Diference between the 8600GT with 256mb and 8600GT with 512

I know the obvious of one having more dedicated vram than the other but are their builds exactly the same and does anyone know they price difference? Also does the one with 512 perform significantly better in 3d benchmarks? Lastly any opinion about either of these two cards or 8 series in general are appreciated.

 

512mb is a marketing tool. 8600 has a 128-bit bus - not enough to fully utilize all 512mb of it. I think that there is no 512mb 8600 that's GDDR3 (correct me of I am wrong), and there is a chance that the 256mb version is GDDR3 which is faster.

 

The 256MB DDR3 version of the 8600M GT is faster than the 512MB DDR2 version. I think if your looking for a card in this range the 9500GS 512MB DDR2
performs in between the 8600Mgt DDR2 and DDR3 version
3dmark (accounding to notebookcheck.net)
8600 512 DDR2 3k-3.4k
9500GS 512 DDR2 3.6-4k
8600 256 DDR3 3.8-4.2k
I also have to say i dont think a lower memory bus width lowers the ammount of memory the card can use, but slows down the rate at which it can use it, I really dont know but that doesnt really make sense. That would be like saying a desktop GPU with a 256bit memory bus cant use more than 256mb of ram.
but vashts121 you are right about it being a marketing tool. It can be confusing when these company's are putting all this slow ram in low-end cards.

 

It does, and that's why most people here agree it's a marketing tool because all 512mb can't be utilized.

Now I never said that a 256-bit bus can handle only 256mb (it doesn't work that way,) but from my understanding the 512mb DDR2 version can only handle up to half of that.