Which video card is better? 8500GT DDR2 1GB or 8600GTS DDR3 256MB

[soarwitheagles]

Hey everyone!

I needed help in understanding the difference between a couple of factors in video cards please. Here are the specs on each card I purchased and here are my questions:

e-geforce 8500GT 1GB DDR2
GPU GeForce 8500 GT
Core clock 450MHz
Stream Processors 16
Memory
Memory Clock 800MHz
Memory Size 1GB
Memory Interface 128-bit
Memory Type GDDR2

e-geforce 8600 GTS 256MB DDR3
GPU GeForce 8600 GTS
Core clock 675MHz
Stream Processors 32
Memory
Memory Clock 2000MHz
Memory Size 256MB
Memory Interface 128-bit
Memory Type GDDR 3

I need to use one of these cards on my computer that I do lots of video editing and I also like to capture and watch Windows Media Center movies.

Can anyone here please help me to understand the differences of these cards and help me choose the best for our needs?

Thank you,

It is me,

Soar

 

[veg1992]

8600GTS no contest in gaming and its a great choice for a Media Center Rig since they have quiet coolers

 

[soarwitheagles]

8600GTS no contest in gaming and its a great choice for a Media Center Rig since they have quiet coolers

Vernong, thank you for your reply. So are you saying that the 8600GTS is much better than the 8500GT?

And can you tell me what to make of the 1GB vs. the 256MB?

Thank you!

Soar

PS Sorry, but I am totally ignorant when it comes to video cards. Please be patient with me.

 

[[t..o..m]]

the 1GB on the 8500 is a complete waste of memory. As the card is only 128-bit only around 128-256MB can be used properly.

Go the GTS for sure, almost twice as good as the 8500 (Look at the core and memory clock speeds, the higher the better)

 

[veg1992]

Well that 1gb is DDR2, which is bad.. and if it was DDR3 the 128bit interface would bottleneck it to an extreme...

so naturally the 8600gts is better, plus if you wanted to game.. it would kill the 8500gt

 

[soarwitheagles]

Vernong and Tom!

I really appreciate you two taking the time to help me understand these cards! I will definitely put in the 8600GTS right now! I suppose I will use the 8500GT on our other computer that we only use for word processing and general use.

You guys rock! And so does Tech Forums!!!

Thanks a million everyone!

Soar