NVidia 8600 Model Media Performance
posted in Hardware, Technology |There is one confusing point in some of the write-ups on the 8600. One of the key features in the new cards is the improved media playback performance, but its not clear if the 8800 also has this capability. If not, its a pretty serious mistake for NVidia to have your top-of-the-line parts missing something key that the lower-end parts support. One key marketing strategy is that if you have a “best of everything” model, people will pay a big premium for it-Microsoft got this right with Vista Ultimate after screwing it up with XP. Sure, some people complain about how much Ultimate costs, but I doubt Microsoft ever intended to sell a high percentage of it. Still, they make a lot more money with that one to the same peope buying the $600 video cards or the people who would buy a Mac Pro with Apple’s signifigant mark-up. Still NVidia is going to have a problem one their hands if their $600 video-card can’t play HD movies as well as their $200 one can.
Another interesting alternative might be the 8500- apparently its about $100. Apparently its going to suck for high-end 3d games, but if it can do great media-playback (and it should be good enough for Vista Aero Glass) and can get by with passive cooling (which apparently the 8500 can) it could be a great choice. Often getting a quiet fan on your video card can be tough and they are the loudest parts in a modern computer often so this could be a very good thing.