anyone has the palit 8500gt sonic ddr3??
how is it??
i've read lots of comments about 8500gt(stock/default) and all of them say it is a bad, weak card especially for gaming. is the sonic/overclock edition would make any differences?

how about the 7600gs?? which is better?? stores here only have these cards and lower /older models (8400gs, 3450, 7300gt). which should i get?

All those cards are obsolete, and will struggle with any modern game. Assuming you have a budget limit, your best options are:

NVIDIA 8800 GTS (around $120)
ATI 4850 (around $200) or NVIDIA 9800 GTX (around $200) (depending on motherboard)

The 8800 GTS is basically the bottom tier card for gaming builds these days. If you have a choice between those listed cards, order a better one of the internet, as those aren't worth $50 anymore.

If you are really desperate, you might be able to find a 3870X2. It has its issues, but can still preform under some situations.

I'd buy the 7600GS before the 8500GT or the 7300GT. The 8500GT is straight garbage no matter what model it is or who made it. The 7600GS and 7300GT aren't too far apart but the 7600GS is usually the better choice unless you get a better deal on the 7300GT.

Are you shopping online or in actual brick and mortar stores? Usually all you can find at actual stores are outdated and extremely overpriced cards. If you can I strongly recommend buying a card online as you will generally get a much better card for the same money. If that isn't an option then see my recommendations above.

Hope this helps.

For a really low budget, you really can't beat the 3850 @ $100.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102715
This one is $85 after the rebate. Its easily four times faster than the 8500. It all depends on how much you are able to spend. Overall value is best found with the 4850 as gamerk said.

PS: of all the cards you mentioned, i'd get the 3450, but again gaming would be a joke on that card.

Order online if you can.

8800gt 256mb 69.99 after rebate at newegg

+1

thanks guys for your comments and suggestions.

i've seen 8500 gt playing the witcher on youtube and more videocards of the same level (7600gs, 1650pro) playing cysis and other modern games. i don't know if those were edited vids but it's so suprising.

8500gt sonic ddr3
128 bit, 600 MHz core clock, 1.2 GHz memory clock, 16 stream processor

8600gt 1GB ddr2
128 bit, 540 MHz core clock, 800 MHz memory clock, 32 stream

i calculated the memory transfer rate and 8500gt sonic has 19.2 GB/s while the 8600gt ddr2 has only 12.8 GB/s.

looking at the numbers, 8500gt sonic ddr3 wins, except for the stream processors. what's with that?? what does it do? how it will affect the situation?
pls help me clear my mind. hehehe
i dont have anymore options here, it's between 8500gt sonic ddr3 and 8600gt 1GB ddr2.
sorry for myself

Actually, that's kind of a tough question.

Ordinarily an 8600GT has more than twice the fill rate, bandwidth, and general processing power of an 8500GT.

The 8500 GT you are looking at has been bumped from 450 mhz to 600 mhz, which is a sizable overclock, and almost has the memory bandwidth of a normal 8600GT.

The 8600GT you are looking at has half the normal memory bandwidth for the model, leaving that portion in 8500GT territory. Ordinarily the 8600GT DDR3 is a fairly balanced card, between memory bandwidth and processing power. The DDR2 models are known to be somewhat crippled.

My guess is that they would be fairly similar in performance, with the 8600GT taking a small lead.

And yeah, they are both poor options.

I must second this one. A small hint. Run away from 128 Bit Bus GPUs. Picking a 256 bit (or more) is usually the right decision. If you are not a techie, or else, don't wanna bother much (not all of us have the same hobbies) have that as a reference.

If it doesn't have a 256 bit bus, well, it is a weak card. Not that a 256 bit bus isn't a innovation or something new, cards have been made for some time now with those.