Memory or Clock-speed?

[homesplice]

Is a card with 1gb and a 600mhz gpu more likely to be better than a card with 512mb and a 750mhz gpu?

 

[hunter315]

Depends on the internals. If you under clock a 5870 to 600MHz its still going to blow away a 4870 at 750MHz, architecture and core count makes a much larger difference than the speed of the GPU. The memory only comes into play at higher resolutions, 512 is fine up until you hit 1920x1080, at which point 1GB gives a slight advantage.

What two cards are you considering? Link to them if you can.

 

[homesplice]

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10113667&catid=25617&logon=&langid=EN&MSCSProfile=3C79F0C7EA3162B25DCF0857B6387C8E6F3A927392409EB414A05414F3D7EA2E4FF04A61D29BBA8FC54AB13658D2951423DB41DA6E111BAE629F3885D269FB4CDEE113353084F50F5DD15A76B603BCF32EEEE2821BEDF83A4EE3778F0ACE279215783C865D127A198F3B1A0CEE82AFA1583E266BEF513208

and

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10128292&catid=25617&logon=&langid=EN&MSCSProfile=3C79F0C7EA3162B25DCF0857B6387C8E6F3A927392409EB414A05414F3D7EA2E4FF04A61D29BBA8FC54AB13658D2951423DB41DA6E111BAE629F3885D269FB4CDEE113353084F50F5DD15A76B603BCF32EEEE2821BEDF83A4EE3778F0ACE279215783C865D127A198F3B1A0CEE82AFA1583E266BEF513208

they are the same price which is what I don't understand.

 

[hunter315]

Well first major difference is that the 1GB one is using DDR2 and the 512MB one is using GDDR3 so that would boost its performance a bit. Something about those specs is very wrong though. The 4650 had a core speed of 600MHz or 650MHz not 750MHz like the second one has, the 1GB one also asks for a PCI-E power cable which it really shouldnt.

Anyway, if those specs are true the 512MB one has the faster memory, and faster core clock which would make it faster all around.

 

[homesplice]

Thanks I appreciate it!

 

[Dougx1317]

The 512MB version of the card uses GDDR3 as opposed to GDDR2. Of the two, the 512MB GDDR3 will be the better choice. The 4650 can't utilize 1GB of memory, so you'd be better going with the faster GDDR3 card.