320 MB OC 8800 GTS vs 512MB OC 9600 GT

Hi,
I am building a new computer, and I wonder which of these cards are better:

MSI N9600GT 512M OC GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported

MSI 8800GTS 320M OC 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported

Thanks.

^+1

Always go with the smaller die size if the products are relatively similar in performance.

Of all the medium/higher-end GeForce 8/9 cards, one must remember that the old 8800GTS was, by a huge margin, the weakest; if memory serves, it was actually weaker than, say, the Radeon HD 2900XT and HD 3870, which really says something about it.

The 9600GT is a serious leap over it, and additionally, uses a smaller die (rather than the original huge G80) meaning it'll also be running cooler.

Of course, as also mentioned by Avenger_K, if you can afford it, you'd get much more for your own money if you went just a step higher, with the likes of a GeForce 8800GT or Radeon HD 4830; both represent close to the highest-end performance you can get with a single-GPU card currently, yet run well under $150US each. (and note: the 9800GT and 8800GT, performance-wise, are identical cards, with identical hardware setups and clock speeds)