Are all 512MB NVIDIA 8600 GT PCIe cards the same?

andrewmoorcroft

I have a Dell vostro 200 and ive been told by Dell that the best graphics card they will sell me for my pc is a 512MB NVIDIA 8600 GT (without changing the 300W power supply) because it takes only 50W.
Ive shopped around and found quite a few of this model (as low as £42) with different cooling methods etc. What i'm not sure about is... - assuming the same input/ouput connections, do all 512MB NVIDIA 8600 GT PCIe cards have the same performance?
Also does anyone know any bargain cheaper deals with even better performance (but no more expensive) cards that meet the power consumption limit and are suitable?
Thanks.

norbie

All graphics cards have different clock speeds and memory speeds and various other things that make them different, even when they are the same model and same amount of memory - different Manufacturers make them different.

Sites like http://www.tomshardware.com/ do reviews to help you find a good one.

aliEnRIK

As long as theyre PCIE and 'GT' then theyre pretty much the same. SOME are 'overclocked' to sqeeze more juice out of them, but it wont make a hugh amount of difference.

SJames_3

They will also chew up pretty much the same amount in power comsumption, although you'll find that the 256MB version of the card will be faster than the 512MB version in most games, due to the higher clocked memory.

savemoney

Dell tend to use propriety motherboards/cases etc

Modern cards use lots of power some badged computers will need a upgraded psu a 500W+ is recommended to use the high spec cards

Mobeer

This issue has already come up before:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1256871

maybe you could PM pwinky69 and ask for advice?

savemoney, don't get carried away here - Delll used to sell the 8800GTX as an option on Dimension 9200's with a 375W power supply and it worked fine.