Diablotek isn't the most popular component manufacturer name on the street. In fact, I'm sure you haven't heard of them before now, and it might be a while before you hear of them again. They showed up in 2003 in Taipei, putting together mid-ranged, no frills graphics cards. Since then, they have expanded into all sorts of different product lines, from case fans to external enclosures; they even make a 7.1 soundcard and laptop batteries.

Nowadays, while they have started to make some higher-end video cards as well (for example, a 9600GT 1GB), Diablotek still has some good mid-range offerings, like their 8600GT 1GB that we have for review today. The new trend these days seems to be to go overboard with our PC components and buy high-end everything, when all you are going to do is chat and check your email. The 8600GT is for those among us who realize that onboard video just isn't enough, but anything else wouldn't be necessary as often is the case in a HTPC. The extra 512MB of RAM over reference should give a cheap performance boost to iron out kinks, but again, nothing more than you need. Full specifications, from the Diablotek website, are:


This Diablotek card looks like it even has a chance at running some of today's toughest games well at high settings, if on a little bit smaller resolutions. For some reason, the specifications for this card vary over the net, but the ones provided in Diablotek's list are the most accurate. Continue on as we find out how well this card performs…