Gigabyte 9600GT - TechRadar UK

It's time to look at Gigabyte's entry, a bog-standard 9600GT. And while it doesn't quite match some rival cards in terms of performance, it's still a contender.

The GPU clock is only 50MHz lower than the overclocked Palit 9600GT Sonic offering, but it's the memory speed that really takes a hit - dropping from 2GHz down to 1.8GHz.

Crysis and 3DMark06 both clocked impressive results, but couldn't match other rival card's raw performance, with 3DMark06 dropping significantly, and inevitably a low frame rate in Crysis. The price tag is roughly the same on both cards, and while there's only a few quid in it, it's still bad news for Gigabyte's card.

Competitive price

However, it does have a single-slot design, and comes with a phono and S-Video outbox, making it ideal for media centre setups. Although the performance is slightly poorer than most of the competition, it still stays ahead of AMD's similarly-priced budget hero, the HD3850, and thus is a better option for real gamers.

If the price dropped under £100, the Gigabyte 9600GT would be worth considering, and still may prove useful for media centre builders. At the current pricing the overclocked Palit 9600GT Sonic beats it hands down.