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| Thread ID: 73774 | 2006-10-31 04:22:00 | Graphics Cards with lots of RAM, Worthwhile? | craig.b (6571) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 495461 | 2006-10-31 04:22:00 | I am looking to purchase a new gfx card to breathe some last life into one of my machines. It needs an AGP card, so most of the new graphics cards available now are not suitable. Also, as it is an older machine, I don't want to spend huge money. Currently it has a Geforce FX 5600 128Mb card in it, so anything around today will be an improvement I think. I am looking at the Geforce 6800 GS card, and have seen a Legend brand one with 256MB DDR3 on it for $323, and a 512MB model for $379. Am I likely to see $50 worth of benefit for the extra ram? I was reading that this extra ram will only improve performance at high resolutions (which I won't use, as my screen is 1280x1024), true or false? PC details: Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe Mobo AMD AthlonXP 3200+ 512Mb DDR400 RAM (soon to be 1.5Gb RAM) Several HDD's |
craig.b (6571) | ||
| 495462 | 2006-10-31 04:51:00 | I am looking at the Geforce 6800 GS card, and have seen a Legend brand one with 256MB DDR3 on it for $323, and a 512MB model for $379. Am I likely to see $50 worth of benefit for the extra ram? No. More important is how many BIT it is. 128bit? 256bit? Get the one with the most BITS.:D |
pctek (84) | ||
| 495463 | 2006-10-31 10:14:00 | The 512Mb version prob has DDR2 instead of DDR3. | SolMiester (139) | ||
| 495464 | 2006-10-31 11:53:00 | Realistically not, in fact you may see a decrease in performance for certain games... If you're planning on playing something like Oblivion then perhaps? If you're planning on playing something like UT2k4, then I'd go with the 256MB one. Look up in Google the graphics card + the gamename you're most wanting to play (As well as one or two others you -may- play in future) and see what the comments are :) |
Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 495465 | 2006-10-31 15:00:00 | No. More important is how many BIT it is. 128bit? 256bit? Get the one with the most BITS.:D Try playing Flight Simulator Deluxe without heaps of graphics memory and a good vid and CPU. I have a 3.6 overclocked P4 with a NVidia 6800GTX with 512MB and 1GB Dual channel ram and 2x250GB as Raid0 and even with heaps turned down it struggles to get 5 to 15 fps. They are talking of Intel Duo 6600 and NVidia 7900GTX with at least 512MB and better with 1GB DDR3 video ram and 2GB main memory to get it going good. Looks like some more money to spend |
Big John (551) | ||
| 495466 | 2006-10-31 18:47:00 | Try playing Flight Simulator Deluxe without heaps of graphics memory and a good vid and CPU. I have a 3.6 overclocked P4 with a NVidia 6800GTX with 512MB and 1GB Dual channel ram and 2x250GB as Raid0 and even with heaps turned down it struggles to get 5 to 15 fps. They are talking of Intel Duo 6600 and NVidia 7900GTX with at least 512MB and better with 1GB DDR3 video ram and 2GB main memory to get it going good. Looks like some more money to spend Well yes. Maximum bits, maximum RAM, maximum everything. I have an X1900XTX with 512mb myself. But the minute you post something like that a hundred people jump all over you telling you why you don't need it and its perfectly fine playing everything on low settings. :D |
pctek (84) | ||
| 495467 | 2006-10-31 21:23:00 | As far as I can tell, both cards are 256 bit GDDR3. Here are the manufacturers pages: 256Mb Version www.legendmemory.com 512Mb Version: www.legendmemory.com ChillingSilence, you mention a performance drop for having higher memory. Why would that be? Likely to be significant? |
craig.b (6571) | ||
| 495468 | 2006-10-31 23:42:00 | 512Mb Version: www.legendmemory.com Get that one in that case. |
pctek (84) | ||
| 495469 | 2006-11-01 00:45:00 | Back to my original question then, am I likely to see any (significant) extra performance from the extra VRAM, given the specs of the rest of the system? Unless I can find a compelling reason to spend the extra $50, i'd rather put that to better use on the RAM upgrade I am also doing. |
craig.b (6571) | ||
| 495470 | 2006-11-01 01:19:00 | Back to my original question then, am I likely to see any (significant) extra performance from the extra VRAM, given the specs of the rest of the system? Unless I can find a compelling reason to spend the extra $50, i'd rather put that to better use on the RAM upgrade I am also doing. The "general" feeling is you will not see a huge difference, however i have read a few articles that convinced me to get a 7950Gt 512MB over a 256MB recently. Read this www.pureoverclock.com Add to this it does add a bit of future proofing if you plan to hold onto this card for 1year+. The other thing is the next generation of vid DX10 cards are nearly here. www.gizmodo.com I am not convinced DX10 will make a huge performance difference, however at the least it is likely the introduction of the DX10 cards will drive down the price of the current cards. . |
Master_Frost (9951) | ||
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