[Slikkie]

Hi,

I'm thinking about buying the GeForce 8500GT with 256MB DDR2 RAM. I don't have enough money to buy the 8600 or above, and the 8500 fits well into my price range. Is this a good card? Will it play the latest games? Are there any cards in the same price range which could give me better performance?

Basically, I'd like to play Hellgate, Crysis, Gears of War, MOH: Airborne, etc etc. What performance ratio on a scale of 1-10 can the 8500GT give me?

Thanks in advance,
Slikkie

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http://www.tomshardw...card/page2.html
I would not go with anything less then a Radeon 2600 PRO if you are tight on money . Even with the Radeon 2600 PRO you may have some problems keeping up with Crysis.

PS: What are the other specs on your PC (CPU, amount of RAM, kind of RAM, do you have AGP or PCI-E)?

PPS: Tom's Hardware will release the January "Best Gaming Graphics cards for the Money" issue within a week or so.

Edited by jackflash1991, 31 December 2007 - 12:57 AM.

[jackflash1991]

http://www.tomshardw...card/page2.html
I would not go with anything less then a Radeon 2600 PRO if you are tight on money . Even with the Radeon 2600 PRO you may have some problems keeping up with Crysis.

PS: What are the other specs on your PC (CPU, amount of RAM, kind of RAM, do you have AGP or PCI-E)?

PPS: Tom's Hardware will release the January "Best Gaming Graphics cards for the Money" issue within a week or so.

Edited by jackflash1991, 31 December 2007 - 12:57 AM.

[Slikkie]

Here are my other system specs:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+
2GB 667Mhz DDR2 RAM
160GB HDD
GeForce 6150 256MB Integrated Graphics

I have PCI Express. So the 8500 won't play Crysis on Medium or low settings?

Edited by Slikkie, 31 December 2007 - 02:06 AM.

[fenzodahl512]

I would recommend X2600XT/8600GT or above to play Crysis at low setting.. 7900GT/8600GTS/X1950Pro at least for medium setting..

For Hellgate: London, 8500GT is enough to play at low setting, 8600GT/X2600Pro at medium setting..

Gears of War almost same requirement as Crysis..

All games setting if you use 22" monitor or below at at 1280x1024 resolution or below.. if you try to play with 1600x1200 resolution, you will notice a big drop of performance (lagging and so on..)

and if you are planning to get any vga card of 7900 series/X1900 series /8600GTS or higher, you will need a good and reputable power supply.. the best is with combined +12v of above 36A or at least 18A on each rails (if more than one +12v rail)

[Slikkie]

How would this card perform?

Slikkie

Edited by Slikkie, 31 December 2007 - 07:23 AM.

[jackflash1991]

Highlighted in blue (Radeon HD 2400 & Nvidia 8400 GS, they do not have the 8400 GT yet but you can see where the 8400s are placed):
http://www23.tomshar...0...9&chart=318

Edited by jackflash1991, 31 December 2007 - 10:06 AM.

[stettybet0]

The link you gave in your last post isn't working for me, so I'll just answer the original question. No, the 8500GT is not a good gaming card for new and future games. It may be able to play Crysis on low settings and a low resolution, but that defeats the purpose of Crysis, as it is a graphical masterpiece and when you have the detail on it is truly breathtaking. With low settings and low resolution, it won't be the same, it'll just be another shooter (the gameplay itself isn't that innovative...).

So, I would strongly recommend saving up for at least an HD3850 to play Crysis on medium and maybe some high (depending on resolution). To play on high, I would get at least an 8800GT.

[jackflash1991]

The link you gave in your last post isn't working for me

Works for me but yeah Crysis is not worth playing on low. It is just horrible. The main point of Crysis is to raise the bar and give people the best looking game on the market. I just recently upgraded my CPU for it because I could only play on low. On Low quality that game is crap. You need at least Medium to make the game ok. High makes the game great. And Very High is difficult to get to with good FPS but when accomplished it is a masterpiece.

Edited by jackflash1991, 31 December 2007 - 01:44 PM.

[stettybet0]

It works for me now too... something must have been up with the ASUS site... Anyways, I see that it is the 2400XT, which is another budget card and another poor choice for gaming. Everything I said about the 8500GT applies to it too. In fact, I think the 2400XT may be a worse choice than the 8500GT, looking at the chart Jack linked to.

[Slikkie]

The card shown in that link has DDR2 memory. The card I was referring to has DDR3 memory. Will that make a difference or not?

Anyway, I noticed now that the 8600GT has 2 DVI ports. Can you plug a normal VGA monitor into the card, or will I have to buy a new screen as well?

Edited by Slikkie, 31 December 2007 - 04:49 PM.

[jackflash1991]

A little but not much more better performance. What mainly holds the card back is the GPU (the processor inside of the card).

Anyway, I noticed now that the 8600GT has 2 DVI ports. Can you plug a normal VGA monitor into the card, or will I have to buy a new screen as well?

Not a problem. The card usually has a DVI to VGA adapter with it. Like this: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814999901

[Slikkie]

OK. The 8600GT is becoming a very attractive offer the more I surf around for good prices. I managed to find a few for under $130. Which brand would be the better choice if I do decide to purchase this card?

I've had a look at Asus, Chaintech, XFX, Gigabyte and Point-of-View. The Asus model is extremely ugly (visually), but it's the performance that counts, right? The Chaintech card was the cheapest of them all, with Gigabyte being the most expensive.

Does the manufacturer really matter? If so which is best?

Slikkie

[jackflash1991]

List of good video card manufacturers:
*XFX
*MSI
*GIGABYTE
*EVGA
*PNY
*ASUS
*BFG
*SAPPHIRE

They all have relatively the same performance. You just need to be careful that you buy a card from a company that is not well known and could give you a crappy card.
Like Zogis. I have never heard of it and it is probably crap (DO NOT BUY): http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814136019 (DO NOT BUY)

PS: The outside does not matter that much unless you want to have a open case and really want to show it off.

PPS: Where do you plan to buy from? Any sites in mind? I usually use Newegg but I do not think they ship to South Africa.

Edited by jackflash1991, 31 December 2007 - 06:14 PM.

[zoneykid]

What about an 7600? it has similar performance to an 8600 for a bunch less(like this one), and you dont really need directx 10 unless you're gonna get vista(which in my opinion is not worth getting for itself, although for gaming thats a different matter)

If you wanna get a good fps in crysis you need to get a good card like an 8800 though, but i can play crysis on med(all but shaders) at 1280x1024 with my 7600gt and it runs around a good 25-32 fps(depending on the stuff thats going on), [bleep] if your budget can afford an 8600gt than get 2 7600's in my opinion you would get better performance for around same price.

[james_8970]

This card will blow all other cards out of the water, near it's price range.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814161211

If cannot spend more then ~130$ then I suggest the following. That would beat any DX10 budget DX10 card.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814131055

Sapphire is a poor brand, based of the way they support their products and customers.
Don't SLI a low end card.
James

Edited by james_8970, 31 December 2007 - 07:00 PM.