Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > Graphics Cards > x2 8600GT XXX vs. x1 8800GT
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townshiplax07   04-28-2008 at 02:23:39 PM

I am building a gaming PC for around $800.00 - $850.00. So its going to be mediocre. I am am NOVICE PC builder. This will be my first PC i am building. I know quite a bit about PC, ive read alot about them, I am spend money on HIGH END Video card(s), motherboard and hard drive. So i am looking to spend around $150.00 - $200.00 on a video card. So what is better. I know that an 8800GT is amazing but like i want to play COD4 on medium to high settings averaging around 125 FPS.


1. What video card should i buy? x2 8600GT XXX or x1 8800GT

2. What would the FPS average at?


Thanks in advanced!

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hsetir   04-28-2008 at 02:34:16 PM
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Get the 8800gt. It would be 30-50% faster than the 8600gts sli system. Mention the resolution while saying fps. Upto 16x10 you would get enough fps for your like.

Reply to hsetir
townshiplax07   04-28-2008 at 02:35:57 PM
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I am trying to ssave money here. is there any 8800GT out there for cheap?

Reply to townshiplax07
hsetir   04-28-2008 at 02:40:24 PM
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Presently the cheapest is

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150252

$180 - $10 coupon PVT88ST - $30 Rebate [fillable form] = $140 + $8 shipping. It also comes with Company of Heroes game for free
It'll run a lil hotter than msi version but you can replace the cooler any time later if you like.

Reply to hsetir
townshiplax07   04-28-2008 at 02:47:27 PM
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im not sure if it would work with my PC i am building (Power, MOBO)

Reply to townshiplax07
wip99gt   04-28-2008 at 02:51:20 PM
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what is your psu? That vid card should work with any new motherboard. I wouldn't worry about 125 fps because your monitor can probably only do up to 85 anyways.

Reply to wip99gt
NarwhaleAu   04-28-2008 at 02:55:33 PM
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Well... we can't answer that question for you unless you tell us what you are building!

Why even bother to ask us if you should get the 8600 or the 8800, if you are worried the 8800 won't work on your system???

It sounds like you need to do a little bit more homework.

PS The 8600 has 32 stream processors (so SLI = 2 x 32 = 64), whereas the 8800GT has 112, almost double.

Reply to NarwhaleAu
Crazy-PC   04-28-2008 at 02:56:25 PM
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Get 8800GT, 8600GT is cheap and is bad for gaming on new games.

Reply to Crazy-PC
boonality   04-28-2008 at 02:58:47 PM
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You need to get a better quality power supply, the corsair 550 is marginally more expensive and has a much better build quality.

You need an AM2+ motherboard

And 8600GT XXX in SLI is going to use MORE power than an 8800GT and perform WORSE

------------------------------ Exchange Engineer - Why is it that when DNS goes down everyone thinks it's my exchange server?

Oh ya, email is the heart of work.
 Reply to boonality
NarwhaleAu   04-28-2008 at 02:59:35 PM
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Have a browse on these forums and look at builds that are around your price point.

If you are going an intel system, the most common will be something like this:
GA-P35 motherboard (if you want SLI you need to spend maybe $100 more, which could buy you the 8800GT instead)
E2160 CPU if you are going to overclock / E4xxx or E6xxx if you aren't
2GB of RAM, or 4GB if you have a little more to spend
500W - 650W PSU (Corsair, OCZ and PC Power and Cooling are the most popular)

This is the graphics card you should probably be considering: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814134037

Reply to NarwhaleAu
deuce271   04-28-2008 at 03:10:07 PM
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^^^^

Not the most well known graphics card vendor.

------------------------------ Antec Nine Hundred, Gigabyte P35-DS3R, Intel Q6600 @ 3.2 Ghz, Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme, eVGA 8800GT 512MB, G-Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-800 4-4-4-10, Seasonic S12 ATX 650W, Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA, 26" LCD Monitor (1900x1200), Windows XP Pr
 Reply to deuce271
Maziar   04-28-2008 at 03:15:13 PM
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http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/foru [...] sfire-faqs
Should i get 2 midrange cards instead of one high-end card ?
No, again i will answer this with example. 2 8600GT or single 8800gts ? this is one of the most common questions in forums. single 8800GTS (320 or 640) will beat 2 8600GT in games , because a single 8800GTS has more stream processors , more memory clock , more bandwidth. so again 1 single high-end card will beat 2 midrange cards.

Single 8800GT Definitely

------------------------------ Q6600@3.4+ TT V1 Cooler,SAPPHIRE HD 4870X2,ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA,4GB OCZ DDR2 800,LG W2452V 1920x1200
 Reply to Maziar
NarwhaleAu   04-28-2008 at 03:17:31 PM
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True, if you want a more well known vendor:

8800GT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130318

is a good deal.

Reply to NarwhaleAu
Crazy-PC   04-29-2008 at 01:41:20 AM
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For detail explanation, 2 way SLI it just with actual performance around 1.5 times of single card and 1.5 times 8600GT is around 40% poorer 3D performance than a single 8800GT; however the power consumption of 2 way SLI 8600GT higher than a 8800GT. So go with 8800GT.

Reply to Crazy-PC
pauldh   04-29-2008 at 02:41:20 AM
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SLi can scale way over 50% in COD4, but even so a pair of 8600GT cards is no where near a single 8800GT. Look at 8600GTS vs 8800GT: http://firingsquad.com/hardware/am [...] page12.asp

Impressive 9600GT SLI results:
http://firingsquad.com/hardware/ge [...] /page8.asp

Reply to pauldh
pcnazz   05-13-2008 at 08:05:26 AM
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I just bought an EVGA 8800GT $189.99 less $30.00 rebate and a free copy of C.O.H. I'm upgrading from a XFX 8600GT XXX that card is about $69.00 after rebate and a free game also BUT your $ should be spent on your MB , CPU , PSU and VIDIO CARD at the prices that the 8800GT's are right now you would have to be real DUMB not to buy an 8800 GT , please excuse my method here but I am just making a point and our other friends out here will tell you the same thing and get some good 6400/800 MHz memory also 2 to 4 gigs is inexpensive right now , 2 gigs for 32 bit or 4 gigs for 64 bit OS

Reply to pcnazz
lameness   05-13-2008 at 04:31:52 PM
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Why on earth would u demand 125 fps ??!!! Haven't u ever heard about the refresh rates on monitors

Reply to lameness
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