Foo - GeForce 8600GT

Any thoughts on video cards based on this? I am looking for a reasonably priced video card which allow allow me to play some better games. Also, my computer is the only way I can watch any movies, as I don't have a TV/DVD player. So, it would be nice to have an improved movie watching experience. Currently I use onboard video.

Well, any sort of video card will be better than onboard. If you have the cash, go up to an 8800 GTS. You can get them for under $150. Also, make sure that your motherboard has a PCI-e x16 slot. An 8600 GT will do most things pretty well, but if your looking to play Crysis, that aint going to happen with an 8600. I would go up to an 8800 if you have the extra cash.

Any card will be massively better. I haven't been following video cards lately but just a few months ago the 8600GT was considered a hell of a bargain.

You get what you pay for and whatever you buy will cost half as much next year and be replaced by something twice as fast.

Thus, if its in your budget today, i say go for it. You probably wont be disappointed.

Yea,the 8600 is definitely within my budget. I'm checking out the 8800GS cards on Newegg, I can afford these, but that's more money than I want to throw at my setup. I am not a hardcore gamer by any means, and I definitely do not demand cutting edge graphics. But, it's getting to the point where onboard just isn't cutting it anymore. I want to play games which are not the newest releases, but simply will not run with onboard. Also, onboard isn't handling solidworks well at all.

In particular, I am strongly considering this card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127286

It comes overclocked from the factory, which is certainly cool. It comes with a copy of The Witcher; I've been looking for an rpg, so I guess this one would suffice.

Oh, one concern is noise. I have gone to some decent lengths to make my computer quiet. Do these video cards come with tiny whining fans? If so, I may also need to factor in a quieter heatsink into my budget.

I have an MSI branded 8600 (I think its the GTS), slight factory overclock, runs everything I want to run on it.

edit: MSI has several versions of the 8600GT that are fanless

I guess I should throw in one more thing: I need 1680x1050 resolution. Well, reviews indicate that this card certainly wont be able to allow me to run graphics with the highest detail at this resolution, but that games will be playable. I'll think about this one for a few more hours.

How in the world are you running games with onboard videos at that res?

The 8600 will be an improvement by leaps and bounds.

I have a fanless 8600GT in my computer, driving a 1920x1200 display. No games, though, so I can't say how it handles that kind of thing.

8800 nforce in my cpu. ( Just Built) Love it....

I have the 8600GT OC from BFG. It plays like a dream.

I can't believe that you're using onboard video and playing games! That 8600GT isn't going to be able to run many games from the last couple years on full settings for that resolution (although a lot of games will require you to tweak your config files to get that res anyway). That MSI is a decent card. I've always been partial to the EVGA branded cards myself.

I just picked up an 8800GTX and am going to pick up another for SLI. Crysis is playable at 1920x1200 on very high and cinematic on high. I need more, dammit!

Just curious, what size monitor are you running?

lol, the games I play are all 2003 :p Oh, I did play age of empires 3 for a while, but this is not a demanding game by any means! That is about how hardcore of a gamer I am:D

My monitor is a 22" WS. I bought that MSI card. The selling point, as well as the fact it comes overclocked, is that it includes a copy of the THe Witcher. Having skimmed several reviews, it appears that the general consensus is that this card is the ideal choice for respectable performance at relatively low cost. THis is where I feel my needs are.

I can't believe that you're using onboard video and playing games! That 8600GT isn't going to be able to run many games from the last couple years on full settings for that resolution (although a lot of games will require you to tweak your config files to get that res anyway). That MSI is a decent card. I've always been partial to the EVGA branded cards myself.



I don't mind not having things on the full settings. I recently have acquired EAX compatible hardware, so that's cool enough for me :D

I can't believe that you're using onboard video and playing games! That 8600GT isn't going to be able to run many games from the last couple years on full settings for that resolution (although a lot of games will require you to tweak your config files to get that res anyway). That MSI is a decent card. I've always been partial to the EVGA branded cards myself.

I just picked up an 8800GTX and am going to pick up another for SLI. Crysis is playable at 1920x1200 on very high and cinematic on high. I need more, dammit!

Just curious, what size monitor are you running?

There are very few cards out there that can run the most recent games at any reasonable res @ full settings.

There are very few cards out there that can run the most recent games at any reasonable res @ full settings.

The newest games have ridiculous requirements, much like the newest operating systems.
I have no problems with my card and my [omg single core] system. I just play BF2142, WoW [occasionally] and TF2.

The newest games have ridiculous requirements, much like the newest operating systems.
I have no problems with my card and my [omg single core] system. I just play BF2142, WoW [occasionally] and TF2.

There are very few, if any (?), dual threaded video games. That is not where the dual or quad cores shine. I promise you, aside from every-day-multitasking, my dual core CPU is of great use when editing photographs or encoding media files as i often do. That said, because a dual core systems cost as much, if not less, you have no reason not to get them. But the fact that your single core system can run video games has a lot less to do with your CPU and more to do with your video card...

I have the mobile version of the 8600 gt. I play Tf2 with all setting on high and it handles compiz effects with ease.

If you want some high end gaming snort, you'll have to spend more cash I suspect.

If you can, go up to at least either a 9600GT (~$170) or an 8800GT (~$220). Either will be significantly better than an 8600GT.

The 8800GT has one of the best performance/dollar ratios around with performance almost dead even as the 8800GTX.

I have a dual 8800GT SLI setup and i can run just about everything in 1680x1050 at a playable framerate. I haven't picked up Crysis yet, but Bioshock runs perfectly. Only Supreme Commander causes the framerate to drop when you've got over 1k units on the screen... :lol:

The 8800GT has one of the best performance/dollar ratios around with performance almost dead even as the 8800GTX.

All the benchmarks I've seen that claim this are running at low resolutions. They are similar in performance at that point but I have a 28" monitor and run games at 1920x1200. I need that extra memory on the GPU to run the same settings at a high resolution. The 8800GT would choke on its own vomit trying to run that.


There are very few, if any (?), dual threaded video games. That is not where the dual or quad cores shine. I promise you, aside from every-day-multitasking, my dual core CPU is of great use when editing photographs or encoding media files as i often do. That said, because a dual core systems cost as much, if not less, you have no reason not to get them. But the fact that your single core system can run video games has a lot less to do with your CPU and more to do with your video card...

Many newer games are trying to utilize the multicore systems through advancements in multithreading. Source, CryEngine2, Unreal are some of the more well-known engines looking to scale for multicores but are not at full effectiveness. The problem with video games and multicores is the random nature of physics and dependencies such as AI that make parallelism in subsystems almost impossible to finethread. I think Flight Simulator X is the most advanced game using multicores. The list after that is short though with Crysis, UT3, BF2, COD4, DiRT, Bioshock, etc.

I can't wait to see games push my quad core to tears.

All the benchmarks I've seen that claim this are running at low resolutions. They are similar in performance at that point but I have a 28" monitor and run games at 1920x1200. I need that extra memory on the GPU to run the same settings at a high resolution. The 8800GT would choke on its own vomit trying to run that.

Eh... Not really... You sure you're not talking about the Ultra?

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=859&model2=722&chart=318

All the 3dmark 2007 scores are almost identical at 1920x1200 and for the overal FPS total for every test combined on Tomshardware, the 8800GT is only 7% slower than the GTX (2281.8 vs 2125.4).

GTX cards still cost over $300 while the GT cards are close to $200 now.

i kept reading that the ati 3850 cards are great for the money. i'd probably go for that or a 3870 if i were buying now.

lol, the games I play are all 2003 :p Oh, I did play age of empires 3 for a while, but this is not a demanding game by any means! That is about how hardcore of a gamer I am:D

My monitor is a 22" WS. I bought that MSI card. The selling point, as well as the fact it comes overclocked, is that it includes a copy of the THe Witcher. Having skimmed several reviews, it appears that the general consensus is that this card is the ideal choice for respectable performance at relatively low cost. THis is where I feel my needs are.



wait till may to play that game. go to the witcher forums and note that a BIG ASS PATCH is being released may 16 that fixes all the bugs and makes the game what it was meant to be.

wait till may to play that game. go to the witcher forums and note that a BIG ASS PATCH is being released may 16 that fixes all the bugs and makes the game what it was meant to be.

eeh, I can't wait that long:p

i'm serious man... it'll be worth the wait. that's why i'm waiting even though i have the game.

If you don't have and don't plan on getting Vista in the foreseeable future, there's little reason not to look at the 7000-series cards, too. The 7900 GS and GT are both mid-level by today's standards.

Although I think the 8000 series might run a little cooler for equivalent performance.

By the way, Tom's Hardware is very up to date about benchmarking video cards and other hardware:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html

I just ordered a Sapphire Radeon 3870 Ultimate with passive cooling. According to a few reviews i found it should be a little bit slower than a 8800GT. Comes with 512mb GDDR4 RAM and pretty cheap. Should still be powerful enough to play 2-3 year old games at 1920x1080 on my TV.