Quick Look at XFX 8400 GS

OK... Got one XFX Geforce 8400 GS...

Brand : XFX
Model No : PV - T86S - WANG
Quick Details : 256MB DDR-II on board (512 Share), Read More
Price :- Rs. 2750/- + TAX (Kolkata)

DVI Cable : Rs. 900/- (Dont know whether i wan or lost here

)

*img142.imageshack.us/img142/5233/card02ve1.jpg

*img523.imageshack.us/img523/4554/card01sc9.jpg

Test Setup 1

AMD X2 3600+ (1MB L2) @ 2GHz / Biostar NF61V Micro AM2 / 200 GB SATA-II 8 MB Buffer / 2x1 GB DDR-II 667 at Dual Channel / VG1930wm (19" WideScreen Running at 1440x900) / Default Cabbi 400 Watts SMPS

*img142.imageshack.us/img142/9920/amd01qd3.jpg

*img142.imageshack.us/img142/3439/lcd01oc9.jpg

Test Setup 2

Intel C2D E6600 (3.6 GHz / 4 MB L2) / ASUS P5N-E SLi / 250 GB SATA-II 8 MB Buffer / 4x1 GB DDR-II @ 700 MHz / VG1930WM (19" WideScreen Running at 1440x900) / ColorSit 500 Watts

*img142.imageshack.us/img142/9213/c2d01xi2.jpg

*img142.imageshack.us/img142/4193/tr12001vc9.jpg

Test Card 2

XFX 6200 LE 128 MB

Test Card 3

Sharphire ATi x1600 Pro 256 MB

Testing softwares

err... Main problem here, I dont own a lot of games, how ever called a frnd to provide me few which I can test, so,

Games, NFS MW, Spidy 3....

Windows Vista x64 (uptodate)
Windows Vista x86 (uptodate)
Windows XP x64 SP2 (uptodate)
Windows XP x86 SP (uptodate)

Downloaded the latest Drivers from Nvidia Web Site... Motherboards have latest chipset drivers and upto date bios...

PCMark 2007 (thats the least download i can do right now) 86 MB

Windows XP runs quite same in those 3 Cards, nothing special on 8400 GS, in Windows Vista saw in both amd and intel system some how the 64bit version is running far better than x86... yet to find any cause of it...

Personally didnt see any big difference in Vista either with these 3 cards, all runs Areo with ease...

Windows Vista rating with AMD system is 3.0 Graphics and 4.0 Gaming Graphics....

Windows Vista witn Intel setup, here is the picture..

*img339.imageshack.us/img339/3994/c2dsoft01jx6.jpg

Quite honestly, these numbers are really not showing the real picture... played some game... I heard from my frnds that Spidy is most demanding game, so I wanted to test it and I had NFS MW...

Run NFS MW in both system with Highest of settings no problem... Run Spidy with its default installation settings, still hno problem, but the AMD system developed some problem in its Power cable which connects the SPMS with UPS... so will test tomorrow again with new one ...

6200 LE cant run NFS MW in full settings and forget Spidy... where as ATi x1600 runs Spidy in full settings too....

Played some HD content... 720p and 1080p too, in both case (AMD and Intel) run quite fine... and with all 3 cards, not much a difference... yes 8400 and x1600 pro gave better picture with DVI Interface compare to 6200 in its DVI interface...

PCMark 2007 with 8400 GS Total Score 5396 in Intel System... and here are the individual results...

*img521.imageshack.us/img521/9145/pcmarkef1.jpg

So my verdict for those who are really week end gamer like me, its a good value for money, certainly those willing to buy motherboard like XFX 650i Ultra, which would need a card to run, this is a must have over 6200 or 7100...

Tell some games which will push the card to its limit !!!

Nice Cool Review....
Amazing I must say.

Game to test ---
Just Cause!!!
FEAR...
Oblivion...

By the way isn't it very cheap...
Gotta suggest this to my friend.
Can you check the compatibility and performance with a 945 with 2 GB system RAM.

Awesome rewiew

. Thanks for sharing

nice review mate.......thanks for sharing with us

very thotfully written, sourav

hey how abt some 3dmark tests?

infra_red_dude said:
hey how abt some 3dmark tests?

Glup !!!

600 MB download

wait till free time comes :lol:

... will try to post tomorrow...

Nice review saurav. Try playing COH with patch 1.71 and put up some results, it should easily push the card to its limit. There's even a ingame benchmark option available.

OK.. as Ashwin Suggest FEAR, tried it...

Tried to run at 1152 resolution with every thing high but FPS drops a lot

same with 1024, where run ok at 800x600

...

Dont have that COH with me now, so will have to find it some where else...

but with FEAR its 800x600 resolution smoth

Hey choto, is there anything available from ATI or nVIdia for DirectX 10 & AGP cards?

H

Good review for guys who want to get support for latest os,old games(like nfs) and want to view some HD content.Very soon i will be posting the review of my brother's system which he bought a month ago but assembled just 2 days ago.
His config-
P5N32-E SLI mobo
C2D e6600 2.4 Ghz
XFX Geforce 8800 GTS 640Mb @513Mhz Core
Segate Barracuda 250 GB SATA(SATA 2 was not available)
Sony AW-G170S
Corsair HX620W power supply

We have already tested the system with 3DMark 05,3DMark 06,Lost Planet Extreme Conditions,Colin Mcrae Dirt,Splinter Cell Double Agent,Serious Sam 2,Adrian Demo.I will also be uploading the pics and videos.Will buy a video cam tomorrow.

@gx_saurav

sorry bro, dont know any, atleast there is none in my knowledge

Harvik780 said:
Good review for guys who want to get support for latest os,old games(like nfs) and want to view some HD content.

Huh ??

No Offence no every one has some heavy money back up to buy high end card, so name a game which this card cant run !!!!

gx_saurav said:
Hey choto, is there anything available from ATI or nVIdia for DirectX 10 & AGP cards?

Yep Hd 2600 /2400 XT

or lower series .. in suffix

Btw buying 8500 GT make more sense than this when the dif.. is hardly 1k

@Shashwat Pant

U missed the point, what GX asked was is there any AGP version of Card from any of ATi of Nvidia which supports DX 10 ????

Can u compare these low end cards with IGPs as X3000.....found X3000 better than 690G but cannot make up my mnd as low end Vs IGP

Certainly better than X3000... simple test, failed to run NFS MW with highest settings with 965 WH where as this card run at Highest Settings !!!

also a lot difference in Vista performance ratings and PC-Mark score

thx for the quick reply.....is that with the beta drivers iof X3000 or not ?.....cos beta drivers were much better........so even a very low end card is much better than IGP.....

i noticed quite playable frame rates in lower settings and resolutions in IGPs.......and found almost the same frame rates in same settings in another benchy........so the diffenece comes only when palying high settings and/or resolution.......is this true ?

Hey Choto , really nice review..btw , u bought the 8400 GS ? :shock:

^^^

Thnx for the comment

BlackBerry7100g said:
btw , u bought the 8400 GS ?

didnt get the question ??

so which do u think one should go for x1600 pro or the 8400gs (excluding the fact that 8 series suppots dx10)

Certainly I would vote for x1600 Pro.... great Card

.... come on these 2 are no where to compare... compare x1600 pro with 7600 GT

Choto, Sapphire Radeon 2400HD is available in AGP. Is this card available in India?

^^^

Thnx for the information... !!!! Will look for in Local market, more the availibility what would be the price... thats the main concern

H

I didn't want to offend choto.My apologies.

nice review saurav

that card is great for its price , though one would have to look for a 9pin hdtv module for getting component output & finding a hdtv module is a real pain in india ,thats the only thing xfx misses out ....

congrats....

Only Rs2750!! That's cheap. Btw, I would liked to see some benchmark based on games.

@Harvik780

Never mind...

@vivekbabbudelhi

So what do u think ?? Should I keep that card or think of 8500 ?? I dont think there will be any huge difference, and when DX 10.1 with Nvidia 9xxx series breathing down ur neck, really its un-wise to invest in higher models like 8600 GT or like 8800

blackpearl said:
I would liked to see some benchmark based on games.

mention few !!!

Choto Cheeta said:
^^^

didnt get the question ??

i meant why didn't u purchase the 8600 GTS or 8800 GTX instead of the 8400 GS :shock:

!

atleast , u shud have settled for the 8500 GT !

I tried to explain that just in ur above post

me said:
So what do u think ?? Should I keep that card or think of 8500 ?? I dont think there will be any huge difference, and when DX 10.1 with Nvidia 9xxx series breathing down ur neck, really its un-wise to invest in higher models like 8600 GT or like 8800

wow.. that was a nice piece of review. Uve got da skill. And at 2.7k the card seems damn cheap.
Do ya know the price of 8400GT and 8500GS, GT etc??

8500 (256 MB onboard) was Rs. 4800/-

.... to me not a value for money card when 8600 GT is Rs. 6700/- + TAX

Choto Cheeta said:
So what do u think ?? Should I keep that card or think of 8500 ??

if u ask me then it depends upon ur usage for that .u are the one who defines ur requirements.....

Choto Cheeta said:
I dont think there will be any huge difference, and when DX 10.1 with Nvidia 9xxx series breathing down ur neck, really its un-wise to invest in higher models like 8600 GT or like 8800

true..

OK... Run on the AMD System,

Vista x64

here is the rating,

*img3.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/a0391eee22.jpg

and got better score with AMD in PC-Mark 2005

*img518.imageshack.us/img518/2814/02rh7.jpg

hmm... i need to run PC Mark again with Intel config

wounder why it scroed so low ??

as see in AMD vista rated the card pretty poor, where as PC-Mark gave far better score, and opposite in Intel one, Vista rated pretty high, PC-Mark gave poor rating :lol:

hmm.. are intel cpu's tweaked for better rating??? i wonder!

btw, u did the right thing saurav. ~5k for 8500 is jus not worth imho. either buy this one or 8600/8800. if 8500 was available for abt 1k more than 8400 then it'd made sense to buy it.

@infra_red_dude

Even if i had the budget of 8800 consider these, point i wrote...

Me said:
So what do u think ?? Should I keep that card or think of 8500 ?? I dont think there will be any huge difference, and when DX 10.1 with Nvidia 9xxx series breathing down ur neck, really its un-wise to invest in higher models like 8600 GT or like 8800

really sepnding ever 6700/- + TAX for a 8600 GT or 13.7k + TAX for 8800 320MB, which may become obsulate in a few months with relase of DX 10.1 with 9xxx series cards, seemed really fooslisng to me...

Just Rs. 2750/- + TAX will run fine till those 9xxx comes to market

well saurav, there is actually no end to it! u keep waiting and you can never buy.. or u buy whatever is the latest and not bother about future.. you can't haf both. 2.8k is sweet

tom when u buy the 9xxx series, DX 10.2/11 will be out. so there's no end to it!

esp the gfx market!

well if u see this thing started with DX 10.0

Quite right... !!!! no end of waiting, so this XFX 8400 GS will allow to run while u stay prepair for the 9xxx

but yeah, its allways personal Views... to me spending 13.7k rignt now again then spedning another 15k for a 9xxx card within 6 to 8 months would be hard

so I felt 840 way to go

:lol:

where as I bet there are more people here in the forum than me, who will belive its time to buy 8800 GTS 320MB then offcouse it will be time in next 6 to 8 months to buy another 15k 9xxxx card :lol:

yup, the 8 series was a failure.
see the 6600GT outperformed FX5950
7600GT out performed 6800
but 8600Gt cudn't outperform even 7900GS and has somewhat same perfomance or 7600GT(maybe lil better in DX10). But its not that much better as shud be.
So better wait for more efficient and [pwerful GF9 series.

If u are in that urgent then get the 8800GTS 320. Only the 8800 GPU can be called better than the previous generation GPU(GF7).

Saurav the way you are writing articles and posting reviews man...you seem to me like you are about to become a professional tech journalist...Fatbeing watch out somebody might be joining Digit soon....

^^^

now that would be some over compliment i would say !!!

:lol:

but thanks for the comment... by the booby, please post ur Vista Ratings with ur 8600

*img515.imageshack.us/img515/7858/untitledxy2.jpg
at 2007-08-16

^^^

What are you witing for ??? 1 GB DDR-II 667 MHz is Rs. 1900/-... add that

system rating will be 5.4 :lol:

as RAM will receive 5.8 then in dual channel

Woah !!!! cool...

Choto Cheeta said:
^^^

What are you witing for ??? 1 GB DDR-II 667 MHz is Rs. 1900/-... add that system rating will be 5.4 as RAM will receive 5.8 then in dual channel

Woah !!!! cool...

I need you to come to my house and give me a crash course on OCing :-(

^^^

Yeah, Me to thinking to come to your house, will give u a call for sure...

but for OCing, may be u missed this, *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=64388

^^^ thnx a lot for that man...

owesum hard work
really helpful for gfx lovers

Thanks

thnks for the comment guys

Some 3dmark scores would have been helpful. I want to see how the 8400GS fares compared to my 7300GS, both being bottom level cards.

^^^

580 MB download

will try at Night :lol:

@Choto Cheeta
Nice review.
InCase you wanted the ratings from 8600 here are mine with XFX 8600GT .Here is the screenshot below.
*i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee134/freshseasons1/Capture.jpg

I am getting 5.9 in Graphics which is presently the highest score windows Vista Experience Index can show, so dont really know how high that is perfectly.

5.6 in Gaming misses by .3 . So as 5.9 is the perfect score,i just have 5.6

Still....

Hope this helps you ! Keep up the good work

@Saurav if possible please check BioShock . This game has high system requirements, the demo was released today. Here is the thread

I hope we are not giving too much trouble for you

I simply cannot find the download link for Bioshock Demo for PC.
Can someone help me ?

@freshseasons

thnx for the update...

@charangk

Bro, that Bioshock too me ByShock :shock:

woah !!! yeah certainly would be a bench marking game for sure... Please provide the download link for the game...

Thank you...

^^

unfortunately me at office and cannot check/enter the demo site.. Will check back after some time

H

Well choto did u overclock ur Memory.My brother has two sticks of 2 GB D-Gold DDR II 667Mhz ram and they are set in Dual channel.But he only got a score of 5.4 in memory operations in vista.Is this because of no overclocking or is this because the ram modules are of low quality.Please confirm.His e6600 gave a score of 5.3,is this low too?His mobo is P5N32-E SLI.

RAM is OverClocked, but not much...

Voltage is 2.178
FSB 700 MHz

!!!

thats is...

where as Processors is highly OC...

E6600 @ 3.6GHz vcore 1.5v / FSB 1600 MHz !!!

If you can see my Windows Experience Index Above where i have given a screen shot ,it shows 5.9, the highest rating that windows gives right now.
Its NOT overclocked.It is just a regular Transcend 667Mhz running in Dual channel.
I really dont think overclocking helps dramatically in index.

Well see, refresh the score now and then every time u would get new Result for sure :lol:

as may be that time u run there were some Background Service were using the RAMs

H

Well i m sure that D-Gold rams are of low quality as my brother got them for only Rs 1850 for 1 Gb a piece.

freshseasons said:
If you can see my Windows Experience Index Above where i have given a screen shot ,it shows 5.9, the highest rating that windows gives right now.
Its NOT overclocked.It is just a regular Transcend 667Mhz running in Dual channel.
I really dont think overclocking helps dramatically in index.

How much did the ram cost?Please.

1 GB Transcend DDR-II Is Rs. 1900/- + TAX here at Kolkata I have them same and they without OC in the Tested AMD system gives 5.9 Rating :lol:

Thought Posting some number of ATi x1600 Pro too.....

Card, ATi x1600 Pro 256mb, Drivers were used are from Default Microsoft WDM drivers....

*img254.imageshack.us/img254/5064/untitledg1y5.jpg

PC - Mark 2005

*img402.imageshack.us/img402/1404/untitled1sq4.jpg

Vista Ratings !!!

*img254.imageshack.us/img254/5064/untitledgy5.jpg

hey any1 of u hav the Vista SP1 Buil 6001 pre release released by Microsoft?
does it post max scores of 5.9 for hardware in Windows Experience Index or has it increased the max val of 5.9?

@choto did u run Lost Planet DX10 on the 8400?did ya try to oc it?

H

assasin said:
hey any1 of u hav the Vista SP1 Buil 6001 pre release released by Microsoft?
does it post max scores of 5.9 for hardware in Windows Experience Index or has it increased the max val of 5.9?

@choto did u run Lost Planet DX10 on the 8400?did ya try to oc it?

I think the vista Sp1 has leaked onto the net and has many bugs as its pre-release beta,don't know if any improvements have come.If anyone here has the service pack then it would have been illegally downloaded.Also check out my post in the gamerz section for the patch 1.4 for lost planet extreme condition.

^^^ i'm not speaking of the sp1 which is separately available for dl on the net.even i hav tht and its a fake.i'm talkig of the 3.2GB iso issued by microsoft.heard that it has a few improvements.neways will get my copy by next friday.

Harvik780 said:
If anyone here has the service pack then it would have been illegally downloaded.

Nope... not true... as its resled to the a closed user group of Beta Testing comunity!!!

and for information its still 5.9 is the highest !!!

H

Choto Cheeta said:
Nope... not true... as its released to the a closed user group of Beta Testing community!!!

and for information its still 5.9 is the highest !!!

Yep i know that but its still not available for us normal users.

^^

Yes thats true.... its not Public Beta Yet...

^^^ yeah its not a public beta & afaik theres aint gonna be any public beta of sp1.

assasin said:
^^^ yeah its not a public beta & afaik theres aint gonna be any public beta of sp1.

What Makes you so sure that there wont be any public beta ??

^^^ thats wat i'm reading in most places on the net.

thanx for sharing !

C

hey i am contemplating buying this card. but i heard that the fan is noisy at full load?
is that true?

cyberpyrate said:
hey i am contemplating buying this card. but i heard that the fan is noisy at full load?
is that true?

Quite honestly with my Cabinet and rooms fan

i cant hear any thing :lol:

but not much I would say, and mind u 8400 GS has option for FAN Less one too

can u oc 8400GS

C

^^^yes.pretty nice overclocker
*www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/gpu_displays/xfx_8400_gs_256mb/1

@cheeta
i am from kol too.where didya buy it from?

I bought few... 2 came from Caltron, and later 3 came from Vedant !!!

i m thinking of buying this card(8400gs) and a Viewsonic widescreen LCD. any1 know d current price of 8400gs?

Also a few questions for choto cheeta>>
1. how do games look when run at 800*600 reso on ur Viewsonic widescreen monitor? coz 800X600 is not a widescreen reso.
2. did u run bioshock or any other gfx intensive games? can they be played at decent setting?
3. how do 4:3 reso videos look in widescreen? (coz i have some dragonballz dvdrips that r 4:3

)

^^How can you think of running DX 10 games on a GPU less than 8800

Well this is a card for the heck of it

No offense .. but for a k or 2 I would buy 8600

^^
ya i am aware of that, but i just wanted to know if they can be run even if at lower settings. coz i just need the gfx card for the monitor and some gaming.

Hey man thanks for the review..... a pal of mine got a sparkle 840GS today..... and i checked it out thoroughly. The package was a piece of **** but the card aint. Ran COD 4 at 1024x768 with everything high except AA n AF...... frame rates were good enuf...just over 30.
Crysis ran with everything low with fps of roughly 30( with occassional falls upto 20)......
Trust me if someone has to get a card in limited budget...this aint a bad card

If I am not much mistaken, as of today 256 DDR3 version of this card costs 2.2K ?

codename_romeo said:
Ran COD 4 at 1024x768 with everything high except AA n AF...... frame rates were good enuf...just over 30.
Crysis ran with everything low with fps of roughly 30( with occassional falls upto 20)......

Thats impressive *gigasmilies.googlepages.com/32a.gif , thanks for letting us know about it *gigasmilies.googlepages.com/40a.gif