256 vs 512 vid ram

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
It can make a difference, but you need to have the settings on the newest game titles on like ultra quality, 1600x1200 4xaa 8xaf to see it. The thing is, most cards cant run a game like FEAR or Quake 4 near to those settings, and therefore cannot use over 256 mb of video memory.

For example, the 6800 512 mb, x1600 512 mb, etc, are completely pointless cards, because they lack the power to run a game at high enough settings in order to utilize the extra video ram.

For cards like the 7900GTX, X1900XTX, it is possibly to use more then 256 mb video memory, however just barely. In my opinion, 512 mb vram will be more beneficial with the next line of video cards from ATI and Nvidia.
 
He has a point, for example there is a gforce6600 with 256ddr ram, but that card is slow as 128mb version because 6600 is simply to weak to use that amount of memory, 6800 any version is too weak to use 512mb, and 7900 is probably able to use more than 256, but u need some serious resolution aa to use it.
 
According to some things I've read online, Oblivion does not take advantage of 512 MB of RAM... sure, ATI 1900 class cards perform best, but the extra memory is not being utilized. According to an article I read earlier this week (sorry, not at work so I can't post a link) Oblivion in particular was only able to utilize 256 MB of video memory...

This may sound like I'm coming out against 512 MB cards... no way... I wish I had one... it's only a matter of time before Oblivion is patched to utilize that memory... barring that, it's safe to assume all new games will be designed from the ground up to utilize that sort of hardware.

If you're a gamer, PLEASE do yourself a favor and go with a 512 MB card or be prepared to buy another one in the near future.
 
thanks for the responses everyone one more thing on this topic this is gpu specific ive heard the x1600 is actually a 4 pipe card are the 7600gs/gt both of these true 12 pipe cards
 
I've seen cards released where the more-memory version had more relaxed timings on the memory and was therefore slower...figure that one out.

Still, I'd recommend going for the 256MB version, and spending the cash saved on an aftermarket core/ram cooling solution so that you can overclock the card higher. This will make alot more performance difference than the extra 256mb onboard video memory.
 
ok someone had me convinced the 1600 had 4 pipes with 3 pixel processors per pipe and said it was virtually 12 pipes but only 4 pipe architecture i guess ya hear alot of bs hear and there lol right now ive got a 1300 pro im just lookin for a little better frame rate on oblivion let me just ask 7600 or 1600 which would ya get
 
7600gt is best buy, 12pipes, 5vertex, 256mb gddr3, crazy clock on ram and gpu and unfortunately only 128bit, but clock speed neutralize that.
It shopuld be suficient to play any game now and for the next year and a half
 
X1600 has 12 pixel shaders, but only 4 pixel processors.

It can only output 4 pixelsa at a time, so it's considered '4 pipeline'... although it can run alot of shaders on those four pixels every clock, so it can do well in shader-heavy titles like oblivion...
 
Yeah, but the 7600GT still blows it out of the water. I can't really reccomend it
if he is also considering spending a bit more on a 7600GT.
 
x1600 is weak, competitor to 7600gt is x1800gto, but its also more expensive, and its weaker than 7600gt
 
I wouldn't say the X1800GTO is weaker then a 7600GT. X1800GTO is an overclocker's card, and it also absolutely destroys the 7600GT in the foliage areas of Oblivion (ie shader heavy areas). With FSAA and AF enabled it also performs better in most games then the 7600GT. Definately a hard choice between the two. The 7600GT does beat it out in many games though. It depends on what games you play, etc.
 
hey mad thanks for the link to that program i can clearly see Ian was right about oblivion would run fine on 256 vram right now im runnin a x1300 450 core 500 memory from what i am reading here either the 1600 or 7600 would be way better than what i got but honestly im leaning towards the 7600 so thanks again to everyone who has give some input on this its been a learning experience for sure
 
here is an article on oblivion video memory use that is probably what you are looking for.

the upshot supports much of what your link states. In oblivion on mainstream cards (which is where your price/performance is on what you are considering buying) 512 memory can actually hurt performance! Only when at higher settings and using higher end cards do you see the performance increase using 512 megs of memory.

bottom line: for your budget, don't get 512.
 
You know for all the 256 vs 512 tests I've seen I really wonder why no one has tested the AGP cards, since really the PCIe interface is fast enough (latency wise) to help a bit with some lower end cards), but with AGP it might have a greater impact. Just something to consider, not that it'd make much difference, but it would seem to be the place that theoretically COULD benifit the most.
 
I bought a 512MB X1800XT.. I guess jsut because I could. In retro spect I should have went with the 256MB version and saved myself the 40-50$
 
Simple question.
Which is usually faster: 16 pipe 7800GS OC (agp) or 7600GT pci?
I did not see many benchmarks on the 7600GT
Thanks!
Click to expand...

I would say the 7800GS becouse its the more expensive part ? well at least it used to be the best example I can give is my Radion 9800 Pro and my Radion X1300 you would think that the X1300 with 4X more ram and like 5 generations newer would be faster but its not 🙁 its close but its not faster (but it does do HDL) also the AGP 7800GS can be unlocked :)

Edit:Another thing to look at is the memory bus ! 9800 has a 256bit bus while the X1300 has a 64 or 128 bit bus... I think the 7600 has a 128 biter... Yeah just looked it up its 128 bits 🙁 but the 7800 is 256 :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom