I currently have an 8600 GT 256MB with 2GB of pc2 6400 ram. For improved OVERALL gaming, would it be better to get another 8600 and run SLI or get 2 more GB of ram? Thanks.
Preferably neither - sell the 8600GT and get a more recent card like a 9600GT. What sort of games do you play?
Thing is my motherboard doesn't support pci express 2.0 and I don't want to buy a new one, so assuming I was forced to pick between the two above options, which one would be better?
doesn't matter if it's pci-e 2.0 or not. it'll still work, and there will be a definate increase over the 8600GT. i know because i have the 8600GT and had the 8800GT before exchanging for the ATi HD3870. even if you sli two 8600GT's, the performance is not as good as a single 8800GT.
You don't need a PCIe2.0 motherboard, not even for a card like the HD4850 - the difference just isn't significant enough to be concerned.
Ah, I see. Sorry for my noobishness, I thought you needed a pci-e 2.0 motherboard to run a pci-e 2.0 video card.
no not at all, there will eventually be a performance loss from doing so, but right now it's negligible.
