It’s nothing new that the GeForce 9600 GSO is simply at best (and at worst) only a "flexible" 8800 GS. The GPU/shader clock/memory frequencies of 550/1375/800 MHz are purely indicative and apparently it’s also the case for the width of the memory bus.
Normally, this should be 192 bits, which will enable offering cards equipped with 384 or 768 MB; however, ASUSTeK will produce an EN9600GSO MAGIC/HTPD equipped with 512 MB of DDR2. To accomplish this, the Taiwanese giant has chosen to reduce the bus to 128 bits. In addition, we go from 800 MHz to 500 MHz for memory frequency. Thus in the end, we will find ourselves with 41.6% of the officially "recommended" memory bandwidth or this figure divided by 2.5!
On the opposite extreme, the same manufacturer will also launch the EN9600GSO ULTIMATE/HTDP equipped with 384 MB of GDDR3. In this case, there will be frequencies of 680/1700/900 MHz and the same double slot dissipation system, called the "Glaciator". Thus, its creator can simultaneously make its more demanding clients happy by theoretically offering a card which is attractive and in addition equipped with more memory for an aggressive price.
It would be easy to put all of the blame on a single entity. Large manufacturers like to offer the widest possible range of products to set themselves apart. Almost all sometimes feature cards which we could be tempted to qualify as Ultra LE or equipped with supplementary quantities of memory as useless as they are excessive. They therefore play an active role.
However, we can also wonder about the commercial practices of Nvidia. Is this company under a disproportionate amount of pressure from its clients obliging it to make concessions? This would be hard to believe because they
claim loud and clear to have more than 85% of the DirectX 10 GPU market. As is often the case, and Nvidia is no exception to the rule, once a downgraded product is no longer in the spotlight, it is used as a dumping ground to sell off all and everything. So is this a rather inelegant way of getting rid of unsold 65nm G92s?
