In our review we were able to compare the overclocked GeForce 8600 GT from MSI with a vast range of new and old mid-range PCI Express video cards, as you could see on our previous pages.

Costing around USD 150, this video card competes in price with Radeon X1650 XT.

And… what a joy! This model from MSI was between 4% and 16% faster than the regular GeForce 8600 GT, depending on the game and on the video resolution you are running.

It was also, with a very few exceptions that we will list below, faster than Radeon X1650 XT. Excluding these exceptions, overclocked GeForce 8600 GT from MSI was between 9% and 61% faster than Radeon X1650 XT, depending on the game and video configuration we used.

The exceptions were in F.E.A.R. (with no image quality settings enabled Radeon 1650 XT was 24% faster but when we enabled them the reviewed card was 11% faster at 1024x768 and both achieved the same result at 1600x1200) and Far Cry (both achieved a similar performance at 1024x768 with no image quality settings enabled and at 1600x1200 with image quality settings enabled; Radeon X1650 XT was 5% faster at 1600x1200 with no image quality settings enabled while overclocked GeForce 8600 GT was 19% faster at 1024x768 with image quality settings enabled).

This video card from MSI also made Radeon X1650 Pro eat dust, being between 29% and 115% faster than Radeon X1650 Pro, depending on the game and video configuration.

We have no doubt that GeForce 8600 GT is the video card everybody is looking for, providing the best performance for its price range. Costing around USD 150, on average (at Newegg.com this video card is at only USD 137, making it a no-brainer), it is the perfect product for the average user that wants to play games occasionally at a decent performance but doesn’t have the money or doesn’t want to buy an expensive high-end video card.

The bottom line: want a mid-range video card today? MSI overclocked GeForce 8600 GT is the one you should buy.