What is wrong with 8600 cards ?

jonski

I notice that no one really recommends the 8600 series cards , why is this ? are they any use to people on a budget ?

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=325389&view=detailed

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=338545&view=detailed

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=334592&view=detailed

The above are the cards that come in in my price range , any opinions ?

AlmightyCushion

The reason people don't recommend them that much is because they don't perform much better than the 7600 which is the card the 8600 replaces. The 7900 you have linked there should be a good bit better than an 8600. I'd go for it.

8T8

Everything AlmightyCushion said is spot on but given the price of the 7900GS they are slightly better alternatives either the x1950Pro (which Komplett don't stock at that price) or the 8600GTS which performs the same as the X1950Pro/7900GS but the 8600 will have better image quality and definitely fair better in newer games than the 7900GS will.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=334404

jonski

Right I went for the 512mb saphire x1950 pro ..but get this I bought it in........PC World .........for €149.99 . same price as online without the delivery charge and wait .

BopNiblets

What if you want to use DX10 features?
I was going to get the overclocked 8600GTS XXX from XFX, http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=334590

It got some great reviews, and considering the card I have now is an AGP X800Pro, I'd still be doing well for a quieter and less power consuming card than the cheapest 8800 GTS!
(once I have my other components bought too)

jonski

Well the DX10 didn't really come into my decision making as I don't have Vista and won't have it for the foreseeable future .