graphics card question

[rctycoon]

I'm looking at graphics cards right now and i am having a really hard time deciding on what to get. I know i should get an 8800, but that is definately not in my budget. does anyone know about a graphics card under $200 that will give me the best bang for my buck? I've been looking at the 8600GTS, i know its not as good as some of the higher end 7x series but i like that its got DX10(even if it can't handle it very well) and i've heard it works better with dual core processors running vista(which i have). And also the 7900GS, which i hear is a great card but it will soon be outdated. I am not an avid pc gamer, but i do want to be able to play most directx9 games on the highest settings with no problem.

[Eggskin]

I have a 7900 and it's tackled every game I've thrown at it except Crysis. If I were you I'd get a 7950. 8600's are garbage imo.

[Harvard]

I just bought an 8800gts 320mb from a local store best price I could find anywhere, beats newegg last time i checked $263.99http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0256278

[Yabbering Yeti]

8600's arent that bad, especialy the gts model. Most of the info you find on them are the initial reviews, but driver updates have helped them immensly - I know as i have a system with a 8600gts in my house (my main system is an 8800gts tho). When we first got it performance was often beat by 7600's even! But those days are over, it competes more solidly now.

Not to mention most of its ability is still locked and waiting for decent dx10 optimisation - i know it wont perform well at high end dx10 visuals, but will benifit on running on DX10 at DX9 details from the higher efficiency of dx10.

Still a 7900 will perform better than it of course, but last time I checked it cost more.

one thing to note is the vram is much faster on the 8600 - ill just post the specs of the 2 cards for you to examine:
7900gs vs 8600gts

[Ric]

I would recommend avoiding the 8600s. The main reason is the memory bus being only 128 bit. Now that may fit neatly with the 256mb of gddr3 but it still limits the throughput to 128 bits which isn't great. I would seriously recommend getting an 8800 gts or higher (even if it means waiting and saving) as you'll only end up regretting it. If you absolutely must have it now then get the highest 7 series card you can with 512 bit memory bus.