7950 GT vs 8600GTS

[pt_v1p3r 0]

Guys i'm very close to upgrade my rig but i'm not very sure witch graphic card i should get within my budget.

Between these two cards what do you guys think i should get ?

XFX Geforce 7950 GT PCI-E 512MB DDR3 DUAL DVI or XFX Geforce 8600GTS PCI-E 256MB DDR3 DUAL DVI

[shinRaiden 0]

512MB will make a substantial impact on your visual detail.

The 8600 may have better performance at medium details.

The 8600 will be a better long term option for Vista compatibility.

[maruk 80]

Between these two cards what do you guys think i should get ?

XFX Geforce 7950 GT PCI-E 512MB DDR3 DUAL DVI or XFX Geforce 8600GTS PCI-E 256MB DDR3 DUAL DVI

For ArmA I would choose 7950GT 512MB.

Why?

- more VRAM (so you can play texture detail Very high)

- more efficient VRAM usage due to drivers (Nvidia 8xxx series has got serious fragmentation of VRAM with smallest chunk of memory allocated equal to 64kb and not 256b which was the case for Nvidia 7xxx cards)

- higher raw performance

The only disadvantage is lack of DX10 support but it's uncertain if 8600GTS is powerful enough to truly make an eye candy there (not talking about lack of games that supports it).

[-Puma- 2]

as the expert said: 7950gt all the way

[maddogx 13]

as the expert said: 7950gt all the way    

Roger that. I have a 7950GT and I'm gonna be keeping it for a long time. Like the girl in the Wii vs. PS3 ad said:

"I'm cheap! And I'm fun!"

[LoFFeN 0]

Geforce 8600GTS:

- DirectX 10 Compatible.

- 256MB GDDR3 VRAM.

- Has the same performance as a Geforce 7900GS/GT.

Geforce 7950GT:

- DirectX 9 Compatible.

- 512MB GDDR3 VRAM.

- Faster than the 8600GTS. But isn't DX10 compatible.

-----------------------------

My tip: If you are gonna get a DX10 card, atleast get a 8800GTS 320MB.

[-DirTyDeeDs--Ziggy- 0]

I am so glad I bought an EVGA 7950GT. Purely for Arma

Thank you Maruk, your post removes any doubt!

[maddogx 13]

My tip: If you are gonna get a DX10 card, atleast get a 8800GTS 320MB.

IMO, before you get the "small" 320MB version, spend the extra 50€ or whatever the price difference is, and you've got 640MB on the card.

[LoFFeN 0]

Off course, m8. That's why I undermarked "atleast" to appeal to the 640MB Version.

Anyway if you use a 1280x1024 Resolution or lower the 320MB is pretty much perfect, but the 640MB will last longer in terms of Next-Gen games and longer in general also.

[echo1 0]

My tip: If you are gonna get a DX10 card, atleast get a 8800GTS 320MB.

IMO, before you get the "small" 320MB version, spend the extra 50€ or whatever the price difference is, and you've got 640MB on the card.

Its more like €150, and the performance difference is marginal. The amount of RAM your graphics card is rarely imporant compared to the GPU/VRAM speed.

8600GTS vs. 7950GT? 7950GT all the way

[smellyjelly 0]

Which is better for Armed Assault?

7950 GT 512MB , Radeon X1950XT 512MB or GeForce 8800GTS 320MB. Sorry, I can't afford the 640mb card.

Out of the first two, the Radeon looks better, but I'm not very experienced in comparing cards.

Are the 8xxx series problems with Armed Assault going to be fixed soon? What are the problems anyways?

[alext223 0]

Bummer.... I just got a 8600GTS, got 512mb ram though. It works, I can see a difference. Also left me with enough money to do other things. Like drinking

[dob 0]

i m very enjoy whith 7900 GO GTX 512mo

i play 1400/900 whith all normal and very fast

config :

DELL XPS M1710

[Mogadon 0]

The 8800GTS and 8600GT are two very different cards.

If it's a case of 7950GT vs 8600GT then the 7950GT wins.

If it's a case of 7950GT vs 8800GTS 320MB/640MB then the 8800GTS wins, it's a no brainer.

[wika_woo 182]

I have a 7600 GT, with a M2N sLi Deluxe mobo. I'm thinking of buying another 7600GT so i can SLi them, is it worth buying another for "twin turbo performance" as i call it. Or just Upgrading to 7950/8600 GT.

Thanks.

[Deadfast 43]

AFAIK ArmA had some issues with SLI (worse performance with SLI enabled, than disabled).

Could be fixed, tho, dunno .

[Wolfrug 0]

I'm confused.

ASUS Geforce 7950 GT 512 Mb PCI-E 265 €

Palit GeForce 8600 GT 256 MbPCI-E 109 €

Club 3D GeForce 8600 GT 512 Mb PCI-E 124 €

Tell me again how it's worth it to pay over twice the price for a previous generation graphics card?

Comparatively speaking for those of you who have endless budgets and can afford the 8800 series, this is the cheapest of that lot:

PNY GeForce 8800 GTS 320 Mb, PCI-E 274 €

Ergo, if you're getting a new card and can afford the 250€+ pricetag, why not just get the 8800 right away? The heavy, 640 Mb cards are up in the higher price ranges already:

Zotac GeForce 8800 GTS 640 Mt, PCI-E 335 €

Note, this is just for Finland, naturally. All numbers taken from MBnet Hintaseuranta, which is in Finnish and thus maybe not terribly legible for most of you. But, the point remains, and I'm also very curious about this, since I'm also planning on getting myself a new GPU soonish.

Kind regards,

Wolfrug

[somebloke 0]

I have the Palit Geforce 8600 GT.

I would personally have gone for the 7950, and would recommend it over all the other cards if you do not own vista.

I don't own vista, but i just needed a cheap quick pci-e card.

[Deadfast 43]

ASUS Geforce 7950 GT 512 Mb PCI-E 265 €

This one's quite high.

You can get Asus EN7950GT PCI-E for 180€ here in Czech Rep.

[sailindawg 0]

@ Wolfrug

What you are confusing is Dx10 ability and the level of the vid card. If a 7950 GT were Dx10 compliant, it would beat any 8600. The 8600 is a very low level card, therefore the price. Comparing pixel pipelines, bandwidth and overall graphics ability, the 7950 GT (w/ 512 MB RAM) is superior to an 8600 for gaming. Further, the 8600 seems more geared toward home theater pc's than a gaming pc. The 8600 gpu has some extra "newer" features not found on the upper level 8800 cards. These newer features are geared toward HTPC.

If all you care about is ARMA performance and ARMA is predominately what you spend your time playing, look at either a highend 7950 card or the ATI 1950XTX. Maruk, BIS Lead Dev, confirmed this earlier in the thread. Another good bang for the buck is a 7950 GX2. I'm running one and the beta 160.03 drivers make the most of it's abilities in ARMA. A 7950 GX2 can be had on eBay these for ~US$240-$280. For what the card is, that a pretty good buy.

If I were to buy a new vid card today, it would be a highend 8800 card with as much RAM as posible.

Why?

>512 MB RAM helps with running higher resolutions, >16x12. If you have a widescreen monitor, running 1680x1050, get that 640 or 768 RAM card and crank up the quality settings.

For a more modest budget, forget about VISTA, Dx10 and all that over rated malarkey. Get a new or used 7950 card with 512 MB RAM or the ATI 1950XTX. The 1950XTX can be had with a 1GB RAM for <US$400.

I hope this helps you decide.

[Wolfrug 0]

Quote[/b] ]

For a more modest budget, forget about VISTA, Dx10 and all that over rated malarkey. Get a new or used 7950 card with 512 MB RAM or the ATI 1950XTX. The 1950XTX can be had with a 1GB RAM for <US$400.

Well, "overrated malarkey" is what XP was back in the day as well, but I have a feeling latest by the next time I completely upgrade my system I'll be obliged to go Vista anyway. Won't be too many years I'd garner before we've got Vista everywhere, and thus dx10 everywhere. I don't upgrade stuff very often, so it'd be real swell to get that dx10 capability (even if I won't be able to play Dx10 games looking all super-pretty).

Fwah. The problem here is simple: AFAIK, I'm either paying 265€ for a 7950 (cheapest price I'm liable to find from somewhere I care to buy the thing, I don't trust my money on eBay or someplace), or 124€ for a 8600. If I'd be ready to pay the 265, I could as well buy the 8800. So, from this perspective:

Is it worth it to purchase the 8600 (price : 126€) instead of the 7950 (price : 265€ = over 2x as expensive). The 7950 is better, I'll accept that, but the question is more like "is the 8600, considering its price, a good alternative?". Because if not, the only other graphics card on the market apparently worth its salt right now is the 8800 >_<

I'm upgrading from a 6600 GT 128 Mb here, incidentally, so any upgrade is going to give me a nice boost I'd wager

I do play mostly ArmA, but other stuff as well.

Regards,

Wolfrug

[sailindawg 0]

@ Wolf

Now I understand your situation better. The 8600 might be a slight upgrade over the 6600, but you are buying the Dx10 "6600".

If I were you, I'd save my pennies for a bit and go with the 8800 GTS, preferably with the 640 MB RAM for all the reasons discussed. You should get more performance for your money spent with the 8800 GTS than the 7950 GT and for not that much more. You will probably hang onto the 8800 GTS longer than any other option.

I really wish that the ATI 2900's were priced ~$150 lower than what they are. If that was the case, they would fly off the shelves.

I hope this helps!

[ijozic 9]

If I were you, I'd save my pennies for a bit and go with the 8800 GTS, preferably with the 640 MB RAM for all the reasons discussed.

Well said. But, if money's the problem, 320 MB 8800GTS is still a good choice, depending on the resolution it's going to be used on. Below 1600*1200, it performs up to par with the 640 MB version I think.

[Beagle 684]

I have a MSI 7900GS with 512MB RAM.

This card ist more than enought to play my favored games like FSX, Oblivion, Lock-On FC, ArmA on high to maximum setting.

Price is still 139€.

I would never go the Vista and Dx10 way as long as there is no title I want to play which demands it.

[-Puma- 2]

I would advice to wait a bit with dx10 cards, from 6 months of now

things will be very different(and prices too)