8600GT or 8600GTS for 1280x1024 gaming ?

[trep-]

Heyas,

First of all, i'd like to know if eVGA is a good brand for video cards ? The 2 last cards i had was an Alabtron (4200TP or something) and a MSI (6600GT). I was currently looking at Asus since i'm getting a M2N32-SLI (i tought it would be logical to go with Asus all the way mobo + video card). But eVGA is less expensive (10 canadian dollars) and i heard good things about them. Then i've read that the 8600GT wasn't a big upgrade from a 7600GT. People seemed to recommend the 8600GTS instead. Since my Samsung Syncmaster 936BF won't handle anything over 1280x1024 (and frankly, i don't give a sh** about higher resolution) i was wondering if the 8600GTS was worth the 70 extra canadian dollars.

Regards,

trep-

 

[jitpublisher]

The GTS would be better. For the money though and 1280x1024 gaming, I'd see if I could find a X1950pro, if you have a PSU that will supply at least 28a on the 12 volt rail.

 

[trep-]

Hmm,

Call me fanboy, but i always had nvidia based card and never had problems with them. So i think i'll stay with nvidia this time again

trep-

 

[Belinda]

Recently built a PC with a AMD x2 5600 and a 8600GT that is using a 1280x1024 display and it works great.
First thing i noticed about the 8 series graphics cards is that the video playback is better.
We also have a number of PCs here with different specs and i found the 8600 is be quieter than the older equivelent cards.
So all in all i found the 8600GT a pretty good buy for the money.

 

[marvelous211]

8600gts is very close in frame rates to the 1950pro. I used to have 1950pro and now 8600gts. They're about same. 8600gts does better in new games while 1950pro will be faster in older titles.

One thing about 8600gts is that it has much better picture quality compared to 1950pro and have more features like 8x and 16xAA. You can usually apply 8x 16x AA on older games and the frame rate doesn't jump too much unless you use 8xQ/16xQ AA.

 

[cristip60]

If you can afford a 8600gts witch is around 200$ then a 8800gts isn't that far.

 

[marvelous211]

If you can afford a 8600gts witch is around 200$ then a 8800gts isn't that far.

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[blade85]

Hmm,

Call me fanboy, but i always had nvidia based card and never had problems with them. So i think i'll stay with nvidia this time again

trep-

dont get us wrong, there is nothing wrong with nvidia cards, the only reason he suggested the X1950 pro was cause its cheaper and the performance is similar to the 8600GTS and better at some games. So depends on ur gaming needs, and which games u play.

 

[cleeve]

At the low resolution of 1280x1024, the X1950 PRO wouldn't have as much on the 8600 GTS. The X1950 PRO will really shine when the going get's tough, with higher AA & AF

Regardless: at 1280x1024, the 8600 GT will work, but don't bother with AA or AF.

At 1280x1024, the 8600 GTS will probably provide 4xAA and 8xAF comfortably.

 

[trep-]

That's kindda funny. I've seen AA and AF since the nvidia 4xxx series. Yet every cards i got since the 4xxx release were never able to handle AA and AF. I alway had major FPS drop on both my old 4200Ti and my current 6600GT. I kindda gave up on AA and AF, but if i could enable these features, that could be interesting.

I mainly play WoW and might play some RTS. I'm also a big fan of racing games, but i get these on the 360 instead. I don't play FPS anymore, or maybe a bit of CSS a couple times a year.

I'm currently looking forward into getting the Antec Sonata III to put the new rig in. I've read good reviews regarding the power supply that comes with it, tho, the 12V rail provide only 17A. I think this will be enough to handle either the 8600GT or GTS (if anyone can confirm).

Regards,

trep-

 

[cleeve]

17A is pretty low. The 8600 GT would work comfortably, but the GTS might be pushing it a little.

 

[spuddyt]

... and you can forget about the 1950 idea

 

[cleeve]

The X1950 PRO draws a similar load to the 8600 GTS, doesn't it?

 

[marvelous211]

17A is pretty low. The 8600 GT would work comfortably, but the GTS might be pushing it a little.

Antec power supplies have 2 12volt rails. Look again. It's 34A.

 

[marvelous211]

The X1950 PRO draws a similar load to the 8600 GTS, doesn't it?

Correct. 8600gts is slightly lower.

 

[marvelous211]

That's kindda funny. I've seen AA and AF since the nvidia 4xxx series. Yet every cards i got since the 4xxx release were never able to handle AA and AF. I alway had major FPS drop on both my old 4200Ti and my current 6600GT. I kindda gave up on AA and AF, but if i could enable these features, that could be interesting.

I mainly play WoW and might play some RTS. I'm also a big fan of racing games, but i get these on the 360 instead. I don't play FPS anymore, or maybe a bit of CSS a couple times a year.

I'm currently looking forward into getting the Antec Sonata III to put the new rig in. I've read good reviews regarding the power supply that comes with it, tho, the 12V rail provide only 17A. I think this will be enough to handle either the 8600GT or GTS (if anyone can confirm).

Regards,

trep-

6600 and ti4200 is pretty underpowered. Video cards today have caught up and can use AA depending on what game. Racing games you could use AA definitely but not 2007 released FPS with a card like 8600gts. You should definitely use AF on all your games because it takes much less of a performance hit than AA while clearing up textures nicely. 8600gts AF is the best I've seen and that includes 1950pro's and take much less performance hit because 8600gts superior texturing abilities.

Personally I play battlefield 2 a lot @ 1440x900 16xAF 8xAA while pertaining 70fps average.

 

[WR2]

I'm currently looking forward into getting the Antec Sonata III to put the new rig in. I've read good reviews regarding the power supply that comes with it, tho, the 12V rail provide only 17A. I think this will be enough to handle either the 8600GT or GTS (if anyone can confirm).

Both the 8600GT and 8600GTS call for 22amps from the +12 rails. From the eVga website info
Antec Sonata III has the Antec EarthWatts 500w PSU with TWO 17 amp rails so it will handle even 8800GTX.

 

[cleeve]

Antec power supplies have 2 12volt rails. Look again. It's 34A.

Ah, a dedicated 17A rail... I don't think the 8600 GTS or X1950 PRO would have a problem with that.

 

[trep-]

Great,

Sorry about misleading some of you, i learnt about the 12v AMP today hehe

Anyway, glad to hear it would work fine with that power supply !

trep-

 

[Heyyou27]

I use an 8600GT as my secondary card(3 monitors) and it's not a very good gaming card. It's unlikely you'd see much of a gain with the 8600GT aside from maybe Oblivion.

 

[trep-]

A gain compared to what card ?

Right now, i'm running a Athlon XP 2600+ with 1.5gb pc3200 and a 6600GT (AGP). I doubt i won't see any gain from this system to a much more recent system running with a 8600GT.

trep-

 

[marvelous211]

A gain compared to what card ?

Right now, i'm running a Athlon XP 2600+ with 1.5gb pc3200 and a 6600GT (AGP). I doubt i won't see any gain from this system to a much more recent system running with a 8600GT.

trep-

Probably his other card 8800gtx. :lol: But honestly everyone here is infatuated with 1950pro's... It's good card but it's a old card with less features than say 8600gts and they perform very similar. Now that 8600gts are falling into radeon 1950pro prices I usually don't recommend it anymore unless it's cheaper by good amount.

Are you upgrading your whole system? Looks like you need it soon.

 

[cleeve]

An 8600 GT will show sizable gains over a 6600 GT.

But if you really want to make a huge leap forward, yes, the X1950 PRO or 8600 GTS will do better.

At higher resolutions or with high levels of AA, the X1950 PRO does pull far ahead of the 8600 GTS from what I've seen.

 

[trep-]

Yea, upgrading to new stuff. Since my old board was AGP, i can't really upgrade it anymore.

Right now i was looking at something like this.

Antec Sonata III
Asus M2N32-SLI
AMD X2 5600+
Corsair 2x 1GB PC6400 (XMS2 or something i think)
2x Seagate Barracuda 320gigs (in RAID1)
eVGA 8600GT (or GTS) 256mo DDR3

I think this kind of setup leaves much places for upgrades in the next years and will be reliable !

trep-

 

[I]

7900GS are being cleared out, that is the best bang for the buck if you find one around $120 USD or lower after a rebate. It is faster than 8600GT or GTS which really aren't good cards at all, the features they depend on to look good are too slowly implemented to be used in the next generation of games, so they'll have to be disabled and then you're left with less raw GPU muscle and a slower 128bit memory bus than on the 7900 series. DX10 doesn't mean squat if it's not a 8800 series card (from nVidia), too many features would have to be disabled and at that point the 8600 shows it's time has already passed, there is really no good reason why it still costs over $85.