MSI 8600 GTS OC vs. Gigabyte 8600 GT

[chris312]

MSI 8600 GTS OC $119.99 - $40 rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127284

Gigabyte 8600 GT Passively Cooled $92.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125070

I'm having a lot of trouble choosing between these two cards. I'm getting a new motherboard/cpu/ram and this card will be just to tide me over until the summer when I'll hopefully be able to nab a brand new next-gen high end card. The most demanding game I play right now is probably Half Life 2: Episode 2 (actually I haven't quite gotten to it yet; i'm still on the original HL2 )

The MSI card comes with The Witcher, which I'm not interested in and will probably throw away or something.

The Gigabyte card comes with Supreme Commander, which I have been really interested in, even though it won't run extremely well on either of the two cards I'm linking.

So basically I have to choose between a $95 card that comes with a $30 game or an $80 card with a game that's worthless to me but will perform about 5-25% better in games according to my research. Which would you choose?

Another thing to factor in is that I plan to upgrade to Nehalem next spring, and I want to put this system in a SFF case like the Thermaltake Lanbox and give it to my church's youth room to run their media stuff. We use a laptop right now and I hate it so much that I'm just going to build them a real machine :lol: Obviously the passively cooled 8600gt is going to be a little better because it will be quieter, allow for cooler case temps, and the performance difference won't matter since both cards would be slight overkill.

I also hate mail-in rebates with a passion, and the MSI card may mean a difference of a couple weeks in when I can order it.

So, which card should I choose? Does anyone have either of these cards and have an opinion on them? Will I need the performance increase in HL2:E2 or should I save the hassle of the rebate and get a free game I was planning on buying anyway?

If it matters, I will be getting an E2160 to go along with this card (I'll overclock it, of course!)

Thanks for your time,
Chris

 

[dev1se]

Neither card. For that sort of money you can get MUCH better...

Double the performance and buy a 9600GT... you'll not pay much more!

 

[chris312]

Wow, thanks for the quick reply.

The cheapest 9600gt for sale at Newegg is $150 and it's made by ECS. After a history of getting cruddy ECS motherboards with processor bundles at Fry's I would prefer to never buy anything from them. :lol: I also can't exactly justify spending more than $100, $120 max on something that I won't use for more than a few months (and in a media box at church, a the 9600gt would be WAY overkill)

But I do understand that the price/performance would be way, way better at that price level.

 

[dev1se]

What price are the 8800GS cards?

Its just that the 8600 cards arent all that good considering their price... the GTS is wayyyy overpriced.

Try searching for ATi 3850 / GeForce 8800GS or possibly a HD2900GT. see how they're priced.

 

[chris312]

They are all just out of budget for me. I'd like to pay $100 max after rebates.

Are there any last-gen high-end cards that I should look for?

 

[dev1se]

Yeah the X1950 PRO card is a good performer...
The 7950GT 512mb card performs ok too.

Im not sure of prices in the states, but I'd go with the X1950 PRO, but at the same time the 8600GTS is close behind its tail performance wise.

I just feel the 8600GTS is such an overpriced / under performing card...

 

[chris312]

I missed out on the $90 deal for the x1950, and now the cheapest one is $125 after rebate.

The 7950GT is not even close to cheap. It seems that the last-gen cards have yet to drop in price.

What about the HD 3650?

 

[dev1se]

The HD3650 is bargain priced, it's not a great performer but not a bad performer either... Bang for buck the prize goes to the 9600GT seriously... it'll be more future proof than anything else out there in that price range... dont worry if it's ECS... it'll do the job!

 

[chris312]

I think as bad as the price/performance ratio is between those two cards, they are my best options for under $100. Maybe I'll just go with the cheaper GT because it comes with SupCom for free

 

[motaku]

I have yet to try out games on the GT but have play orange box on the GTS, which play everthing on high. The GT should play SupCom fine because I play it on a 6150.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Newegg had an EVGA factory overclocked 8800 gs for like 159.99, but I think it had either a 20 or 30 dollar rebate. I think it would come out pretty close to the 9600gt. Maybe a better deal for ya.


*EDIT* It's 150 with 30 dollar rebate.

 

[marvelous211]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sapphire-ATI-Radeon-X1950Pro-256MB-2DVI-HDTV-PCI-Expres_W0QQitemZ190208208853QQihZ009QQcategoryZ74957QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQ_trksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem

1950pro for $50

 

[chris312]

Wow, I may just jump on that, Marvelous. Thank you for the link!

(It's not secretly a ripoff is it? :lol

Roughly 2x the power of my current AGP x800GTO. That should be perfect.