NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT 256MB

NVIDIA's reference specifications for the GeForce 8500GT call for 16 stream processors, a 450MHz core clock, 900MHz shader clock, and a 400MHz memory clock. There are both 256MB and 512MB varieties for the GeForce 8500GT but the card we are exploring today only offers 128-bit DDR2 256MB memory. However, the card we are running today, a Gigabyte GV-NX85T256H, is slightly different. Rather than running the G86 core at 450MHz, it has been factory overclocked to 500MHz. This card is also completely fanless being cooled by a large copper heatsink. Some of the other features for the GV-NX85T256H and 8500GT in general include support for OpenGL 2.0, Scalable Link Interface (SLI), PureVideo HD, Dual-link DVI, and HDCP support.

Talking specifically about the Gigabyte GV-NX85T256H, running the length of the graphics card is an aluminum heatsink to passively cool the G86 core and GDDR2 memory. This heatsink is single-sided and does not use a heatpipe to assist in the cooling process. While not much for a Linux gamer, also included with the retail Gigabyte 8500GT graphics card is Down of War: Dark Crusade. However, with Cedega 6.0 this game may work under Linux.