calling all video card experts

[member]

Hey everyone.

I'm getting an 8600GT from Newegg and there's a ton of different ones to choose from. The clock speeds range from 540mhz to 720mhz. Here's the dilemma: All of the 512MB cards have a clock speed under 600mhz, all the ones with a higher clock speed are 256MB. So what's your opinion? Is it better to go with lower clock speed and more memory or faster clock speed and less memory? I don't want to overclock it so I don't consider getting a 512MB card and overclocking it an option.

p.s. please don't recommend a more expensive card unless you want to send the money for it , it's not within the budget.

[Mr Evil]

Forget about having lots of video RAM. Even with textures set to highest you will still have plenty to spare from 256MB. More RAM would be useful for very high resolutions with high antialiasing, but that's not practical with an 8600, so it's a waste.

[Harmatia]

If you aren't willing to go for a more expensive card, some of the best 7-series cards might be cheaper and perform better than the 8600.

I'm not really too knowledgeable about the lower-end 8 series except that I've heard terrible things.

Wait for the 8800 GT 256 MB, perhaps?

Edit: ATI cards are really the best once you start getting really cheap.

[Rajinn]

unless you run at high resolutions with FSAA enabled, 256 is enough.

[]NIN[]

It would be better to get a chopped down 8800 than the best 8600 if that's within your budget.

[Tarantella]

What is your price limit for the 8600?

[bclagge]

My only advice (everything's already been said) is to ignore the core clock. Why? Because you can overclock it yourself should you choose to do so. If they can acheive that clock, you can do better I gaurantee you.

[MTL]

this is when i would say go for an ATI 2600XT because the clock speeds for those are 800-850 stock (varies by brand) and they are the same price as the 8600GT. There is only a few fps difference between the two mid range cards, with 2600XT being the faster of the two.

[!T0rtuga!]

The 8600, while DX10 capable, is not a heavy hitter. There was an earlier poster who mentioned that the higher end 7- series is significantly faster.

I am currently running a x1950pro 256 mb. I run the game at maximum graphics and have at least 30 fps the entire time. What's more, I usually play against 31 bots, even in the smaller levels. No slow down.

The card I have right this second can be picked up for around 140$ at newegg.com

DON'T limit your selction!

[recoiledsnake]

The Radeon 3850 at ~$170 will be the best choice in my opinion.

[oldkawman1]

EVGA e-GeForce 8600 GTS Superclocked 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express

Here is a good $135 card, EVGA 8600GT core clock of 720MHz and 256MB DDR3 at 2100MHz with shader clock of 1560MHz,

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...IN#detailspecs

I cannot believe it, newegg does not even have this card and zipzoomfly has a higher price.

[Luseferous]

The 8600, while DX10 capable, is not a heavy hitter. There was an earlier poster who mentioned that the higher end 7- series is significantly faster.

I am currently running a x1950pro 256 mb. I run the game at maximum graphics and have at least 30 fps the entire time. What's more, I usually play against 31 bots, even in the smaller levels. No slow down.

The card I have right this second can be picked up for around 140$ at newegg.com

DON'T limit your selction!

Agreed, If the price is similar the 1950pro is a better card for the money, unless you have Vista and are desperate to use Dx10.

[Chadwixx]

8800gs is coming out soon for like $149. Otherwise get a 8800gt 256. The 8600 is a good card but for a few dollars more you get 10x improvement.

[member]

Someone asked what my price limit is - well I said I didn't want a higher priced card and the highest priced 8600GT is $200.00, so I guess I would say no higher than that. The cheapest 8800 is $220.00. I don't wanna go over $200.00 even if it's only by $20.00, I'm a little over budget as it is. Maybe I will consider an ATI, the ones in the same price range got better specs. I was gonna stick with nVidia cause I might make a Linux partiton and I heard many times that nVidia cards are much more Linux friendly. But I'm starting to change my mind.

This card here looks interesting

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102717

[Tarantella]

Here again it depends on the resolutions you will play at but in the $200 price range I'd recommend looking at reviews of both 256 and 512 versions of the radeon 3850 certainly when comparing the 8600 cards.