Testbed:

Motherboard:
EVGA 680i SLI (Provided by EVGA)

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo 6800 Extreme edition (Provided by Intel)

Memory:
OCZ FlexXLC PC2 9200 5-5-5-18  (Provided by OCZ)
        during testing CL5-5-5-15-CR2T 1066MHz at 2.2V

PSU:
OCZ Silencer 750 Quad Black (Provided by OCZ)

Hard disk:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB SATA (Provided by Seagate)

CPU-Cooler:
Freezer 7 Pro (Provided by Artic Cooling)

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

Vista 32 SP1



We used passively cooled Zotac Geforce 8500 GT running at default speeds and featuring 256MB of GDDR2 memory. We also used EVGA 8600 GTS running at reference speeds (675/1450/1000 MHz). This card features 256MB of GDDR3, but we’ll soon see that it can’t compete with Galaxy 9500 GT running at 700MHz and 512MB of GDDR3 running at 1000MHz. Galaxy card’s shaders run at 1650MHz, which is 200MHz more than Geforce 8600 GTS offers.

Futuremarks





Galaxy Geforce 9500 GT results are good; but bear in mind that we tested the card overclocked to 700MHz, whereas reference 9500 GT cards run at 550MHz. These tests proved to be quite realistic in evaluating the power of the cards and gaming tests had pretty much the same results. Geforce 8500 GT couldn’t finish Vantage Test (Performance Level) and we received a message to lower our settings.



Gaming

 

We played Company of Heroes with “medium” detail settings and our gaming experience was good. We even managed to squeeze out a playable 27.4 fps at 1280x1024 and Antialiasing and Aniso filter on – something that not even Geforce 8600 GTS could do. 8500 GT lacks power and at medium settings we experienced constant glitches and stutters.

We lowered detail settings to “low”, and lo and behold – 8500 GT scored no less than 113.9 fps, or 76.5 fps at 1280x1024. Still, although gaming is possible, if you want to experience your games “the way they’re meant to be experienced” you should probably go with a more powerful card.



In Company of Heroes, Galaxy 9500 GT scores up to 25% better than Geforce 8600 GTS.



In Unreal Tournament 3, Galaxy 9500 GT beats Geforce 8600 GTS by about 14%. At 1024x768, it outperforms Geforce 8500 GT by 60 frames and at 1280x1024 by 42 frames.



Geforce 8600 GTS again loses to Galaxy 9500 GT by 20% at all the tested resolutions. Overclocking made sure that Galaxy emerges a winner and it fulfilled Nvidia’s “prophecy” that this card will perform three times better compared to Geforce 8500GT.

We see a similar result in F.E.A.R., too.





Geforce 8500 GT didn’t make the grade in our DX10 gaming tests, among which you’ll find Crysis. It’s unlikely that you’ll be playing new games with this card, but that’s where Galaxy 9500 GT comes in. Galaxy 9500 GT scores nicely in Crysis but we must note that we lowered the detail settings to minimum. Still, 39 frames at 1280x1024 in a game like Crysis is good enough to brag about.

We tried gaming with “medium” detail settings at 1280x1024 but that didn’t go that well. Still, the result confirms that Galaxy 9500 GT is about 20% better than 8600 GTS.



We played World in Conflict in DX9 mode, and Galaxy managed to beat 8600 GTS by up to 27% at 1280x1024 4xAA/8xAF. We didn’t manage to do the same with 8500 GT, so we lowered the detail settings to minimum. That did the trick so we got a playable framerate but with lousy graphics.



We tried to turn on Antialiasing on 8500 GT using medium detail settings, but that didn’t go well. We received the following warning.








Conclusion

Geforce 9500 GT is a new low-end chip that Nvidia is using to try and snatch up a piece of the market before ATI RV 730 hits the market sometime in September. G96 chip (9500 GT core) comes as 8400/8500 replacement, but 9500 GT easily beats 8600 GTS as well; well, the overclocked card at least. Today we say goodbye to Geforce 8500 GT card, that’s no longer interesting now that we have 9500 GT.

Galaxy did a great thing by overclocking the 9500 GT to 700MHz, as it wouldn’t have done so well at reference speed (550MHz). The memory runs at 1000MHz which is 200MHz more than reference 9500 GT. Furthermore, the card packs 512MB of GDDR3 memory, which helps the core in overclocking and performing difficult tasks.

The only downside to the cooler is that it’s dual slot, but Galaxy in turn provides one of the most silent coolers we’ve ever seen (or heard). Compared to the previous generation, the low-end market segment now features a card with PCIe 2.0 interface and PureVideo VP3 engine that will help in HD video viewing and processing. The card is HDTV ready, whereas HDMI can be done through the DVI-to-HDMI dongle. CUDA and PhysX implementation are a novelty, and those will soon be featured on all Geforce cards of 8th and 9th generation.

This card will be sufficient for gaming, but don’t expect too much. We’ve seen that it performs better than Geforce 8600 GTS, a card that was one year ago a mainstream card, which further paints a picture of what Galaxy 9500 GT is capable of.

If the price doesn’t go higher than 8600 GTS’ current price of €45-65 this card might end up being a popular low-end product. In such a scenario replacing your 8500 GT with 9500 GT will be a good choice.

Galaxy 9500 GT is an overclocked card that we sincerely recommend if you running on a tight budget and it’s quite possibly the best low-end card made so far. Of course, the overclocked card will probably cost more, but we’re hoping it won’t be much more. Nvidia's 9500 GT is a great card, and Galaxy's overclocked version is excellent. However, it doesn't get our Recommended award. Performance-wise, it deserves it, but at current prices 9500 GT cards are no bargain.