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    8400gt DDR3 or 8600 DDR2?

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by shmudogg, Jul 23, 2007.

  1. shmudogg

    shmudogg Notebook Guru

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    I'm looking between two notebooks but can't decide because of the graphics cards. The first is a sony with a nvidia 8400m gt card with 256mb of DDR3 ram. The other is the dell with a nvidia 8600m gt card with 256mb of DDR2 ram. I know ddr3 is much better but the 8600 is also much better than the 8400, if they had the same ram. I like the sony as a better computer but I want a good graphics card to keep my notebook playing games on at least low settings for 3 years or so. So is the 8600gt DDR2 that much better than the 8400gt DDR2 or are they more equal to each other? Thanks for your help!
     
    shmudogg, Jul 23, 2007
    #1
  2. choy

    choy Company Representative

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    8600 dawg.....
     
    choy, Jul 23, 2007
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  3. masterchef341

    masterchef341 The guy from The Notebook

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    8600m gt is still going to win this one out, by a long shot.

    edit: im not picking one for you, just telling you that the 8600m gt is much faster. i might still go with the sony just because it is sleeker.
     
    masterchef341, Jul 23, 2007
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  4. link1313

    link1313 Notebook Virtuoso

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    id go with the sony with the 8400gt gddr3 :)
     
    link1313, Jul 23, 2007
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  5. adinu

    adinu I pwn teh n00bs.

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    The difference between the gddr2 and 3 is not nearly enough to make up for the difference in the engines of the 8400 and 8600. So even tho you have gddr2 in the 8600, it will still blow the other out of the water in terms of performance.

    Now if you had two identical cards one running ddr3 and one ddr2, then you might see a slight difference.
     
    adinu, Jul 23, 2007
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  6. Sprintguy1376

    Sprintguy1376 Notebook Consultant

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    Just go with the 8600gt. It may be DDR2 but I saw on this forum someone got the memory speeds to a stock GDDR3 speed. I am gonna go look for it right now and I'll edit this post!

    Edit: There it is! So you can have your cake and eat it too! A more powerful GPU, more pipelines... and DDR3! Enjoy!

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=143415&highlight=8600gt
     
    Sprintguy1376, Jul 24, 2007
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  7. deedeeman

    deedeeman Notebook Deity

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    8600 GT has double the stream processorss as the 8400 GT...you have to take that into account
     
    deedeeman, Jul 24, 2007
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  8. IIIM3

    IIIM3 Notebook Deity NBR Reviewer

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    8600 GT wins by a MILE
     
    IIIM3, Jul 24, 2007
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