[Big Ian]

but what brand to go for?
I`m looking at getting rid of the card i have now (geforce 8500gt) as its pants, and want to go for one of the 8600 series, but as i went for a cheap brand last time and it was pants i want a better card with a better brand any help as to what brand to go for?

[alex]

Hi Ian.

It's not the branding that makes the 8500GT lousy, but rather the core spec of the thing.

You've only 16 stream shaders, low bandwidth gddr2 ram and a 128bit memory controller.

Now, the 8600GT has double the amount of stream shaders and uses much higher bandwidth gddr3 ram, although it still uses a 128bit memory controller to out pixels to the screen so it is hampered somewhat but this is offset slightly by the higher clocked gpu (generally around 100mhz higher than the 8500GT) and the faster ram.

A typical 8600GT will cost around the £70-£80 mark, depending on third party overclocking on the ram, gpu, and (becoming more mainstream now) the stream shaders.

You've then got the 8600GTS, same core spec as the GT in the stream shaders stakes (32) but the gpu and ram are again clocked much higher on 3rd party cards. A typical gpu speed is around 100mhz higher than the GT. The ram is also generally clocked around 400mhz higher, effective speed. Still with a 128bit memory controller but again the faster gpu and ram offset this somewhat. Or even more so in the case of the GTS.

You can pick up a GTS for around £100, although a lot of models are priced around the £130 mark, nearly double that of the GT.

Now I've had a look around for you:

8600GT

8600GTS

And these are the two I've come up with. Both are manufactured by good names in the gpu business.

Now the GT won't require any extra power as it will only draw about 45w from the psu which is well within what can be provided by a pci-e 1.0 port. The GTS will require extra juice, so if you go for this card ensure you're psu has the 6pin molex. Or, alternatively you could purchase a cable that connects to two of the 4 pin molex's on your psu 12v rail and then ends in this 6pin connector. They only cost about a fiver.

Neither the GT or GTS quoted are capable of gaming above 1280x1024 so there was no point whatsoever in getting you a 512mb version as this amount of ram is only needed at higher resolutions; 1680x1050 or 1920x1200, and, again, neither of these cards is capable of gaming at these so the extra 256mb ram, which you'd be paying for, would be wasted.

Hope this is helpful.