ZOTAC ZT-96TES4P-FDL GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Retail

Reviewed By: Snake on 11/27/2009

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: -performing stably for the most part
-one of the more power-efficient video cards that will play all recent games
-no huge cooling apparatus
-needs only one slot

Cons: -no copper heatsink

Other Thoughts: -60W difference in peak/idle power usage (dunno what the actual idle is, less than 100W certainly)
-peaks at 145F, idles at 113F (ambient 78F)
-there have been some occurrences of instability with hints of the video card as the culprit, but I can't say whether those are hardware or driver-based

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Non-standard holes, loud on startup!

Reviewed By: Ray on 11/27/2009

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 week to 1 month

Pros: Coupled with a good CPU, it can handle all of the newest games including Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead 2. and more at more than respectable settings. Does not use too much power and runs pretty cool as well.

Cons: This particular brand (Zotac) uses NON-STANDARD holes for heatsink installation. That means aftermarket coolers and water blocks that would normally fit a 9600GT WILL NOT fit this card. This might be acceptable if the stock cooler is good. Unfortunately, the stock cooler is extremely loud when starting up but does quiet down in a few minutes.

Other Thoughts: When you are looking for a value gaming card, the 9600GT is great. I highly recommend going with another brand though to take advantage of aftermarket cooling solutions should the need arise.

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tricky svideo

Reviewed By: on 11/18/2009

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: This card is a huge improvement from the 7600GS I had.

Cons: I bought this in order to get the tv out connector and wire it to older tvs to use with media center. I could not get it to work at first. The old card worked fine. I discovered after help from another manufacturer that I had to add add 75 ohm resistor to Cr and Lum wires to get the card to recognise that I was using the svideo connector. A typical svideo to compsite adapter will not work. If it were not for all the hassle, I would have given this product 4 stars. I am used to a fanless board so it lost one star for added noise.

Other Thoughts: Thanks to Newegg for their customer service. Many thanks to Biostar tech service for 75 ohm clue, far better than Zotac service. I expect the resistors will work with any card with a tv out connector even if it does not mention "composite" in the description.

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