Albatron GeForce 8600 GTS Video Card Review

Power Consumption & Conclusion

Power Consumption

For testing power consumption we took our test system and plugged it into a Seasonic Power Angel. For idle numbers we allowed the system to idle on the desktop for 5 minutes and took the reading. For load numbers we measured the peak wattage used by the system while running through 3DMark 2006.

The idle results showed that the Albatron 8600 GTS had just a little more idle power consumption than the XFX 8600 GT XXX Edition and less than the overclocked XFX 8600 GTS XXX Edition, which makes sense.

To get the load numbers we used the peak value displayed while running the Futuremark’s 3DMark06 benchmark. The Albatron 8600 GTS cused about 5 Watts less than the XFX 8600 GTS XXX edition as the XXX version is overclocked and uses more power than a standard 8600 GTS.

Conclusion

Albatron has a great product on their hands that you can depend on. By sticking with the NVIDIA design, we are sure that this card is unlikely to fail. Also by reducing the things included in the bundle that you are less likely to use they have saved you money on the purchase price of the card. For most people the purchase decision comes down to price. When you start looking at this card as most sane, socially adjusted folk would, Albatron offers a no nonsense solution to their gaming/HTPC problem. So while the enthusiast in me is a little let down that there is not a game included in the bundle, or the card isnt overclocked, looking at the bottom line of the price and reliability, everything is put in perspective.

The card runs very quiet and very cool. It also seems to possibly have a less aggressive fan spin up than our XFX 8600 GTS card. It also could be attributed to the fact that the Albatron model is not overclocked and thus producing less heat. Again, these are all things to consider when making the purchasing decision. If I were thinking of an 8600 GTS for my HTPC I would be looking for the coolest and quietest one I could get my hands on.

Legit Bottom Line: The Albatron GeForce 8600 GTS is a well built card devoid of all the bells and whistles that other companies make you pay extra for. For less money you get a quieter, lower heat producing, and reliable card from a great company