Really novice question...

Yes. The ram on the video card does not need to match the standard that your mobo requires.

I agree with basketcase.

Yes, I too had a DDR (socket 939) motherboard that did fine with a PCI-e X16 card with DDR3. No harm in asking.

What made you settle on the 8600 GT?

Just to add to the above. Video Ram on your graphics card is controlled and used only by your GPU, The motherboard communicates with the GPU not the memory it controls. You can thrown any PCI-E card in there you want.

Good question, why the 8600GT?

Maybe he doesn't game and just wants pretty graphics.

Thats true, cause with that card, he will be limited on his gaming experience

I think it is totally dependent on what he does with his pc. If I didn't game I'd probably have an 8600Gt/GTS or 2600Xt or something of that nature.

True, Im just throwing it out there to the OP, in case hes hoping for a great gaming experience with that card, he may be a little disappointed

Not to be a party pooper, but I use an 8600GT for gaming. Not bad at all. I probably wouldn't be happy with the performance of, lets say Crysis, but that is just one game. I play every other game (RV6, COH, NWN2, Oblivion, ETQW, to name a few) at a decent resolution (1280x1024) with just about all eye candy maxed in game and 4x AA and 16x AF. My framerates never drop below 30 or so, and are usually higher. I do have the XXX version, which is clocked a bit higher (plus a nice little OC on top of that  

Not even Oblivion at 4xAA? With 16x AF?

I've seen the 8600GT on a 1280x1024 with COD4, it wasn't too bad (you can't expect too much for a card of that price) unless you want to spend a wee bit more on an X1950PRO, but it sounds like you have an 8600GT already.

To answer your question, the motherboard will be fine.

Agreed. No way you can run Oblivion with 4aa/16af @ 1280x1024 on the 8600GT unless you reduce the settings.

What avid gamer uses a screen at 1280x1024? ;-) and you said "wasn't to bad" I consider that "NOT ENOUGH". haha.

I'd say that would be sufficient if you seldom game and just want something that will be adequate. If you plan to game on a regular basis you will tire from looking at a 1280x1024 screen with eye candy on the low settings.

OK, I revisted Oblivion on my PC. It had been awhile since I have played it. But, my memory was serving me correct, for the most part.
I have it set up to do:
4xAA
8xAF (I was mistaken about the 16xAF, my bad)
HDR
25% Exterior Shadows
50% Interior Shadows
Tree Canopy Shadows
Distant Lands
Tree Clip 100%
Grass Clip 100%
Specular Distance 50%
Item/Character Distance is about 50%

Things I do have off:
Grass Shadows
Soft Shadows

All of this is at 1280x1024 resolution. I brought up the FPS monitor in game, and never once did I see it go below 20. Most of the time, it was somewhere between 25-30 FPS, which is completely playable for me.

Here are some screen shots





There are some more here: http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll244/basketcase421/

So, I guess I was mistaken in my statement that I had "everything" maxed out. But, I did have all of the important things that make the visuals good in that game (distant lands, large textures, HDR, grass, etc...), along with the 4xAA.

As to why there is such a variance from what THG shows in their tests, I am not sure. It could be the fact that my 8600GT is the XFX "XXX" version and runs at 620core/800mem stock speeds. I also OC on top of that to 700core/850mem. I think the one that THG used was 540core/700mem. Could that be enough to make that big of a difference, I don't know...

My friend...he's a CoD4 addict, but a bit cheap, and doesn't like spending another £500+ a year on upgrades. O how I wish I had his resolve.

To each their own really. My roomate occasionally plays cod4 on his 19" lcd at 1280X1024 on a 7900GS. And it runs "OK" and is playable. It's a really scalable game. I mean I personally would be tossing in a 9600GT in his machine and have it maxed out at that res.

Hell, my X800Pro handles COD4 like its nothing, in my back up rig.

(shhhh) I'm trying to sell a WoW gaming system to someone with a Radeon 9000 Pro OC to 325/300. But since I brought it up give me an opinion. Im selling a system thats got an XP +2100, 1GB 2700, 80GB HDD, and the 9000 pro OC'd. Its got Windows XP and runs surprisingly fast and I even demo'd wow(to make sure Im not selling a total pile of junk) and Everythings maxed with the exception of viewing distance and outside it runs a steady 30+ FPS @ 1024x768, outside it gets 20~30FPS @ 1280x1024, and inside it hits the 60FPS V sync limit(For kicks I ran it @ 1920x1200 on my 24" and inside caves it ran at a amazing 50FPS average. Outside it was a slideshow at around 11FPS but still for hardware thats roughly 6 years old its not a bad system for say $200?

Way to get a few bucks outta old junk. Haha. Athlon XP +2100? woow thats some old skool stuff. Not bad for internet and such but even for wow? WOW!

So is it worth $200?