Comparison between 7900GT and 8600GTS

Ok so i'm looking to buy a new pc... and obviously im searching around on what graphics card to use... i've been looking through and i found that the 7900 GT is a better card except for shader operations... now i'm pretty techincally sound but can anyone explain why the 8600GTS is only better when it comes to shader operations?

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards....=384&card2=512

there's the site... you can compare any cards you want to.

the 7900GT has a higher memory bandwidth, which accounts for the higher performance. the 8600GTS uses the new stream processors instead of actual shaders. this means that it can dynamically allocate them to whatever's needed at the time and achieve higher efficiency.

So due to the new stream processors, it actually makes the graphic quality better regardless of the memory bandwith and shaders?

Quality of graphics is not a factor between the 7900 and 8600. The user sets graphic quality. The difference will be performance, and while the 8600 is hardly a lightweight card, I think the 7900 would beat it slightly.

DirectX 10 is the only real advantage that the 8600 has over the 7900, which in my opinion is not worth it.

The 8600 is not worth it imo, it mostly has the same performance as a 7600. The 7900 is a better choice. nVidia is releasing the new 8800GT in november, maybe it's already in stores, i'm not sure. That card is cheaper than it's GTX counterpart and still delivers good performance according to the benchmarks i've seen.

The 8800GT is already available. At the moment a few rough tests show it to be producing about 90% of the performance of the 8800GTX for nearly half the the price. You can't really argue with that performance for the price.

I know that i am going slightly off topic... but I am going yo upgrade my system... however i am on a budget... What card would you reccomend for a man on a budget? I am interested in both Nvidia and ATI cards... when posting please justify why you have picked the cards aswell if possible...

First, give us your budget it will help to determine the best choices.

Geforce 7600GS ~ $75
Radeon x1950Pro ~ $125
Radeon x 1950XT ~ $175
Radeon HD2900Pro ~ $270
Geforce 8800GT ~ $300

Ascending order of performance. Honestly, the x1950Pro would be the best bang for your buck

Edit: Anyway, going back to the topic at hand. The 7900GT would be the definite winner of the two...if you can find one. I would suggest that you seriously consider finding an alternative to the 8600GTS and grab either the x1950Pro or x1950XT, unless you don't intend to do serious gaming on it or really care to play games maxed out. The DX10 functionality is a definite plus but it's too early in it's lifespan to have a significant benefit in most games, not to mention the fact that DX10.1 is right around the corner, which the 8600GTS will not run.

Simply put, the 8600GT/S is considered to be more of a low end card while the x1950Pro/XT is considered to be more of a mid-high end card.

Ok if any of you get time... I'm looking for a fairly poweful gaming pc that will last me a good few years... a 17 inch monitor must be included in the price and my budget is £600.

Here is the site i would like you to be used when building the computers.

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/index....m&&select=amd2

Once the pc has been build click on Tell me the price at the bottom and it's possible to print screen the most important parts... i.e the processor, graphics card, ram, and i will assume there is a 17 inch monitor included.

Just a smidgen over but this machine will be a beauty. Just upgrade the OS and RAM when needed (or when you get the money to)

Also, there is no monitor included in that build. I would suggest that you shop around a little and try to find the site with the best prices because I can almost guarantee that you can build that machine for less.

Quick question... I see why you have stated XP but just to confirm... it's because only with 2 gig of ram vista will eat into it majorly am i right?

actually, vista is quite good at managing ram. however, it pretty much require 2 gb since it has a higher overhead than XP.

there are also some potential compatibility issues when dealing with vista. since the gaming market have not moved exclusively to DX10, XP is currently the operating system of choice.

Well unfortunately that computer there, is over my budget... I'm either going to have to choose worse components or... find a cheaper site either way im a little bit screwed :P

The biggest $$$ hog is the video card, which you can easily not get from that site and order a different videocard somewhere else.

The X1950Pro is about £90 inc. VAT while the 8800GT is twice that amount inc. VAT. I would just say swap the 8800GT for the X1950Pro. It's a pretty good substitute for the budget you're working with.

Well there is always the *wink wink* way of grabbing myself an OS, taking £60 off the price limit making my budget more reachable... hmmm not that i am a fan of doing that myself...

Gotta do what you gotta do. If you feel that it will help you get what you want then by all means go for it...just don't expect a whole lot of open help in the threads...wink wink nudge nudge

Haha, well i was planning on getting an 8600GTS but ever since making this thread well i've totally been put off that idea... and unless i can find a site where i can customize a pc to my liking with the x1950pro listed then it looks like the *wink wink* way is the only way to go :P