memory on a video card

[velocci]

Hi there, if you have two video cards that are the same, but one has 256mb of memory and the other has 512mb of memory, what exactly does the extra memory give me :?:

 

[Flakes]

hope your not talking about SLI with a GT/GTX 256Mb and a GTX 512MB cause it wont work... dunno i would imagine the memory is added on so 256 + 512 = 768... but in practice you probably only use the memory in the PCIEx slot 1.

 

[velocci]

no i'm not talking about SLI, forget about SLI for now. I'm just trying to find out what ram is used for on a video card and why is it better to have a video card with 512mb of ram or 256? what is the difference between the 7800GTX 512 or the 7800GTX 256?

 

[Flakes]

a ok that makes more sense, the RAM on a video card is used to store texture data witihin a game so the GFX can have quick access to that data rather than use the RAM in your motherboard.

Theres only a few games i can think of which will utilize a full 512MB on the GFX the most recent being Quake 4, it is recommended that you have at least 512 on the GFX when running Quake 4 in Ultra mode beacuase in this mode the game uses uncompressed Textures and therefore needs more memory to run.

my knowledge on this is limited but im sure AI and physics calculations will be stored on the video card as well. System memory is really only there for a backup when the GFX RAM is full it will use the system memory which is slower

in short the less transactions to system memory the better because GFX memory is faster then system memory. More GFX Ram = less transactions

 

[velocci]

you think its worth it to get a 7800GTX 256mb instead of a 7800GT 256mb? what's the average price difference between the two cards?

 

[SilverDragon]

Best price scenario would be 7800 GT around $300 and the GTX around $450 If you look around enough you can find them for a bit less. It really comes down to performance demands. A 7800 GT is more than adequate for todays games but the decision ultimately relies on your preferences for display resolutions. If you want to game at 1600x1200 with playable frame rates you're going to need a GTX. If you game around 1024x768 a GT will suit you just fine. As stated earlier 512 MB of memory isn't really a requirement for games right now. However it will become crucial to have in the future. So you have to base that on your upgrading cycle. If you plan to keep your vid card for a couple of years then by all means, think about the 512 MB flavor.

 

[velocci]

my current P3-500 machine with TNT2 ultra has lasted me almost 10 years. i'm hoping this new PC will last the same.

 

[SilverDragon]

hehe, yeah I held onto my Asus TNT2 Ultra for a while too such a great little card... now where have those 3D glasses gone off to...

 

[velocci]

everything on my PC is maxed out. the board only supports a P2-400 but i have a P3-500. if i do a bios update, the cpu would either be clocked down to a p2-400 or it won't work at all. memory is maxed out. and i'm not buying any new HW for it. i can't do shit with it. i only have three 10gb HDDs in it. its like living in a box.

 

[SilverDragon]

no doubt about it, it's time to upgrade that puppy... I heartily recommend getting an AMD Athlon64 X2 if you can afford it, but any of the Athlon64's are going to be screaming fast compared to your current rig.