uhh greenmedic here's CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072 , plant to have 4GBs of ram, and current monitor resolution is 1280x1024. Now that I've said that, how will a geforce 8600 run on that resolution with the parts listed? Games I plan to play are Crysis, DMC4 (will it be able to reach 60 FPS or close?), Assassin's creed, the new Prince of Persia, Bioshock, etc.

Devil May Cry 4, as a console game, is not taxing on a computer... AT ALL.

My system is an Intel E2180 stock, 2GB RAM, Radeon HD4850 and a 5400 rpm IDE HDD, and I run it at 1280x1024 with 8x Antialiasing, 16x Anisotropic filtering and Max details at over 120 fps.

2.5ghz dual core CPU will not be your weak link. All benchmarks will be GPU bound.

Crysis: about 17fps at 1280x1024 (medium settings)

Bioshock: under 30 (25-28) with max settings

Half Life 2 Episode 2: around 60fps at best on high (no AA, AF)

So you can see the 8600GT is not exactly ideal at 1280x1024. Not if you're expecting to see around 60fps for most GPU intensive games published within the last year. You'd have to turn quality settings down in many instances.

so basically, the 8600 blows?

Was in a similar dilemma, took 4850. Only make sure you buy the version without the default ATI cooling system/board layout, because they are loud and tend to get hot.

I don't know the current situation, but when i was shopping some months ago, a 4850 revision from Sapphire was released with their cooling system. I took that version over the one with the factory cooling (it was insignificantly more expensive), and i'm satisfied with the noise level/heating.

Edit: pic of the sapphire fan

No, the 8600 isn't terrible; you're just not going to be playing all games at max settings. Very few games will be unplayable (under 30fps) at 1280x1024. Crysis is one of them naturally.

If you can live with that, it's fine.

If not, you already know your options, many of which are around or under $100.

ATI has had heat issues with the 4800 series cards, but stability has not been effected. The 4850 in particular, actually runs hotter than the 4870 due to the single slot GPU cooler. The 4870 heatsink also uses copper heat pipes.

But yes, larger cases with excellent air flow/circulation are preferable, especially when Xfire is brought into the mix. If you have space, additional dual slot coolers are one way of dropping GPU temps, and if you want to go a step cooler, drop the stock cooler/fan and go with an aftermarket GPU mounted cooler with additional passive heat sinks for the memory modules (more trouble than it's worth IMO, unless you're overclocking GPU/memory). The simpler fix is to just use a control panel that enables manual settings of the GPU fan (noisy, but will drop GPU temps over 20 degrees).

The recent ATi drivers has fixed much of the HD4850's heat problems.

The 4xxx series never had a heat problem. It ran at the temperature it was designed to.

The reason why they let the temperature idle at 80 degrees is to reduce the hot/cold cycling of the GPU and to reduce the noise. IIRC the GPU is rated to 105 degrees C.

get a geforce fx 5600. They rock!

The temp of the GPU is not so much the issue as the heat it generates inside the case. If you don't have a well ventilated case, all that heat stays inside your PC case.

The 4870 and 4870x2 have a vent in the upper half of the card to expel heat which is channeled by the shape of the fan/heatsink housing. Single slot 4850s don't.

Regardless of how hot it can run stable, a better heatsink and fan system like the Thermaltake DuOrb VGA cooler, could have the same 4850 running at 28 degrees idle, 37 degrees at load. Prime for overclocking.

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=722