Detailed video card specifications and reviews are great - that is, if you have the time to do the research. But at the end of the day, what a gamer needs is the best video card within a certain budget. It's time for our update for May 2007, so read on to see what's new.

The link isn't working.

They rarely seem to when a new article is posted.

Hasn't changed much from last month, I doubt the 8600 cards will find their way on it anytime soon...

Cleeve, the hierarchy chart does not have any 8600/8500 listed.
Are you waiting further tests to see where it would fit? :?:

I did add them. I just checked and they are on the chart...

8500 GT is on the same tier as the 6600 GT

8600 GT is on the same tier as the 7600 GT

8600 GTS is on the same tier as the 7900 GS.

nice work

I must be blind.

There, I saw them. I was expecting to see the 8600GTS on par with the 7900GT, but oh well, whatever.

Right now I have a single 6600GT 128MB running Win64-bit.

What is a decent upgrade for this card or should I just get the second card and run them in parallel?

What are the rest of you system's specs? More importantly what is your budget?

Since you mentioned running 2 in parallel, I'm naturally assuming that you have PCI-E slots. The only thing I can say for certain right now is getting a second card isn't worth it.

What are the rest of you system's specs? More importantly what is your budget?

Since you mentioned running 2 in parallel, I'm naturally assuming that you have PCI-E slots. The only thing I can say for certain right now is getting a second card isn't worth it.

I have an Asus a8n32-sli deluxe with an amd x2 4800+ and 1 gig of ram. you are correct in your PCIe assumption. I play Oblivion and WoW mosty

I agree with SEALBoy. Buying a second 6600GT will definately improve your FPS, but you'll probably do even better to sell your old card (not sure what you can get for it, maybe $50?) and put that money and the money you would have spent on the second 6600GT into a single, better card. Speaking of money, what is your budget? I think the 8800GTS with 320MB is a pretty good performer for the price, and it will run DX10 when those eventually come out.

Budget? And what resolution do you game at?

I've seen that in the Spring 2007 VGA Charts there's no 8600's. Why is that? I remember that an article ("DX10 for the masses" ) was written and there were some tests in it...


And another thing... should I expect a good level of performance from the 8600 GTS (cause it's cheaper) in DX10 games? I mean, does anyone know whether i'll be able to play Crysis in 1280X1024 with all eye candy turned on?


can anyone guarantee that? Or i'll have to switch to the 8800's...and maybe then I'll be sure (-200 extra $)...

Dont buy the 8600 GTS, its a scam. Instead buy the 8600 GT or the 8800 GTS.

The 8600GT is as big a scam as the 8600GTS. In it's price range, you can get am X1950GT, an X1950Pro, or an X1950XT, all of which outperform it considerably.

How much longer before the ATi mid-range 2xxx cards launch? I've been hearing these should be very good. If it's only two weeks away, it might be worth the wait. Nvidia might even be lowering their prices if the 2xxx put on the pressure.

If an 8600GTS barely keeps pace with an X1950Pro in DX9, it's not gonna fare very well n DX10.

As far as Crysis goes... please get me some of whatever you're taking. Crysis is likely to give SLi 8800GTX's trouble at full detail. The 8600GTS is gonna run that game when my builtin 6100 does.

Will Crysis be that much of a problem at the 1280x1024 resolution he was asking about? I'm not saying that the 8600 will let you turn on all the eye candy, but I haven't come across many benchmarks that give a single 8800GTX a hard time at 1280x1024, let alone two of them.

It might run it at low detail, but at full, no way.

My budget is around $200 for one or two cards, but that figure is flexible. As far as resolution, I think WoW is set to 1024x768, but I can't be sure

I'd say take your budget (definitely get the single card), and go to the THG article that this thread is discussing. Find the card recommended at that price point (I think it's the 1950xt) and go from there: check out how that card performs in the games you use. The only drawback to that card that I can see is that it's not DX10 compatible, but to get a halfway-decent DX10 card you really need to move up to the 8800GTS/320MB. The next batch of ATi cards that might be out this month may change the score.