I am trying to decide between the following two cards for a new build. I am not a hard core gamer but would like something with decent performance and longevity.

BFG Tech BFGR79256GSOCE GeForce 7900GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express for about $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814143070

MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256EZ HD GeForce 8600GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express for about $135 - this also is fanless which is a plus in my book.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127287

Thanks.

THG recommended the 7900GS and X1950Pro over the 8600GTS for gaming.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/0 [...] page3.html

However you need to balance that with whatever uses you are considering. I have read that the 8600GTS does better with watching videos (clearer picture) and it does have DX 10 that the others do not.

Frys.com currently has the BFG 7900 GS on sale for only $99 AR.

http://shop3.outpost.com/product/4970851

The Frys deal is the one I am looking at but since there is one in the state I am in I have to pay tax - thus the extra $10 or so.

The fanless thing shouldn't be a big issue unless your other components are near-silent. I'd even go digging around on eBay to look for a used 7900GT... that'd really whip that 8600 GTS.

I consider the 7900GS faster, just as the above poser mentioned. As far as being future proof, none of them is. While the 8600 can run dx10 its can only do so on a technical level - it lacks the performance to do it at an acceptable speed. The 7900gs might be faster but can't run DX10 at all. Same goes for the 1950pro. I would suggest the 1950 pro since it's slightly more powerful than the 7900gs but not much more expensive. The DX10 only age is still a few years away and thus the DX9 cards will do fine for some time. If you can wait a little then you might get the next nvidia or ati card coming during the next months.

Who wrote this article? I really can't recommend a 7900gs anymore seriously it lacks in the shader dept. and it shows in recent games and even has a hard time beating out a 8600gt let alone 8600gts.

I would go for 8600gts or the 1950pro. Stay away from 7900gs. It's a crippled card for modern shader intensive games. With recent drivers 8600gts is not slower at all than 7900gs. Maybe uber high resolutions and AA... But these cards are not meant for super high resolutions. At least not anymore anyways.

http://firingsquad.com/hardware/nv [...] s_roundup/

What are you planning to do with this card? If you are not a gamer, are you planning to make it an HTPC or do video editing? IF so go with the 8600. Knowing what you are using it for will help people tell you what to do.

Even in medium settings with shader intensive games like bioshock the 8600gts beats a 7900gs and 7900gt. I don't know how it's not more future proof?

I do some lighter gaming - the occasional RTS or FPS. I am not a hardcore gamer. The PC is mostly for home use: Internet, some video and photo editing, etc.

Thanks.

Probaby the most intensive game I've played recently was Farcry with a 6600GT.

Both of these cards would handle farcry at the highest resolutions. Either would do. But if you also want to offload some CPU while watching HD videos and dx10 go with 8600gts.

if u do light gmaing ,then go for the cheapes card u find (between 8600GT, 7900GS ,X1950PRO)

Heheh, I did.

The 7900 GS has a spot there not just because of stock performance, but because it overclocks well. Personally I advise the X1950 PRO usually, but the last time I checked it wasn't much of an overclocker. I should see if the recent AtiTool beta has changed that.

In any case, I don't look upon the 7900 GS quite as harshly as you do, but I am keeping track of the 8600 GTS pricing. I do think the 8600 GTS drivers have come ahead a bit since it was released, and the prive has gone down too, so it's certainly alot more viable than it was when it was +$200. It is getting pretty low and next month's "best cards for the money" article in the $140-ish price range is something I'm going to have to brood over.

Although, from what I can see the 7900 GS' are getting scarce anyway, so it might not even be an option for much longer...

LOL Cleeve... Definitely when it first came out I couldn't recommend it either with their prices soaring near 1950xt prices. Now that the price has come down and drivers are a lot better I just can't recommend a 7900gs anymore to get 5 more fps in older games when new engines are showing up.

Even when overclocked though it doesn't help in recent engines like stalker, oblivion, bioshock because it's crippled with only 1/5 shader power of 8600gts.

Well, I wouldn't exactly call it 1/5 of the shader power. The 8600's universal shaders are very different animals when compared to the 7900's pixel shaders.

But yeah, you can definitely see the 8600 GTS looking better in the new titles.

8600gts=46400 Shader Operations/sec
7900gs=9000 Shader Operations/sec
1950pro=20700 Shader Operations/sec

Just heads up.