Video Cards Review

VVIKOO GeForce 8600 GT Turbo and Radeon HD2600 Pro Turbo

Introduction

Vvikoo is a new video card designer, founded by a team of professional of video game industry and mainboard industry. The company has its own design and research and development labs to design its products, exclusively based on NVIDIA and ATI graphic processors. Also note that Vvikoo only uses DirectX 10 GPUs : GeForce 8600/8800 and ATI Radeon HD2400/3600/2900 families.

Vvikoo's commercial strategy consists in equipping its products with oversized cooling devices (in comparison to NVIDIA and ATI reference designs), that allows Vvikoo to overclocked graphic cards in keeping temperatures to safe values. Whereas most overclocked video cards are more expensive than the stock products, Vvikoo succeeded in maintaining the price is the low part of the charts. We'll see how they achieved that.

We had at CPUID the opportunity to test two mainstream products, one based on the NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT, and the other one based on the ATI Radeon HD2600 Pro.

Packaging

Vvikoo NVIDIA 8600GT Turbo.

Vvikoo ATI Radeon HD2600 Pro Turbo.

Vvikoo choose not to spend money in the bundle of its products. The only difference with an OEM bundle stands in the presence of a large box. Once opened, we find the following :

• The graphic card.
• A generic driver CD.
• An installation guide.
• A DVI to VGA connector (8600GT Turbo).
• A TV-Out cable (8600GT Turbo).

Nothing superfluous, but the essential is here.

Vvikoo NVIDIA 8600GT Turbo box contain.

Vvikoo ATI Radeon HD2600 Pro Turbo box contain.

Boards presentation

NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT Turbo

Specifications summary

Photos gallery

TV-Out and Two dual-link DVI outputs.

All aluminium Zalman cooler and memory heat spreaders. (click to enlarge)

SLI connector. (click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

Features & Test

Based on the NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT GPU (codename G84), the Vvikoo 8600GT Turbo is placed between a 8600GT and a 8600GTS. The card overclocks the GPU from the stock 540MHZ to 625MHz, that results in a 15% overclocking and is only 50MHz below the 8600GTS. This is kind of risky because the G84 is manufactured on a 80nm process, and therefore requires power when highly clocked. Moreover, NVIDIA reference design specifies a 6-pin power connector for the 8600GTS, that does not equip the Vvikoo board. However, in order to avoid a major temperature increase due to the GPU overclocking, Vvikoo opted for a very performant and silent Zalman Aluminium cooler, very similar to the VF700-Al model.

Vvikoo increased the 500MHz reference memory clock of the 8600GT (1GHz DDR) to 900 MHz (1.8GHz DDR). In order to achieve that, the use of GDDR3 was necessary. In comparison to the GDDR2, the GDDR3 allows higher frequencies and requires lower power in the same time. The counterpart is a price increase, and in order to keep a low price range, Vvikoo had to set the memory size to 256MB (that is still largely enough for a mainstream video card). GDDR3 can easily handle 900MHz, but the absence of power connector prevented Vvikoo from clocking further on. Also note that the memory chips are covered with small heat spreaders that help dissipating the heat.

GPU@540MHz, memory @700MHz : GPU Temperature = 51°C (click to enlarge).

GPU@625MHz, memory @900MHz : GPU Temperature = 54°C (click to enlarge)

The Vvikoo 8600 GT Turbo cooling solution is very efficient. During the demo debris, the GPU did not exceed 55°C at the clock speeds set by Vvikoo, and 51°C at the 8600GT reference clock speeds. We estimate that those increased clocks result in a power increase around 15W, resulting in a overall 60W power consumption by the video card, that can be largely handled by the 8600GT power design.

ATI Radeon HD2600 Pro Turbo

Specifications summary

Photos gallery

HD2600 Pro layout. (click to enlarge).

The board uses an active cooling device. (click to enlarge)

Heat spreader mounting mechanism seen from the back. (click to enlarge)

The board provides three kinds of outputs : VGA, DVI and HDMI (1.2). (click to enlarge)

Features & Test

The Vvikoo HD2600 Pro Turbo graphic card is based on the recent ATI/AMD HD2600 Pro. This DirectX 10 GPU uses a 65nm manufacturing process, that ensures a low power dissipation and a low working temperature. For that reason, most HD2600 Pro based video cards do not require an active cooling device. In spite of the fact that the Vvikoo board runs at the GPU specification clock speed (600MHz), the manufacturer added a fan to the GPU heat spreader. If this ensures even lower temperatures, a fan is not always the best solution because it tends to generate noise. We asked Vvikoo about that choice, and we were explained that choice in providing the user with the opportunity to overclock the GPU. This choice is strengthen with the use of GDDR3 instead of GDDR2, and that runs slightly above the card design specification (700MHz instead of 500MHz).

GPU@600MHz, memory @700MHz : GPU Temperature = 34°C (click to enlarge).

GPU@625MHz, memory @700MHz : GPU Temperature = 35°C (click to enlarge)

Our test card showed very low temperatures during all the tests. At stock speeds (GPU at 600MHz), the GPU core temperature did not exceed 34°C during the debris test, and 35°C once overclocked at 625 MHz. This is mostly due to the 65 nm manufacturing process of the RV630 Pro. Of course the active cooling helps keeping the temperature low, but we would have prefered to benefit from the comfort of a passive cooling, even if this would have increased the GPU temperature a little bit.

Conclusion

This 8600GT Turbo is definitely an excellent video card and is not surprisingly the spearhead of Vvikoo. Vvikoo had to strike very hard to enter in the market, and this video card fullfills its mission. Proposed for a price of 91 euros (+ taxes), this is without doubt a good deal.

Vvikoo NVIDIA 8600GT Turbo

This ATI HD2600 Pro is a good video card, and has no major default. However, the RV630 Pro GPU is definitely not intended to give FPS in games, and may be most likely choosen because of its features in video. For such a use, a passive cooling would have been more relevant. Nethertheless, the Vvikoo card is one of the fastest HD2600 Pro models, and is a very good choice considering the price (66 euros + VAT).

Vvikoo Radeon HD2600 Pro Turbo

The challenge of Vvikoo is to distinguish in a market occupied with lot of video cards brands, and it is far from being easy. At the light of these two products, we think that Vvikoo has great chances to have his own place. Vvikoo made relevant choices : a very simple bundle to reduce price, intelligent design choices, and before all the quality of these cards is very good. There is definitely a place in the market for such products.

Useful links

• Vvikoo Home page.
• 8600GT Turbo product page.
• HD2600 Turbo product page.

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