Additional question. What is the difference between 256Mb cards and 512Mb (aprt from the obvious), I assume it makes little difference unless your system is low on System Ram.

So I'm thinking that as I have 1Gb ram, which is not as high as it could be these days, I should get a 512Mb card to alleviate the pressure on my system ram.

More memory on the video card lets you load higher resolution textures and run with them more effectively. VRAM is filled first with textures and only after does it overflow to system memory, which is slower.

Personally, I'd advise going for an 8800GT if you're buying right now, but that's a fair chunk over your ideal price range. It's presently the best bang for your buck, and would carry through into a new machine a ways down the road as well.

The 8600 OTOH would give you a pretty small performance boost in most DX9 games (if any), and since you're on XP, the DX10 features would be completely moot. Making it mostly useless overall.

The best compromise would probably be to go for a 7900 instead. It won't last as long as an 8800, but it'll give you more punch than an 8600.

A 8800GT 512 would be ideal. It's not so much a matter of holding off future upgrades, as it is one of making them cheaper--a 8800GT 512 should still be pretty good in a year's time, so you won't need a new video card when you do get around to upgrading.

More RAM is always welcome. Depending on what kind you need, there are some great deals to be had right now. I just built my new machine and got 4GB of PC6400 for $90 (and there are now some even better deals than that).

The PSU could be an issue. Amperage on the 12v rail(s) is going to be your major concern; I believe nVidia's spec for 8800GTs is somewhere around 36A in total. If you have multiple 12v rails though you'll want to base your figures on 2/3 to 3/4 of their total amperages.


Re 8600 vs 7900, midrange cards are generally only an upgrade to lower or equal cards, even compared to the prior generation. At the equivalent levels in the product lines, the difference is usually pretty slim, and the only major difference lies in the features supported. Such is the case here, and the extra features (DX10) are not usable to you since you're on XP.

Looking at some more benchmarks, the difference between a 7900GS and an 8600GTS is less than I first saw. Which one comes out better varies from game to game, but the 7900 seems to do better in general with high anti-aliasing and filtering settings. The 8600's only major advantage seems to be in synthetic benchmarks (3dmark) rather than in actual games. So if you must choose between those two, it's more a toss up than I first thought. You'd best be served doing some research for benchmarks comparing them, to see how they compare at the settings and games you plan to play.

EEK.

I'd highly advise stopping the order right now and choosing another PSU. Corsair is a quality PSU brand (Seasonic builds them), but the G92 firmware does not get along with them (as well as some Antec and Silverstone units, also quality brands). I in fact had that exact model in my initial build of my new machine, and had to RMA it for a different one.

More specifically, the issue is that the firmware controls how much power the GPU draws, but doesn't properly detect or manage it in conjunction with those PSUs. As such it thinks it's not getting enough power (which is most likely untrue, but moot), and the drivers automatically downclock the card such that it's completely unable to play games.

My 8800GT512 can do Crysis on high at 1680x1050 with the framerate in the upper 20s, though I've got a e6750 and 4GB of ram as well. But you should be pretty pleased with the card alone.

http://www.houseofhelp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64885&page=4

A Corsair forum, the thread is discussing this very issue. From page 4 onwards Corsair admit there is a problem with 20% of cards and is looking into it.

I chose an MSI NX7600GS, 256MB, dual DVI PCI-e 16X for my main system, along with an Antec PSU. I have no problems, cause I guess the problem mentioned here is limited to the 8800 series. I saw no point in getting an 8800, since I use XP and have different needs.

For most people it was, but for me it didn't start until I tightened up my memory timings. It went downhill from there, to where it was doing it no matter what.