new comp memory and graphics card (noob) questions

[mercifulpenguin]

ordering a comp for my bro
for word processing and gaming
i'm not worried about getting an insane system, he pretty much plays frickin starcraft and other low graphic games, but im sure he'll wanna play the new one, and some bigger stuff, Gears of War PC or Bioshock, Oblivion Elder Scrolls and [censored] like that
so

a couple quickies

256mb nVidia GeForce 8600 GTS
or, spend an extra $350 and get
768mb nVidia GeForce 8800 GTS

also
it'll be running Vista, so next

so i got 2GB, 3GB, or 4GB DDR, it's $70 more for 3GB and $150 more for 4GB (both 3 and 4 run at 4 DIMMs if that matters)

thanks for any input

[Cruel_Intentions]

The 8600 will be fine for your brother, no need to go higher than that if he just does casual gaming.
You may even consider going with a 7800/7900 GS or GT if that option is available. May save you some money.

2 GB will be fine as well, if he's not interested in overclocking at all then just 2 sticks of 1GB generic/value ram @ DDR2 800 (or 667) will be fine, you could pick up 2 gig for $80 total. Stay away from running odd number of sticks of ram, it may cause issues with dual channel configs (system will run, just only in single channel)

I have a Pentium D 930 (dual core 3.0GHZ), Nvidia 7800GT, 2 GB Corsair DDR2-800 ram and I just finished playing the Bioshock demo @ 1280x(whatever) resoultion on a 22" widescreen with no hicups (Windows Vista Ultimate).

[mercifulpenguin]

good to know, thanks a bunch!

[Hans]

No point going past 2 gig, support for +2 gig is currently a mess.

[Cruel_Intentions]

True enough, I forgot about that one actually.
Besides, if you need more than 2 gig of ram right now, either you need to run programs that are coded better, or you have way too many applications open!