choosing the right card

im going to be building a new computer soon and ive got my motherbord and processor sorted, but im stuck when it comes to choosing between 2 cards...
one is a xpertvision geforce 8600GT with 256mb and the other is a xpertvision geforce 8600GT super with 512mb, now i would be buying 2 of the cards but i dunno which to choose, when i compared the specifications on the website, the 8600gt with 256mb had the faster spec, but i would have thought the 8600gt super would have been faster? the super uses ddr2 ram, whilst the other uses gddr3 ram....

below are the specs for the cards

the 8600gt super

Engine Clock 500MHz
Memory Clock 600MHz
Product Name X/VISION 512MB GeF 8600GT SUPER PCI-E SLI RET
Web Address www.xpertvision.com.tw
Model Number XNE+8600T+T351-PM8A84
Package Type Retail
Warranty 2 Years
Chipset NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT
Interface PCI Express x16
Video Memory 512MB
Memory Type DDR2
Memory Interface 128-bit
RAMDACs 400MHz
Max. Resolution 2560x1600
Connectors 2 x DVI-I
S-Video (HDTV)
DirectX Support 10.0


the 8600gt

Product Name XPERTVISION 256MB GeF 8600GT TV/2xDVI PCI-E SLI RET
Web Address www.xpertvision.com.tw
Package Type Retail
Warranty 2 Years
Chipset NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT
Interface PCI Express x16
Video Memory 256MB
Memory Type GDDR3
Engine Clock 540MHz
Memory Clock 1400MHz
Memory Interface 128-bit
Max. Resolution 2560x1600
Connectors 2 x DVI
S-Video
DirectX Support 10.0
OpenGL Support 2.0
Model Number XNE/8600T+T321-PM8184
RAMDACs 400MHz

 

The memory clock rate listed for the Super is a bit misleading, because it's running DDR memory (Dual Data Rate) the effective clock speed is actually 1200mhz. Regardless, it seems the 8600GT is a bit faster, and even though it's 256mb, I think you'd get better performance from it than the 512mb SuperGT, especially if you have plenty of system RAM. But, I was thinking, instead of buying 2 mid range cards, why not buy a single high-end card? A single 256bit 8800GT will smoke the dual 8600's. Plus you have the option of adding a second if needed (not likely ). Here's a link to a 512mb 8800GT complete with specs: http://www.pcconnection.com/ProductDetail?sku=8126599&oext=1038A&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=8126599
Let us know what you decide to do!

 

right tht made a lot of sense thanks....
i chose that card because the price of them are £60 and £69 which is in my price range (im uk btw) to get hold of a 8800gt which would be nice the cheapest one round here for me is £209 which is considrably more then i would like to pay .... i may hang on and get a 8800 if u say one will out do 2 8600gts...
thanks

 

That's my thoughts on it... but I could be wrong. It's just that my experience with SLI has been that one high end card is generally better than (or at least equal to) 2 mid range cards... hopefully some of the SLI gurus here at MajorGeeks will come along and shed more light on this for us

 

okay thank you
ive never been sure with graphic cards cos its soo easy to hang on just a bit longer n see what comes out or what comes down in price...i mean i run 2 geforce7600s at the moment and im starting to see some graphic lag now in some games like call of duty4, crysis i wont even touch lol, but i just needed some advice