Vista Tutorial - Graphics Card Performance and Classification

ya don't get the 8600GT sir.

after looking in you system specs. you already have the 8400GT.. that is almost just as good as the 8600Gt. you will notice very very small increases in performance.. if at all. don't get that.

spend the extra 30 or so dollars.. that in the end are WELL worth it. and get the 8800GT from newegg.com. they have one for $110 now. and the 8800GT is easily about Double the performance of the 8600GT

the 8600GT are around $70 or so everywhere I look new. and then you have

8800GT.. double the performance of the 8600GT. and it's only $110.
Newegg.com - PNY VCG88512GXEB-FLB GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

PNY is not the best brand ever. but they are almost all the same card. with a different sticker. so might as well get that. otherwise get the eVGA, or the XFX

As you're English though, newegg.com don't ship to the UK, so you're best off going to scan.co.uk or ebuyer.com, and looking at the 8800GTs on there. Probably be able to pick up a decent card for a nice price. If the 8800GT is a bit expensive for you, then go with a 9600GT, still decent performance.

There's a 9600GT here for around £80 http://scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=845006

Or spend about £20 more and get the 8800GT http://scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=778183

GFX card list updated.......






SK

What about a Fatal1ty 9600 GSO?

FRYS.com*|*XFX

The last card I had was a 7900GT - how does a 9600 GSO compare?

Mobility Cards Updated

The gtx 295 is below gtx 280 and 285. 285 is the best but i believe 4870 x2 is the OVERALL best.

4870 x2
gtx 285
gtx 280
gtx 295

The 295 can out perform a 285 and 280, and in a lot of cases can also out perform a 4870x2 as well.

The specs differ quite a bit. The 295 has the lowest core clock at 576MHz that is equivalent to the 8400GS. The 280 at 604MHz, 285 at 648MHz, and the 4870 X2 at 750MHz. The winner is clear
I stick to my order.

280 GTX standard is 640Mhz not 604, but if you compare ATi cards to Nvidia cards, ATi should be blowing Nv out of the water, so why isnt this showing? seems the other way around?
doesnt matter what the paperwork says, fact of the matter is, its ATi's useless drivers that let the cards down, if AMD put as much effort into making better drivers as they do making powerful cards, god only knows what kind of monster would be released.
but if this comment slightly confuses you, think about it this way,
if you had a V8 engine in a muscle car and a 4 stroke in a rally car, and the rally car won, what do you think went wrong? answer is, the rally car is built for speed and cornering, whereas the muscle car is made for speed only.

Clock speeds aren't everything though, and you don't buy a 295 to run it without SLI enabled, so having it run in SLI is going to out perform a 280 and 285, and will infact out perform a 4870x2 regardless of clock speeds.