Diffirence? I'm Confused...

[LaurenceH]

I'm slightly confused by two nVidia 8600GTS cards on special with the same specs but a diffirent price.

Just wondering if you guys could explain it to me?

Here's the details of both cards::arrow:

XFX GeForce 8600GTS 256MB PCI-E Retail
http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/XFX+GeForce+8600GTS+256MB+PCI-E+Retail+?productId=29713
- Normal price £46.94
- SuperSpecial Price £35.19

Chipset nVIDIA 8600GTS
Cooling Fan
Direct x support OpenGL 2.0, DirectX 10
Dvi output Dual DVI
Gpu speed 675 MHz
Interface PCI-Express x16
Max resolution 2560 x 1600
Memory 256MB GDDR3
Video output HDTV out
Memory clock rate 2000MHz
Memory type GDDR3


nVidia GeForce 8600GTS 256MB DDR3 PCI-E
http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/nVidia+GeForce+8600GTS+256MB+DDR3+PCI-E+?productId=26919
- Normal Price £58.69
- SuperSpecial Price £44.99

Api Full Microsoft DirectX 10 Shader Model 4.0 support
Architecture NVIDIA unified architecture with GigaThread technology
Features Innovative Cooling System
Interface type PCI Express
Memory 256 Mb
Memory interface 128-bit
Opengl OpenGL 2.0
Ramdac 400MHz
Vista readyYes
Warranty 1 year RTB

So if you guys could please explain the diffirence to me, and say which one is better, i would be most thankfull.

I'm guessing the nVidia GeForce 8600GTS 256MB DDR3 PCI-E is better due to price, but like i said i'm confused.:confused:

Thanks
Laurence

[Mul.]

There's basically no difference. If anything, the cheaper one is the better card due to the longer warranty period. The 8600GTS is a very average card and if you want one I'd spend as little as possible on one as possible.

[coiler]

Yeah one is XFX branded, if you peeled the sticker off it would be the same card underneath!

i'd go for XFX as on special but don't expect to play games on it

[Mul.]

Well. I wouldn't go as far as saying it won't run games because actually it'll run almost every game up to 2006 near enough flawlessly. He'll have to lower quality settings and so on with more recent hits. Not a terrible card for £35.

[LaurenceH]

well, why dont either of you reccomend a better card for under £60, i need to upgrade because i'm using an ati X1650 pro atm, but i dont need crysis-like graphics.

so any reccommendations for a better one under £60?

[Mul.]

Unfortunately you can't do much better for under £60. If you look around and are willing to stretch to £65, take a look at the Radeon HD 3850 512mb.

I might've misinterpreted your initial post. New build or upgrade? If upgrade what's the rest of your system's specs? I suspect an 8600GTS might be the most suitable match and £35 isn't much at all.

[LaurenceH]

upgrade, looking for a DDR3 card

system specs:

Case: Antec 900

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 @ 2.10GHz (needs upgrading)

Motherboard: MSI somthing(needs upgrading, unable to overclock on it)

PSU: OCZ GameXstream 600w

Hard Drives 250GB SATAII & 40GB Backup drive

Graphics Card: Sapphire ATI X1650 PRO 512MB DDR2

RAM: Corsair 2GB DDR2 800MHz (considering upgrading)

basically i need to upgrade some stuff, as this pc was built on a £250 budget.

I have around £60-£70 and i get £5 a week pocket money income lol, so if i only need another £5-£15 for a much better deal, then i can wait a while.

thanks

[LaurenceH]

if you guys think that my other equipment that needs upgrading is more important than the graphics card then please say

[Mul.]

Your system is relatively balanced right now. Upgrade one single component and it'll be a bit unbalanced. If it were me I'd sort out CPU, Graphics and Motherboard all at once if your budget allows but for now I'd get a new graphics card.

[LaurenceH]

thanks, and yeah i was gonna upgrade the processor but it will cost too much for me so i though i would get a new graphics card instead. i couldent find the Radeon HD 3850 512mb you mention earlier, is this it http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/PCI-E/ATI+Radeon+3000+Series/ATI+Radeon+HD+3850+512MB+PCI-E2.0+?productId=29977 the price is about £80 though not £65

[jonwoad]

http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/Sapphire+ATI+Radeon+HD+3850+512MB+AGP+?productId=3 0898 there is this one but a bit over budget

[Lynx]

Thats AGP jon.

[jonwoad]

D'oh where did I get AGP from? :S

[Mul.]

Sorry I meant that it can be had for £65 elsewhere but obviously due to competitor rules I'm not allowed to state where.

[jonwoad]

If you pm me mul. where you've seen it I'll see if I can get it price matched

[mac124]

I have one of those xfx 8600gts in my second rig and its not a bad card for the money, in fact its pretty good for £35ish. OK it wont play all the latest games on max detail etc at uber res but its pretty good.

Oh and it overclocks well too i stopped at 800 / 1700 / 1100 (core / shader / mem)

In my system i score nearly 7k in 3d06 which aint bad for a card of this price.

SM2 2828
SM3 2531
CPU 3683

[marsey99]

for the price thats a steal, 2 years ago a card that could get 7k in 3dm06 would of cost you £300+.

i would try and strech to a 3850 if you could too, much more power for the price.

[Lynx]

i can get 14k off a HD 3850.

[LaurenceH]

you mean this one? http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/PCI-E/ATI+Radeon+3000+Series/ATI+Radeon+HD+3850+512MB+PCI-E2.0+?productId=29977

[LaurenceH]

ok i'm gonna start a new thread on what card i should get, because this thread has answered my question that i asked