I want to buy the best available card without a power connector due to the fact that I do not wish to upgrade my psu. I know that both the 2600xt and 8600gt do not require extra power. The 8600 seems to fair better in most benchies but I have heard that the new drivers for the 2600 really help it. Is there a better card that is dx9 maybe? I don't really have a preference ATI or NVidia. Does anyone have a suggestion between the two? Or maybe something different perhaps? I would like to stick to a $150 max budget. Thanx for replies.

Hmm....I actually heard that the 2600 was doing better than the 8600....but I could be wrong. Does anyone know the truth?

The 2600 XT would be it, I imagine.

Can't think of anything that'd come close without a separate GPU connector.

There is no real "truth". The 8600 seems to be outperforming the 2600xt though in the latest benchmarks even with the newer drivers.

http://www.elitebastards.com/cms/i [...] mitstart=3

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2 [...] _8600_gt/1

Those are just a few places that did tests with the newer drivers. As you can see the 2600xt performs much better than the Tom's hardware charts suggest (with the old drivers). But, the two cards are about even now. Therefore, the choice is really yours depending on what is important to you and what software comes with the individual cards that you are looking at.

Cleeve, what about the 8600gt or 8600gts? These benchmarks seem to indicate that these cards outperform the 2600xt. I'm asking because I am actually considering these cards as well for an HTPC.

I know for a fact the 8600 GTS needs a power connector though.

I believe the 8600 GT needs one, too.

This fellow asked for the "best available card without a power connector"

With latest drivers the 2600xt inches out the 8600gt in benchmarks. In most games the 8600gt has a couple frames on the 2600xt, though there are always some that favor ati by a couple.

My advice is go with what is on sale or you've been fanboy to, since they are really close in performance.

I am fairly sure there aren't any better DX9 cards that dont take additional power.

I know the 8600gt does not need a connector and is rated for a 300W psu. Thanx for the advice all. It seems to be about what I came to. Those cards are now close to equal and outperform all similarly powered dx9 cards by some margin be it big or small.