Q: I dont have a lot of money im on a budget economy is imploding you get the idea. I could get a 8500GT the core is 540 and the memory is 700 (1400 effective gddr3) 256mb or I could get a 8600gt the core is 540 and the memory is 400 (800 effective gddr2) 512mb
A: that 8600 is twice as powerful let me explain that 8600gt gpu has 32 stream processors and 512mb memory the 8500 gpu only has 16 stream processors and half the memory so as you can see the 8600gt is what i would pick its twice the card