8600GT for a stock E4300?

[kingtas]

I want to get my son a better video card than the 256MB nvidia GeForce 7300LE TurboCache that Dell included in his XPS410. It also has an E4300 1.8Gz 2MB L2 800FSB, 2GB 667MHz DDR2 RAM, and 375W PSU.

I'm leaning toward EVGA 7600GT 25MB DirectX 9 DDR3 or 8600GT 512MB DireectX 10 DDR2.

My question is which card would better balance the system without bottlenecks? Also why would the 8600 use DDR2 and the 7600 use DDR3? Seems backward to me.

http://www.newegg.com:80/Produ...p?Item=N82E16814130292

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130062

Anyway. Can't really afford to lose money on a card that's wasted. Much thanks for the help.

 

[imported_Scoop]

Are you sure the 8600GT was GDDR2? If it is, I'm not sure how it will perform, the 256MB GDDR3 version at least is somewhat faster than the 7600GT. The DX10 support is irrelevant with that card since it won't be able to run anything well enough under DX10.

 

[kingtas]

Hey Scoop, thanks for the response.

I edited my original post to add the second link fot the 8600 (thought I did but must have clicked another icon instead of link).

So if you can tell me which one is better for his system, that would be great. Or even another card in that price range that will work on his PC.

What's more important:
DDR2 vs DDR3
256MB vs 512MB
Direct 9 vs Direct 10

Thanks.

 

[BernardP]

You are comparing a 7600GT w 256MB DDR3 with a 7600GT w 512MB DDR2.

256MB DDR3 is markedly faster than 512MB DDR2. The 7600/8600 128 Kb memory interface doesn't benefit from a 512MB frame buffer.

For about the same $ 80 budget, I suggest the MSI 8600GT OC with 256MB DDR3 memory. And it is also factory oveclocked for slight added performance:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127286

 

[MegaVovaN]

Originally posted by: BernardP
You are comparing a 7600GT w 256MB DDR3 with a 7600GT w 512MB DDR2.

256MB DDR3 is markedly faster than 512MB DDR2. The 7600/8600 128 Kb memory interface doesn't benefit from a 512MB frame buffer.

For about the same $ 80 budget, I suggest the MSI 8600GT OC with 256MB DDR3 memory. And it is also factory oveclocked for slight added performance:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127286

Great recommendation.
Make sure you have PCI-E port!

 

[happy medium]

I say grab a 7900gt or 7900gs used for the same money off Ebay or for sale/trade forums. Much faster for the same price. Your power supply will be fine.

 

[kingtas]

I just found out the PSU is infact 375W. I think I'm going with BernardP and get that MSI NX8600GT-T2D256E OC GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail.

Thanks guys.