Performance was similar, but the 8600GTS is overall the faster card.

World in Conflict - Image Quality

For a RTS, World in Conflict is a very graphically intense game. Once the explosions start, your hardware better be up to speed. The fire and smoke effects are very good and we were able to play the game with all effects turned on. Ideally, with the 2600XT, we suggest playing no higher than 1280.

Final Words

The MSI RX2600XT Diamond OC Edition already comes OC'd out of the box, 850/1150Mhz for the core and memory respectively. Neither RivaTuner or Powerstrip allowed us to make any OCs that had a visible impact on performance. ATI Overdrive allowed a 6Mhz OC on the core and 21MHz on the memory.

Needless to say, the overclock wasn't especially impressive but consider that ATI's reference speeds are 800/1050MHz core and memory. To be truthful, we were a bit surprised we did squeeze anything out of the memory considering the lack of cooling on the chips.

On the subject of cooling, the fan was not very loud at all and seemed nearly silent when we had our CPU fan at maximum speed. The Zalman CNPS9500 does have a silent mode, and when enabled, there was a quiet whir from the MSI RX2600XT Diamond OC Edition. Under full load, the GPU measured 43°C.

Image quality was solid in both 3D and 2D applications. I was unable to test the HDMI output, but for those of you looking for such an output, this is one of the few cards to offer this option.

On the performance front, the MSI RX2600XT fared well against the MSI 8600 GTS. We realize in retrospect that 1440 resolution may have been too much to have asked from it and the perfect fit for the RX2600XT would be owners of 19" LCDs as 1280 seems to be the sweet spot. With more DX10 games coming in over the fence, the MSI RX2600XT Diamond OC Edition would make a fairly good mid-ranged choice if you're looking to keep your video card upgrade budget under $200.

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