Trying to decide between these 2 cards. Which one would be best for me. The system will be a core duo with 1Gb RAM, and running Windows XP.

I like gaming, but am not a hard core gamer.

I have found the 7900 GS for £68 and the 8600GT for £63. Both are 256Mb versions.

See http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2970&p=5 . In DX9, the 7900GS has a lot more potential, especially at higher resolutions. However, it cannot run DX10, so in a couple years, there will be games you can't run. (keep in mind that most future games will include both a DX10 and DX9 mode, so that's not a terrible problem. Also, the 8600GT certainly doesn't have the horsepower to maintain a good framerate in future games' dx10 mode). So I'd certainly take the 7900GS.

I would recommend the 8600gt if you plan to do things like watching/encoding high definition movies. Otherwise it is quite the toss up. One consideration is that the newer cards (8600gt and 2600xt) are getting better with newer drivers so they may still yet edge out the older cards (though they might also be as good as they will get).

Thanks for the quick reply and the link. It seems like the 8600GT is far below the performance of the 7900GS, so think I will be taking your advice and shelling out for the 7900GS

mmm .. I replied and then saw the reply about HD. I do want play HD movies, from PC through to Plasma ..... should the 7900GS still be OK for that.

Yes. What's your processor?

Processor is a Intel E2140 / 2x1.6GHz with 1Gb RAM

Then you're fine. In fact you'd probably be able to play HD movies, but it'd more taxing on the CPU due to lack of GPU acceleration.

a 7900GS where for £63?

Is it only the 8 series that have the Pure Video (think that is what it is called) for decoding HD?

But the spec of the processor, memory and video card should be Ok for gaming and running HD movie. One of the game I want to play is Oblivion

Yes the 8500 and 8600 are the first cards able to offload most of the decoding of advanced video codecs, VC1, H.264, etc., ensuring smooth playback.

Purevideo exists for the geForce 7, but it won't be nearly as efficient for HD video.

For Oblivion you might to check if you can't find an X1950Pro for about the same price as the 7900GS, it's a quite stronger card for that game, and priced similarly, at least in North America.

Dr_Asik, reading through that link that you left, it seems that both have their advantages. It seems on Battlefield 2, the 7900GS has it, but then on Oblivion the 8600GT is better ..... so, am still very undecided

If getting the 7900GS, check the specs regarding HD if that is important to you. The nVidia specs for the basic configuration does not include HD. For instance I have a BFG 7900GS card that I really like but it does not have HD. However I understand that some manufacturers added an extra chip to add that capability - and naturally they probably cost a little more.

This is the model of 7900GS I am looking at ... http://www.xfxforce.com/web/produc [...] nId=687681

It's well known that Oblivion doesn't like the Geforce 7 much.

Here's a couple more benchmarks to help you decide:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/486/7/
http://www23.tomshardware.com/grap [...] &chart=281

Not sure if your price included VAT, but for 70lbs you can get this....
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/126834

The 1950Pro usually beats the 7900GS easily.

Yeah, the £68 for the 7900GS included VAT and P&P, and that was from ebuyer as well.