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7600GT or 8600GT this 2008?

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - 7600GT or 8600GT this 2008?

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Hi everyone,

Greetings!

I'm about to buy a new video card and I'm confused about what to pick between these two gfx cards.

8600GT or 7600GT?

I've googled this issue and all of them are old already. Most of them (specifically 7600gt vs 8600gt threads) are posted on the middle of 2007.

The old threads said that 7600gt beats 8600gt in some games and stuff. Some people disagreed saying that 8600GT is better all the way because of dx10.

The reason why I ask what is better this 2008 is because we all know that there are Nvidia driver updates, vista sp1 beta update, all sorts of updates .. Did it make any difference with the 8600GT performance over the 7600GT?

*A lot of people said that the new nvidia driver update fixed the 8600gt problem. After applying the update, 8600gt beats 7600gt all the way ... Is this true?

Another reason why I ask is --- Since its 2008, is it better to buy the 8600gt because there are more games that are dx10 ready ..

Nowadays, what is more practical/wiser to buy??

Here in our country, the price of 7600gt is exactly the same as the 8600gt ... literally exact!

Anybody has insights about this?

Btw, I'm not a heavy gamer but I just want games to work (even in low/medium graphics) when I plug it in my computer

*Also, I can't buy the 8800gt or any other videocard because its too expensive. Its just 7600 or 8600

THank you so much

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The 8600GT is definitely better than the 7600GT.

The only reason to get a 7600GT would be if it's cheaper.
DirectX10 is not a big deal since the card is not really powerful enough to take advantage of DX10, but it's still slightly better than the 7600GT.

------------------------------ If its good in theory but not in practice,
its not good theory.
Reply to zenmaster

Thanks for your reply ... It's very helpful

8600GT it is!

Reply to keplenk

NOOOOO! i own a 8600Gt, it is at lower speed and lower memory speed. than that 7600GT

i'm building a system now, with an 7600GT and it's better than my 8600!

See charts, the diffrence between them is only 50fps overall games. SO, if you can buy a cheaper 7600Gt than buy it, the direct X 10 support of the 8600 is unplayable!

oja, and for a little more money, a ati 3850 should be better! i want that one. twice as good as that 8600

Message edited by vochtige on 01-14-2008 at 12:41:29 PM

------------------------------ pentium 4 630 3.0Ghz stock,2Gb ddr2 533mhz,asus p5ld2,2x 80gb maxtor
asus geforce 8600GT silent 256mb,samsung syncmaster 740BF,xilenc 600w

Reply to vochtige

See here:

They are at the same level. The advantage the 8600 GT has is DX 10.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/0 [...] page6.html

Message edited by evongugg on 01-14-2008 at 01:53:20 PM

------------------------------ Google is your friend and Bob's your uncle
Reply to evongugg

short answer is: neither one. I picked up a used 7800gtx on ebay for $80. that'll blow either one of those POS cards away. look secondhand and be happier in life.

------------------------------ They call me crazy for yelling, alone in my room, at the computer screen. They just don\\\\\\\'t understand the game.
Reply to jeremyrailton

pff you make me laugh, the gtx maybe does, but go see between an 7800gt and a regular 8600gt. there is almost no diffrence. it's sad a 8600gt oc or xxx version will blow your 7800 away! i'm defending my 8600! write it down people

Message edited by vochtige on 01-14-2008 at 04:44:20 PM

Reply to vochtige

my uncles giving me a free 8600GT. should i swap it out? i currently have the 7600gt in my system. will it perform worst? i only play cod4, starwars:empire at war, and aoe3 right now. i'd like to play some of the newer games if possible such as supreme commander. i don't mind lower resolution and med settings. can the 8600GT play such games? i'd like to play at 1280x1024 at med settings if possible for most games.

Reply to lphr0z3nl

The 8600GT is better for current games. Look at some benchies......

The 8600GT crushes the 7600GT in UT3:
http://www.anandtech.com:80/video/ [...] i=3128&p=4

Same with HL2 ep2:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] i=3122&p=3

Beats the 7900GS even in Crysis:
http://www.legionhardware.com/docu [...] id=698&p=2

It would also do better in Oblivion and Need for Speed Carbon/ProStreet. (both games the GF7's are bad at).

Reply to pauldh

Why not get a 2600xt? It's generally better than the 8600gt and about the same $. That is the one I'd get over either of the 7600gt or the 8600gt. I guess it will really depend on your system and the budget that you have for the GPU. What is your budget for the GPU?

------------------------------ PSU Tiers
GPU Power
8800gtx w/e6600 OC'd will run on Antec 380w w/27A on 12v rail, PSU!!
Reply to lunyone

His budget is 0 :>

He has a 7600GT.
His Uncle has a spare 8600GT he is being offered at no cost.

Go for the 8600GT.

------------------------------ If its good in theory but not in practice,
its not good theory.
Reply to zenmaster

^ The OP is about to buy a 7600GT or 8600GT. And I agree on the 2600XT. He isn't the one who already has both cards. For that guy though, I say yep put the 8600GT in.

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by pauldh on 02-25-2008 at 02:23:31 PM

Reply to pauldh

And the 7800GTX 512 will wipe out any 8600GT

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ I went drifting, thru the capitols of tin, where men cant walk and cant freely talk, and sons turn their fathers in
Reply to jaydeejohn

Quote :

short answer is: neither one. I picked up a used 7800gtx on ebay for $80. that'll blow either one of those POS cards away. look secondhand and be happier in life.

I wouldn't buy a 2-3 year old used 7800GTX for $80. Not the common 256MB anyway. Shoot, a brand new HD2600XT can beat it in some of the newer games, and has been under $60 AR on the egg. (Crysis, COD4, UT3, Oblivion). X1900's are a different story as they hold there ground in newer games.

here ya go, $75 AR for a GDDR4 HD2600XT with the Witcher game for free.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127305

Or forget the game aand buy a cheaper GDDR3 HD2600XT.

Message edited by pauldh on 02-25-2008 at 02:37:30 PM

Reply to pauldh

jaydeejohn wrote :

And the 7800GTX 512 will wipe out any 8600GT

Overall very true. But that's a rare card. And in some games the high clocked 8600GT could keep up with it. The GF7's are terrible in some games. In my link from up above...UT3 8600GTS > 7900GTX even. So I' dhave to think high clocked 8600GT >= 7800GTX 512 if they were in this review. It's one game, I just wanted to argue. http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] i=3128&p=4

Message edited by pauldh on 02-25-2008 at 02:41:23 PM

Reply to pauldh

pauldh wrote :

^ The OP is about to buy a 7600GT or 8600GT. And I agree on the 2600XT. He isn't the one who already has both cards. For that guy though, I say yep put the 8600GT in.

But the Op posted 1 1/2 Months ago.
I certainly hope he is still not deciding which way to go.

If so, he reminds me of a fiend of mine who knows everything, but can never make a decision.
One time in a restaurant, a watress asked him if he wanted ketchup or mustard on his burger.

After about two minutes of him pondering, she just said she would bring both.
I wish I was kidding.

(But at the time, he could tell you the population of every country in the world based upon the most recent almanac. He would read and memorize the friggin thing.)

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ If its good in theory but not in practice,
its not good theory.
Reply to zenmaster

Go with the 8600. I just got one and it performs really well in every game I have tried. Granted, I haven't tried Crysis, but I know that game will give it some trouble. But, everything else runs great with max (or really close to max) settings. I got the XFX 8600gt xxx and it is factory oc'd. I am able to OC it even more, though, to 700 core 850 mem. I just ran 3dMark06 and scored about 6100 points, which isn't too bad for a mid-level card with only 256 mb ram.

------------------------------ http://www.custompcmax.com
Reply to basketcase

LOL OK , have at it http://www23.tomshardware.com/grap [...] &chart=318 Touche eh? PS Im telling your wife you gigilo

Message quoted 2 times

------------------------------ I went drifting, thru the capitols of tin, where men cant walk and cant freely talk, and sons turn their fathers in
Reply to jaydeejohn

jaydeejohn wrote :

LOL OK , have at it http://www23.tomshardware.com/grap [...] &chart=318 Touche eh? PS Im telling your wife you gigilo

Good luck finding a 512 mb 7900gtx that isn't way overpriced. Maybe you can find a used and abused on on Ebay, but, I would be scared to buy one there. Most likely it has been overclocked to crazy levels at some point in it's life.

What resolution does the OP use with their monitor?

Message edited by basketcase on 02-25-2008 at 03:08:24 PM

------------------------------ http://www.custompcmax.com
Reply to basketcase

Wait a couple months and the new 9500GT's should be out and priced similarly to the 8600's and 7600's... but should have some pretty decent specs on them. That's if you've time to wait...
Or buy 2nd hand like another user has mentioned...

You can even pick up a 6800 Ultra 512MB for £40 new these days from ebuyer.com . I dont think there's many DX9 cards with 512MB for that kind of money...

Reply to dev1se

jaydeejohn wrote :

LOL OK , have at it http://www23.tomshardware.com/grap [...] &chart=318 Touche eh? PS Im telling your wife you gigilo

:lol:

Reply to pauldh

zenmaster wrote :

But the Op posted 1 1/2 Months ago.

:ouch: Oops, LOL, my bad. I hate it when that happens. :pt1cable:

Reply to pauldh

thanks for the quick response. i think he might actually give me 2.. so since i have a 650i i can sli them eh?

Reply to lphr0z3nl

8600GT's in SLI don't make a huge difference. SLI only works for 8800GT and higher when you are running 2560X1600.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to runswindows95

yeah you might see a slight difference thats not worth having two cards in sli.

Reply to aznstriker92

runswindows95 wrote :

8600GT's in SLI don't make a huge difference. SLI only works for 8800GT and higher when you are running 2560X1600.

hah! lies! SLi works it just doesn't work as well in lower res. if they're both free and your psu can handle it go for it
I run dual ICEQ3X1950PROs in Crossfire in 1280X1024(too poor for new monitor and second card was a gift) that will dust your 7900GTX. Plus the image quality in the 8600 will be much better than the 7600. Take it or both.

Reply to Blackra1n

I vote for the 9600GT.

Reply to enewmen

Yeah, that's great news. Give the two cards a go. You may not beat a single 8800GT with those cards, but SLI will work and give you a nice boost over one card. Not the best buying route to take. But, When it's free...go for it.

Reply to pauldh

Well looks like the OP hasn't looked back since 1/13/08, so I'm betting by his last comment that he went with the 8600gt. Well the other information brought out is helpful for others in the same situation, so hopefully this hasn't gone un-noticed.

------------------------------ PSU Tiers
GPU Power
8800gtx w/e6600 OC'd will run on Antec 380w w/27A on 12v rail, PSU!!
Reply to lunyone

got the 8600gt in sli now. its working great ^^. thanks for everyones help.

Message edited by lphr0z3nl on 02-26-2008 at 12:21:46 PM

Reply to lphr0z3nl

Glad to hear it. Did you have to buy both 8600's?

------------------------------ PSU Tiers
GPU Power
8800gtx w/e6600 OC'd will run on Antec 380w w/27A on 12v rail, PSU!!
Reply to lunyone

At that range buy the ATI 3850 512. The only card on the shelf with true dx10.1 support are ATI 3000s. The 8600 has been a joke from day one. The latter model 9 series from Nvidia may be true dx10.1 but nothing official yet. A 7600 is a dead card. Whats the point of buying a card that can hardly run the new titles at lowest settings and will not be able to run almost anything in less then a year.

Reply to jerseygamer

no, they were giving to me as gifts. it plays cod4 and supreme commander so i'm happy :]. i just hope it plays starcraft 2!!! i'd upgrade again just for that game!

Reply to lphr0z3nl

I have a 7600GT, I was going to replace it with an 8800GT, but the day I was going to place the order, the 7600 died. It was 11 months into the 12 month warranty, so now I have a new 7600GT, and a fanless 7300GS thing I used during the RMA.

Still no 8800GT.

Reply to jalek

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