Q: I want to know which of these two cards is better, but I don't know what most of the specs mean. Can somebody help me out? http://microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0286169 http://microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0282427 And please explain whether there's a big difference or not. What will the differences in game play be, for example? Please be specific. Thanks in advance for all your help - I appreciate it. I noticed that one has DDR2 memory and the other has GDDR2 memory. Does this make a difference? Is it a significant difference?
A: In the context of graphics cards, GDDR2 and DDR2 mean the same thing, they are talking about the card's onboard memory. I suppose technically they should both say GDDR2 but sometimes it's abbreviated. There's a significant difference between GDDR2 and GDDR3 cards, always choose the latter if possible. It's a moot point in this case- I've never heard of a GDDR3 PCI card. Those two cards are almost identical, the first has a slightly higher core clock speed. The question comes down to your operating system. If you're running Vista, the 2nd card is better because it has DirectX10 support. However... DX10 exists ONLY in Vista, so if you're running XP there's no reason to pay extra for DX10 support. Got an XP system? Take the slightly faster-clocked first card. Does your system really only have old-style PCI slots? Both of these cards are pretty weak compared compared to most PCI-E or even AGP cards. Here's another PCI card worth considering: