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I've ordered a new system from Ebay from a reputable dealer, so I'm getting a Quad Core Intel. Unfortunately it comes with integrated Intel graphics so I need a graphics card.

Curbing the spending means the budget is limited and I've decided on an 8600 card, GT, not GS. I'm not overly familiar with all the designations.

I've got the options of....

This

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :IT&ih=003

Apparently an overclocked card.

Or these two

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :IT&ih=004

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :IT&ih=001

Is there really much between them. It seems that the overclocked card might be the best buy, or is it better to go for a 512mb card?

Your second choice is actually a 8500 GT, which is less than half as powerful as the 8600, 512MB or not.
On the upside, at least the state of video card naming conventions hasn't descended once again to the Radeon 9000 days.

I have a 8600 GT OC'd to 580/1600 (a little less than your first choice), and it's a respectable increase, about a 10% improvement over stock speed.

600/1600 is a nice overclock, but it's an extra 10 pounds or $20, since the other one is free shipping.

I've never heard of Xpertvision, but most video card companies will still honor the warranty if you overclock the card yourself (as long as you don't volt mod it).
Even if the warranty forbids it, I don't know how they'd know about it.

I personally might go the route of the cheaper card, and overclock it. It probably won't end up as high the factory overclocked one, but I'd save $20.

On the other hand, adding $20 in the US puts price close to the 8600 GTS price range. In the UK, where prices are relatively higher, it's less of a "bad buy".
And you won't have to mess around with any settings yourself, download tuning tools, etc.

I can't say I really reccomend one over the other, just throwing out what I think are pros and cons.

Is a 8600 GT 256MB good enough for WIC on high settings? There is a nice laptop I have spotted with that card inside but I won't buy it unless it is good enough for current games at high settings.

Okay, thanks for pointing out the 8500, that's out then.

If the o/c'd card is worth it, the 10 quid isn't that much.

Another option is this listing, but I've never heard of Sparkle

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :IT&ih=003

As to the overclocked card I'm sure I've heard of ECS.

Ubiquitous wrote:Is a 8600 GT 256MB good enough for WIC on high settings? There is a nice laptop I have spotted with that card inside but I won't buy it unless it is good enough for current games at high settings.

My Macbook Pro (8600GT 256MB) deals with World of Conflict alright. Most of the settings are on high, framerate isn't great, but it works. You definitely won't get full detail though.

Ypoknons wrote:

Ubiquitous wrote:Is a 8600 GT 256MB good enough for WIC on high settings? There is a nice laptop I have spotted with that card inside but I won't buy it unless it is good enough for current games at high settings.

My Macbook Pro (8600GT 256MB) deals with World of Conflict alright. Most of the settings are on high, framerate isn't great, but it works. You definitely won't get full detail though.

Thanks for that ... wow, that really sucks actually. How can a £800 laptop not handle new games on full settings? :/

Ubiquitous wrote:Thanks for that ... wow, that really sucks actually. How can a £800 laptop not handle new games on full settings? :/

Just because it's expensive doesn't mean it's going to have the most raw performance. The nature of a laptop (highly compact and miniaturized) precludes the highest-end performance simply due to heat concerns. Higher performance also typically comes at a steep penalty to battery life and weight (some "desktop replacement" laptops with 17" screens and high-end graphics cards have a battery life of maybe two hours) which is totally contrary to the ease of portability which some people specifically purchase laptops for and for which some laptops are designed.

8800s are simply hard to make mobile, and it takes two of them to get top settings in some new games at higher resolutions. Even 17" laptops have a 8700 (boosted 8600), not a mobile 8800.

One of the reasons why I got my MBP is that I know it's light for a 15.4" laptop (5.2 pounds), and I didn't mind the middling game performance.