THE GEFORCE 9600 is due to hit shelves in February and compliant press are already starting to get samples of the card.

EXP Review has managed to bag one ahead of schedule and is benchmarketing for all the world to see.

The card they've got is running at 650MHz core, 1625MHz shader and 1800MHz memory. The codename is G94 and it's running on 65nm.

In the first tests, it comes out roughly on a par with the 8800 GS in 3DMark 06, which is hardly the be all and end all of tests but is at least an early indication.

It's handily smacked around by the 8800 GT though, so it seems to be an 8600 replacement more than anything else.

Driver geeks can find the full breakdown here. µ