The budget representative of the eighth series of the last generation of graphics cards is unlikely to appeal to fans of resource-intensive dynamic games. However, it is the NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT adapter that is destined to occupy the initial niche of discrete devices that can compete with integrated solutions in the market of computer components. In this article, the reader will get acquainted with an interesting and inexpensive (3,000 rubles) graphics accelerator, learn about its potential and technical characteristics. Owner reviews will help you see all the shortcomings and advantages that the manufacturer is silent about.
Chip features
The low-cost G86 graphics processor, created using 80 nm technology, has a fairly low power consumption - only 30 watts in maximum load mode. Therefore, users have many questions regarding the overclocking potential that the NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT is capable of. Technical characteristics that determine performance are quite acceptable for working with non-resource-intensive dynamic games and applications:
- the graphics core operates at a frequency of 450 MHz;
- effective shader frequency is 900 MHz;
- GDDR3 memory uses a 128-bit bus and supports a frequency of 800 MHz;
Confuses only the amount of RAM installed on the graphics accelerator - only 512 MB. Sometimes on the market you can find video cards equipped with 256 megabytes of RAM, which, in general, is puzzling for many users. For operation, the video adapter uses the PCIex16 bus, however, the first revision.
Main competitor
Any product present in the computer market is an improved analogue of competitors' products. Naturally, NVIDIA is fighting for superiority with the AMD brand. The NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT, whose specifications are more focused on the budget segment, has a very interesting opponent on the market - ATI Radeon X1650 Pro. Two video adapters are almost identical both in appearance and in technical characteristics, which is why there is a lot of controversy about plagiarism.
Both graphics accelerators are not demanding on power, their performance is at the same level, but many users managed to find one significant difference. It is associated with the integrated video capture controller (VIVO) from the AMD brand. It is rather strange that the manufacturer NVIDIA did not install a similar board, because in the budget class many designers, editors and creative people look for video cards for themselves.
Popular accelerator
In whatever class the video adapter is present, it will always find a buyer, but, in addition to performance, many users are interested in another feature of the device - noiseless operation. After all, everyone wants to work and relax in silence, and not listen to the howling fan of the cooling system at high speeds. It is this demanded quality that draws attention to the NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT graphics card, the technical characteristics of which do not allow the graphics core to overheat.
The manufacturer brought all the batteries to the interface panel as a separate unit, leaving a level area with a processor and memory. Naturally, many manufacturers of video adapters took advantage of this by installing a copper or aluminum radiator instead of an active cooling system.
Factory version
The budget representative has small physical dimensions (160x100x15 mm), allowing it to be placed in any system unit, including micro-ATX and Barabone. To install a video card, you need only one slot, which is quite convenient when collecting multimedia computers in which PCI expansion cards will be involved. Confuses only the poor interface panel in the NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT video adapter. The characteristics of many users are no longer satisfied, because the VGA, DVI and TV-out connectors are outdated, and HDMI could improve the situation.
There are no questions about the batteries on the printed circuit board : the manufacturer installed conventional electrolytic capacitors, which practically do not heat up. There is no reason to talk about the phases and distribution of the power either, since the graphics accelerator has a complete order with power supply. We can only note the strange location of the contact for connecting the cooling fan. It is located near the PCIex16 contacts and rests on the motherboard slot when installing the video card.
Hardware features
The NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT graphics accelerator is noteworthy in that, unlike integrated solutions, it supports all existing API libraries, which means it can work with any software developer environment. An additional bonus is full compatibility with DirectX 10, however, after the release of version 12 of this popular library, this feature has lost its relevance.
Shaders of model 4.0 and rendering in the dynamic range of 128 bits with a floating point also look somehow inexpressive in a budget device. Therefore, when buying this video adapter, the user needs to think about choosing a powerful processor for his computer, since you can not count on accelerator performance.
Oddities in the budget class
It is surprising that such an interesting product did not receive recognition from well-known manufacturers of video cards. Apparently, the lack of potential in games and resource-intensive applications simply chilled the interest of popular brands. In the global market, the NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT graphics card is represented by only one dozen manufacturers who offer the end-user a silent solution for building a home platform or office computer.
Technologists from Elitegroup, MSI, and Biostar Corporation decided not to waste time on the product, providing it with the cheapest cooling system and launching it on the market. Taiwanese manufacturers ASUS and Gigabyte showed more respect and made small improvements to the graphics accelerator. Firstly, a unique copper-based cooling system was created at the plant for a printed circuit board. And also made a small overclock of the graphics core, which increased the performance of the video adapter.
Graphics accelerator testing and overclocking
The NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT has a small heat dissipation package, which is why it provokes many owners to increase the performance of the graphics core by raising the frequency of the processor. As practice shows, budget representatives, unlike game-class video cards, have many problems that can interfere with overclocking. Installed memory modules have frequency restrictions, so it is impossible to raise the frequency above 800 MHz at the hardware level.
The graphic core is more flexible for overclocking - 600 MHz is quite a real frequency for it, only electrolytic capacitors in the power system are very hot. Accordingly, you need to think about their cooling. Many enthusiasts who have increased the frequency of the GPU recommend to ensure efficient heat removal from the system unit, since the efficiency of the video card fan leaves much to be desired.
User Feedback
The video adapter can be overclocked, and this is a virtue. Moreover, overclocking in the best case reaches 20% in the graphics core of the NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT. Owner reviews only note the need to provide decent cooling to all elements of the printed circuit board. On the other hand, any overclocking contributes to a noticeable improvement in the performance of the video adapter, but in this case the result is almost invisible. In the same legendary World of Tanks toy, the user will see an increase of only two frames per second (from 25 to 27 FPS in the minimum video quality settings).
If you omit the gaming features, then you can see a little more advantages. Support for DirectX 10 libraries and the API allows you to work in a developer environment without problems, and hardware acceleration is quite capable of coping with 3D graphics and complex modeling. The lack of requirements for a power supply is undoubtedly a plus for any buyer who can save on the purchase of a computer, because a powerful PSU is very expensive.
Finally
We can safely conclude that for gamers (not even resource-intensive), the NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT video adapter is not suitable. Experts recommend paying attention to the new generation of models marked GTX. Even taking into account the fact that the video card can work in SLI mode, it does not have privileges in game performance. After all, an important factor is the support of DirectX libraries.
But as a graphics accelerator for work and creativity, this inexpensive solution will be quite acceptable. Although the choice on the market is not so big, it is quite possible to find a decent device.