What type of Nvidia 8600GT should I choose?

I am planning to buy an 8600GT soon (please don't start whining about how bad and old and sucky etc. you think it is).I have found some at a pretty fair price,but I need your help in choosing the best.I have some questions first:

-What exactly is DDR,DDR2,DDR3 (i know that 2 means double RAM or something like that)
-Which is the difference between DDR and GDDR?
-What about the games? What games will I be able to play with it?
-Will I be able to play Crysis (Warhead) at least on medium (i meant gamer) settings,regarding my awful specs?

That is it for now,I will try and check back tommorrow in the evening.

Thanks in advance!
_________________________________________________________________
"Use the GeForce Luke!" -Obi Wan Kenobi

 

-What exactly is DDR,DDR2,DDR3 (i know that 2 means double RAM or somenthing like that)

DDR SDRAM is Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory. Meaning that the bandwith is twice that of normal SDRAM. DDR2 can have higher clocks than DDR1, DDR3 higher than DDR2. At the same clock speeds though, there wouldn't be much difference in speed (provided the timers are the same)
DDR2@400mhz is just as fast as DDR1@400mhz for example, the "2" is the generation.


-Which is the difference between DDR and GDDR?

GDDR is DDR specialized for graphics.


-What about the games? What games will I be able to play with it?

Most games published to up to 2 years ago wil be playable @mostly high @1024x768, after that, the detail level has to be turned down a lot.(not mentioning the resolution, the 8600GT is VERY bandwith limited)


-Will I be able to play Crysis (Warhead) at least on medium (i meant gamer) settings,regarding my awful specs?

No, not by a long shot. You can pretty much forget about that with 1GB ram, a Pentium4 and a 8600GT.
A 8600GT can probably handle medium just fine (which is "mainstream" in Warhead) But your CPU and memory are incredibly serious bottlenecks.

 

"Gamer" is medium graphics in warhead, Maintream is low... you'll probably be able to mix a bit of low/med together in Crysis, but your system is rather out of date im afraid.

 

Crysis - Crysis Warhead
low = minimum
medium = mainstream
high = gamer
higest = enthusiast

 

Get XFX 8600GT Fatal1ty Edition ... its the fastest and best looking 8600GT ... I owned that card a year ago... and it uses passive cooling, so no noise nor fear of fan being jammed... and it clocks like hell ... and it uses GDDR3 memory which is the fastest used in 8600 series ... Or if you are going for 8600GTS then buy xfx xxx edition of that card ... or Gainward's golden samples are great choices for both GT and GTS ... they are quality products, pre overclocked and can be pushed even more... also evga's superclocked ones are great for both gt and gts ... so basically which ever one you buy from these , you cant go wrong... even if not buying quality overcloked version it is essential that you get the card with GDDR3 memory ...
And yeah you will definitely be able to play both crysis and warhead on medium/mainstream with no problems... with GTS you can also play on high/gamer ... with not so good framerate but still playable and nice too look at... the best is that you make a mix of medium/high ... I recommend shaders, textures, physics , game effects and particles on high/gamer, while other on medium/mainstream ... if that doesn't do the trick then lower the texutres to medium, nothing else ... because shaders, effects and physics/particles is what makes crysis crysis ...
Ofcourse we are talking about resolutions in 1024:768 range ...

 

Instead of 8600GT, you better off to buy 9500GT 512MB. A bit pricey but worth it. Stock speeds will be equal with 8600GTS, will go much higher with OCing in which quite easy with 9500GT.

Since I owned 8600GTS 512MB before, so I can guarantee you'll play Crysis and Warhead with mainstream settings up to 1152x864 resolution (or 1280x1024 if you're pushing it) quite smoothly. You'll get 20-40FPS with the card, which is unlike many other games, Crysis IS very playable even with frame rates hovering around 20-30 FPS average...

 

Save your money and get at least a 9600 GT. Only about 30 bucks more and a whole lot better.

 

i dont think it is, i know it sucks just dont waste ur money, get a 8800 instead, can be had for around 70 quid

 

9600GT is like God compared to an 8600GT. My 9600GT was faster on it's own than my 8600GT's were in SLI. With my 8600GT's at 1024/768, single or SLI...best I could do was low settings in Crysis@20-30fps....my 9600GT ran Crysis on high@30-40fps@1680x1050. A P4 will limit graphics settings a bit though. Should still be able to run Crysis on medium settings.

 

I really don’t mean to burst your bubble man, but short of games released pre 2005 you really shouldn’t anticipate any happiness w/8600 series cards. They are the PERFECT consumer-based solution. I emphasize perfect because they are low on power, great with everything desktop related, etc. When it comes to games though, you WILL get HORRENDOUS dips in framerates and terrible mouse lag. If anything, buy a 9600GSO. You will not regret spending the extra twenty dollars or so.

i know it says your in Romania, but maybe you can find similar prices on these products...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&Description=9600GSO&bop=And&Order=PRICE

on a total budget basis, I also recommend...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116052

and..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145527
or...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144157

 

Short answer: none. 4670, 9600GS0/GT, 4830/4850 are all significantly faster cards (i.e. 250-300% of an 8600). Forget 9500GT btw, it's awful as well.

 

I've seen Radeon HD3850 cards with 256DDR3 selling for the same price as 8600GTs and they are much faster than the 8600GT.

 

My 8800GT was 46 quid brand new =D www.ebuyer.com if you can't see it on there that's because it's out of stock, they don't last long at that price lol

 

Aye but your talking about the 256MB version.

 

True. But I can still play Crysis on all high at 30-35fps 1440x900 with it so tis good enough for moi.

 

Oh my god! An 8600GT in Romania costs 89 USD!!! And a 9600GSO on newegg.com costs 79 USD!!

By the way,thanks for your helpful comments!

Is there any chance to buy a card from newegg and get it shipped in Romania at a fairly low price?
__________________________________________________________________________
"Use the GeForce,Luke!" -Obi Wan Kenobi

 

Alright,i have found a 9600GSO,here it is:

http://www.dc-shop.ro/detalii_produs.php?cod=16397

The site is in romanian,but I think you can read the card's specs.By the way,the price is 139 USD!Whadd'ya think? It totally doesn't worth it am I right?

 

Alright,alright,sorry for too many posts,but I have found a vidcard that simply jumped into my eyes! Here it is!

http://www.pcgarage.ro/placi-video/asus/geforce-8600gt-512mb-ddr2-128-bit/

I hope you can understand the card's specs,the price is about 90 USD,and it's the best card that fits my budget yet!

 

Na man, 8600 wont do you any good. 9600GT is what you want at LEAST. It will be bottlenecked by your CPU though, so I suggest you upgrade that for sure. Actually man now that I look at your specs, you should probably just start saving for a new rig. Your running vista ult with 1 GB ram, ouch. Your memory would be bottlenecking you as well in newer games on Vista. What you need if you just want to upgrade is 1GB more RAM at least, a new Core2Duo CPU, and the 9600GT, you would see a great performance increase, maybe even a bigger HD. Heres a link to the 9600GT on your site... good luck.
http://www.pcgarage.ro/placi-video/evga/e-geforce-9600gt-512mb-ddr3-256-bit/

 

No, don't buy 8600GT...buy this instead:

http://www.pcgarage.ro/placi-video/galaxy/geforce-9500gt-512mb-ddr3-128-bit/
http://www.pcgarage.ro/placi-video/gigabyte/geforce-9500gt-512mb-ddr3-128-bit/

It perform better that 8600GT with similar amount of price