is the 8600gt a good idea for a stopgap card

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tarouza

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Right now i have an HP media center m7750n computer, that i plan on replacing in the next year or so, it has onboard 6150LE graphics. Newegg has the 8600gt for 49.99 after MIR, is this a good stopgap card to use until I have the money to replace my computer, also how much of an improvement would i see from what i have now. I dont really play that many newer PC games, mostly older RTS titles and guild wars
 
I got this card for $35 shipped after a rebate and it's done great so far. I've only played Counterstrike: Source on it so far, but that was silky smooth with max settings. For a card that cheap, I was pleased.
 
8800 GT's are pretty cheap now, and a lot of them have both rebates and free game deals.

I just purchased an MSI 8800GT for $167 after rebate with a free Witcher. It's a great card, stock overclocked core to 660mhz and it has the newer fan/heatsink combo so it's quieter and cooler. I'm loving PC gaming again. Crysis looks crazy good.
 
[quote name='bigdaddybruce44']He would need to upgrade the power supply if he got an 8800GT, though.[/QUOTE]

I think he needs to replace his power supply already.

My HP came with I think a 250watts power supply, and we are talking brand new not even a year old computer. HP is notorious for putting in extremely low power supply units in their computers.

Anyways, if your really cheap and can't dish out $150 versus $50, then I would go with the 8600GT. I can run everything up to Quake Wars so far as my most intense game on very high settings. The only two games as of recent that I couldn't run top notch well were the GRID demo (I can run it on medium settings to high settings but it doesn't look godly without ultra, and it dips low) and of course Crysis which I can't run past Low to Medium settings but I'm not sure how well it would run with all the new patchs out there.

I plan on getting Assassins Creed ans Mass Effect with my 8600 GT OC, keep in mind mine is OC so it will have slightly better performance then yours. I heard Assassins Creed runs great with a 8600GT but theres no demo for me to confirm that till I buy a actual copy. Mass Effect should run fine.

So so far Crysis is the only game that really eludes me on the 8600 GT, and I see no reason to upgrade mine to a 8800GT unless one pops up for... yeah $50 ;)
 
[quote name='bigdaddybruce44']The M7750N comes with a 300W power supply. That will be enough for mid-range stuff, like the 8600GT or HD 2600XT.[/quote]

It depends.

I think at least 450W is what he needs.
 
[quote name='InuFaye']It depends.

I think at least 450W is what he needs.[/quote]

450W? For what? An older mid-range card? Not even close. He wouldn't even really need a 450W for an 8800GT, but less would be cutting it close, especially on a low-quality pre-built machine's PSU. As far as what he's looking at, stuff like the 8600GT and HD 2600XT have minimal power draws. I know the max draw for a reference 8600GT is about 45W, and even though the draws for many of the HD 2K series were higher than their Geforce 8 counterparts, it should be nothing backbreaking on the HD 2600XT. A 300W power supply is more than enough, assuming the system is not fully-loaded, which it probably isn't, unless the TC added a lot of his stuff on his own, especially more hard drives.
 
450W would be there so he would never need to upgrade ever again.

Its not about the wattage, its all about what is the output on the 12v rails.

300W is not going to do jack, considering it will have bad 12V rails.
 
[quote name='InuFaye']450W would be there so he would never need to upgrade ever again.

Its not about the wattage, its all about what is the output on the 12v rails.

300W is not going to do jack, considering it will have bad 12V rails.[/quote]

A fairly recent 300W power supply is more than enough for a standard system and a mid-range video card. It will have more than enough amperage on the 12-volt rail(s) to power the computer. The power requirements for an 8600GT are a 300W PSU with 18A on the 12V. Any crappy $15 PSU has that and more. And anyone who knows anything about computer hardware already knows that video card manufacturers overstate the power requirements, in order to create overhead, so an even crappier PSU than that would handle the 8600GT.

If you don't believe me, go to ANY legitimate tech board and ask if you can put an 8600GT into any pre-built, mainstream computer from the last few years with an average 300W PSU. Please, go ahead and come back with the results. Even better, just go to HP's website and see that they offer the 8600GT as an option in many of their units that have 300W PSUs. They aren't going to put a video card in a system that can't handle it.
 
my card actually came today i bought it from newegg sat nite after talking to a couple people and it came this afternoon, was very easy to install and once i got the updated drivers it worked great a lot better then the onboard video thanks for all the advice guys my windows number thingamabob went from a 3.0 to a 5.9 in graphics about to check out some games now
 
Sorry I didn't realize the newer HP's came with higher power supplies. I'm actually glad HP decided to bump up their power supply's because honestly it was my only gripe when I got their pre-built computer. I got a real discount on my package last year on top of 20% and was glad I didn't have to do anything else besides slide in ram and a video card, till I realized the power supply was a big issue.

Anyways, with the 8600GT you should be able to enjoy any game as long as your not overly concerned with running Crysis at high settings. Grid didn't run at the highest but DiRT was a shitty console to PC port in terms of optimizing PC hardware, so I wasn't expecting GriD to run past medium anyways and was shocked when it ran decent.

If you happen to grab Assassin's Creed let me know since thats the only game so far this year that I've been wanting to see perform with my 8600.
 
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