hi im new here but i would like some help right now i have a bfg tech 7900gs OC i love it to death but i was thinking of geting a bfg tech 8600gts oc2 well the bfg tech 8600gts oc2 be better then my 7900gs OC thank you to who ever helps me

I believe that 8600GTS will be faster in some games esp. newer ones but I would not really consider that much of an upgrade. There are a few newer games it is quite a bit faster than the 7900GS.

I don't think "in my opinion" it is really worth it. I would go for a higher end card like the 8800GT or the new ATI 3800 series cards. Check out the links for comparisons.

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardwar [...] s_preview/
http://legionhardware.com/document.php?id=639
http://www.gpureview.com/GeForce-8 [...] d-512.html

You could always try overclocking your 7900GS even more, I had mine at about 590Mhz core and 890Mhz memory without any additional cooling. I then bought a Zalman VF-900 and could get 600 core and 900 memory, and finally volt-modded the core(quite simple actually, there are guides online) to get 690Mhz Core and 900Mhz memory(didn't volt mod this, so no increase). You might find you can squeeze a bit more mileage out of it that way so you can save up for a true upgrade like a 3850, 3870 or 8800GT.

I don't think that 7900gs -> 8600GTS is a good upgrade since there won't be a very large performance difference. It would be money poorly spent. Either shell out more for a higher end card or wait for a faster card in the same price range.

-mcg

I've got a 7600gt, would a 8600gt be a noticeable upgrade?

You should defiantly check out a 3850/70 or 8800gt

The 8600GTS is almost completely obselete due to the ATI 3850. It should be around twice the power of your 7900GS, as opposed to 6/5 times the power of the 8600GTS.