The ECS N9600GT-512MX-P is the first custom designed 9600GT we see available in the market. Similar to the N8800GT-512X we reviewed some months ago, this card adopts the Accelero S2 noiseless  heatpipe design.

Although the 9600GT only has 64 stream processors as compared to 8800GT's 112 and 8800GTS's 128 (memory interface is 256bits), we can see that in most of the games and benchmarks we put it to test, the results are quite similar to a NVIDIA ref clocked 8800GT. Needless to say, this card when overclocked won't be as fast as an overclocked 8800GT. This factory clocked ECS 9600GT card's performance is very close to a Reference clock 8800GT card.

As it is a noiseless 0dB card, we wanted to check out what would be the temperature like when the card is under lots of stress load. Using the ATitool's 3D artifact detection software, we left the card to run with two fans attached. Using Rivatuner, we read off the temperature readings. At normal room temperature of around 30 Degrees, the GPU temp maintains at 44 degrees Celsius. After 10 mins of running the catalyst artifact scanner, the GPU temperature rises steadily to about 65 degrees Celsius. This is a pretty ok temperature for a card without a fan.

If you notice, the card's SLI connector isn't the DUAL SLI connector type. Thus, it is unlikely that G94 series will be able to support 3 way SLI in the future unless it does not require a bridge but channel the control data via the PCIe bus.

In terms of technology, G92 does not support DX10.1 and SM 4.1. The card is also different from ATi cards which comes with an embedded audio controller for HDMI out. If you intend to use the card as a HTPC video processor, you would need to channel the audio from your audio card to the audio pins located on the card.

In conclusion, the card is superb in 3D performance. It is noiseless and it is best for gaming use. On top of that, you could use it to playback / decode your HD programmes with low CPU utilisation. The only regret is the audio, you might want to channel the audio out from your on board SPDIF to a HIFI rather than channeling it out from the HDMI.

Price

Pros

• Noiseless 0db design
• Runs pretty cool
• Audio cable and HDMI converter provided

Cons

• Two slot design
• No DX10.1 / No SM4.1
• No Integrated HDMI with 5.1 output
• Might not support 3 way SLI
• Heatsink might be too tall

Ratings

Here are my ratings out of 10 stars.