higher clock than the reference card's, the performance is 9 percent higher.

Games



F.E.A.R. loved Zotac's 9600 GT with 1000MHz memory and 700MHz clock. EVGA and MSI have higher clocked cores (740MHz and 730MHz), but their memory clock is 975MHz. XFX runs on 700MHz core and 1000MHz memory. F.E.A.R. performed best on the core/memory clock combination of Zotac's card. The Geforce 9600GT outperforms ATI's Radeon HD3870 in this particular test.

EVGA shows its teeth against other 9600 GT cards and scores highest. The biggest difference is in lower resolutions, while on higher ones the margin gets a bit smaller. We can see that the increased GPU clock gets a better score and EVGA's SSC is about 10 percent faster than the reference clocked card at any resolution.



Crysis is playable up to 1600x1200. AA and AF on that resolution are a bit too much for the G94 GPU, but the same goes for all cards in our chart. Only a lower detail setting will allow you to enjoy Crysis in a resolution higher than 1600x1200. ATI doesn't do well in this game, especially in the Antialiasing deparment.

The overclocked 9600 GT cards running 700MHz or 740MHz score about the same in World in Conflict. All overclocked cards score from 11 to 15 percent more than the reference 9600 GT.




Conclusion

Nvidia's Geforce 9600 GT is quite a painful pill for Radeon HD3870 cards. It has a good price/performance ratio and Nvidia's new mid-range product proves to be more than a good choice in this price segment. EVGA's SSC is currently the fastest 9600 GT on the market, with a core overclocked all the way up to 740MHz.

It easily beats other 9600 GT cards thanks to its high clocks, apart from the core's 740MHz; let's not forget the Shaders, which are clocked at 1835MHz and memory at 975MHz (1950MHz effective). The card is a reference design and we have no complaints about its cooler. It's effective, quiet even during gaming and it takes up just one slot.

However, the Geforce 9600 GT is not as powerful as the 8800 GT, which is just €20 more expensive. On the other hand, the 9600 GT is easily comporable to the HD3870 and the prices are close, too, so both ATI and Nvidia lovers now have a choice in this price segment.

EVGA's 9600GT SSC is priced at €190, and while it is the fastest 9600 GT on the market, it's also one of the most expensive ones. Considering that you can now get EVGA's 8800 GT for the same cash, it's not easy to see why you should get one right now. It's still a fresh product and prices are bound to drop sooner or later. Once they do, this will be the 9600 GT to go for.