[SpaceCowboy706]

Im tryin to decide between these two cards... One is GDDR2 and one is GDDR3 and as far as I can tell they both have the same core clocks', the same memory clock's, the same 32 pixel pipelines and they are both 8600GT's. I know that there are allot better cards out there (allot more expensive) but i plan on using two of these with SLI.

GDDR2
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814130294

GDDR3
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814130085

I am unsure what the actual difference is between GDDR2 and GDDR3 and thats why I'm posting for help. What is the difference?

PS... If you know of any "same priced" 256-bit / 256mb cards feel free to post them also

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You will see slight differences when gaming at higher resolutions, thats about it. The gains will be very minimal and probably not even noticeable.
Unless you have 3 or 4 monitors, don't SLI these cards, one 200$ card will easily surpase 2 of these cards.
James

Edited by james_8970, 09 November 2007 - 10:31 AM.

[james_8970]

You will see slight differences when gaming at higher resolutions, thats about it. The gains will be very minimal and probably not even noticeable.
Unless you have 3 or 4 monitors, don't SLI these cards, one 200$ card will easily surpase 2 of these cards.
James

Edited by james_8970, 09 November 2007 - 10:31 AM.

[SpaceCowboy706]

Higher resolutions is exactly what im doing.. on my big widescreen monitor. SO i should go with gddr3 then?

one 200$ card will easily surpase 2 of these cards

Post me some links...

[james_8970]

Wait till the 19th, shortly before this date AMD/ATI are going to release some new mid range GPU's, they will have DX10.1 support.
Search SLI or crossfire anywhere, with a second card, you'll looking at about a maximum of a 30% increase on monitors with resolutions 1920x1200 and higher, any lower and you won't notice enough of a difference to justify its cost.
In a worst case scenario, there are games that are not optimized for SLI/crossfire and it will decrease your performance opposed to increasing it.
Also, high end DX9 card such as this card, are a fair amount better then low end DX10 hardware, there really is no mid range DX10 hardware at this moment.
You can compare cards on this chart. Bear in mind, that chart is quite dated (it was last updated in may I believe) and doesn't feature the 8400, 8500 and 8600 series.
James

Edited by james_8970, 09 November 2007 - 05:07 PM.

[stettybet0]

To answer your question, GDDR3 is faster memory. While the specs remain the same, the cards with GDDR3 perform better in benchmarks, both synthetic and gaming. Though as James said, it would be illogical to buy 2 8600gt cards when you could buy 1 8800gt for just $60 more, and it would greatly increase your performance.

If you're a number guy:

2 8600gt cards: 17.28 billion texels per second fillrate. 44.8 GB/S bandwidth. 64 (32 in each) steam processors.
1 8800gt card: 33.6 billion texels per second fillrate. 57.6 GB/S bandwidth. 128 steam processors.

Not to mention the obvious facts, like the much higher core, shader, and memory clocks on the 8800gt, as well as the doubled memory bus width.