Which graphics card?

[Geon106]

I'm leapfrogging my computers, my gaming pc currently has a 7600GS[Silent Edition] and my Media Centre has a 6600GTOC. I wanna buy a new card for my gaming pc and put the 7600GS in my media centre, however i'm tied between which card to get


I want raw power for my gaming PC, so a high-midrange card or a highend card is needed.

I could save up a few months for a 8800Ultra but i don't really wanna wait lol.

So these are my choices:

NVIDIA 8600GT 256MB: http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-8600GT-6...5487980&sr=8-2

NVIDIA 7600GT:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-PV-T73G-...5498361&sr=1-3

NVIDIA 8600GT 512MB:
http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/347711...d/Product.html

8600GTS 2000Mhz Memory Clock:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inno3D-Gefor...5498411&sr=1-2

My budget is about £120. I wanna play games like Rail Simulator, Flight Sim X, Crysis etc... games that are quite high end[well, the 2nd two ] but am on a budget.

I'll be updating the rest of the machine soon:

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ will be replaced with: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_...0&Go.y=0&Go=Go

Foxconn Mobo will be replaced with:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-GA-...5498668&sr=1-1

And going from 2GB of DDR to 2GB of DDR2




Advice please thank you everyone

[felo]

Get the XFX 8600GT, it have HDPC and is the best of those to play games.
And sure the 8800U is superior, any gamer will say wait untill you can afordit!
An HTPC junky will say take the silent one (but only becouse is silent, it means No FAN=0 noise), but sure youll have overheating problems playing games (and no Overclock also).
And if you want to play Crysis in a good way get the 8800U, becouse in the 8600GT youll get graphics at mid res.
Cheers!

[Geon106]

Thanks Felo

I'm tempted to wait and get a 8800Ultra, but i'm not sure.

I also found this card:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-8600GTS-...5487980&sr=8-2

Slightly out of budget but i might be able to stretch to it if its worth getting

[felo]

Sure it worth! is a little faster than the GT and not that expensive, so if you dont want to wait, go for it!
Cheers!

[Geon106]

Thanks very much Felo i'll be buying that graphics card probs then ^_^

[coopers]

The 84/85/8600 are also "purevideo HD" cards, so they offload h.264 and vc-1 etc far better than the 8800 (and 7xxx series) which just are "purevideo" cards.

So if you have the right codec (cyberlink powerdvd7 ultra, or nvidia decoder, or... maybe some others) then you will get better HD with one of the purevideo HD cards.

So that is the determining factor for me.

[Geon106]

i've purchased that 8600GTS 730Mhz card... total price was £135, i'll be paying my dad back for that over the next week or so. I will also be purchasing a 500GB hard drive for my HTPC tomorrow... thats all i can afford for the next month or 2 for my upgrade.

[felo]

cool! Enjoy! Sure that card will be enough to have a nice gameplay!
My new WD sataII 160GB just arrive yesterday whit a new LG DVD Burner (My Old Pionner is Dying), If my Pionner wasn't dying, i could get a 320GB, but the 160GB its ok for now.
Thats sound like a truelly HTPC (500GB), i feel kind of low in space (240GB Total), Some guys have 1, 2, 3 Terabits, Wow!.
Cheers!