? about gpu ram

[t3kn0b0y]

Dell didn't follow agp specs and now I'm stuck using the ti4200/fx5200 series of cards in my box. Currently using an fx5200 with 128 mb of ram. My question is what does the ddr ram do for the graphics? Im thinking of getting a chaintech fx5200 with 256mb of ram. Is the purchase worth it? Will the xtra ram increase my fps in Lineage2/bf1942?

 

[splenda20]

This question has been widely covered on this forum. The quick and simple answer is "NO"

 

[cleeve]

Ram SPEED = performance

Ram AMOUNT = amount of textures it can hold

A 64 MB card running memory at 400 Mhz is WAYYYY faster than a 256 MB card running memory at 200 Mhz.*

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>~2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>

*(assuming they're both on the same memory bus)

 

[Willamette_sucks]

Assuming all the textures + shaders and whatnot fit onto the available ram.

Me: are you saying I can't provide?
Me: cause I know I can provide.
Me: oh and I can provide money too
Rachel: why do we need money when we can just stay in our room and have sex all day?

 

[ChipDeath]

Why are you stuck with the FX5200/4200? as far as I'm aware there's no real difference as far as the motherboard is concerned between a 4200 and a 4600.

What makes you think it has to be one of these?

---
Epox 8RDA+ rev1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @205x11 (~2.26Ghz), 1.575Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL 2-2-2-4
Sapphire 9800Pro 420/744

 

[lik]

Memory amount is only for marketing purpuse! Like cleeve said, and very well, the speed is what you should check. A card with 512DDR 128 bit at 400Mhz is worst than a 128Mb 256bit at the same 400Mhz. So numbers like 256Mb even in a top end card, is just marketing. See the 9800 Pro case. 128 and 256 cards and they perform exactly the same.

P4-2800->FSB800, Asus P4P800, 512DDR-400, Radeon 9800 Pro - 128Mb

 

[Willamette_sucks]

Do not attempt to educate me on the importance or lack thereof of video RAM and speed, or how companies market products with BS! What I said was perfectly true. I agree with Cleeve that RAM speed is infinitely more important than the amount of RAM, IF you have 'enough' RAM to fit everything neccessary on there!
Say you have a game that requires 96mb of video RAM for textures and shaders. A 256mb card with 300mhz RAM will NOT perform better than a 96mb card with 300mhz RAM, and a 96mb card with 350mhz RAM will perform BETTER than a 256mb card with 300mhz ram. However, a 256mb card with 300mhz RAM WILL perform better than a 64mb card with 350mhz RAM, because it's gonna be SWAPPIN LIKE A BITCH! GET IT?!

The reason a 256mb 9800 pro dosn't outperform a 128mb 9800 pro MOST of the time is because MOST games out there right now DON'T need more than 128mb of RAM! In titles that do utilize more than 128mb ram the 256mb version outperforms the 128 version. Doom III and HL2 will be examples of this I think, and FarCry may already be a valid example. Also turning on AA = more ram usage.

The mother nature demo in 3dmark 03 I believe uses about 113mb of video RAM.

Me: are you saying I can't provide?
Me: cause I know I can provide.
Me: oh and I can provide money too
Rachel: why do we need money when we can just stay in our room and have sex all day?<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Willamette_Sucks on 04/01/04 12:01 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[cleeve]

Wilamette's right about the assumption that textures & shaders are fitting in available RAM of course. I left that out so as not to confuse the issue for noobs as you're not going to find anything less than a 128 meg card out there anyway in the segment that the original poster was talking about.

If someone gets a 64 meg card they should still be OK for a year or two. There are lots of 32 meg cards out there, and developers know that, so they are still making 32 meg texture-sets as an option in most games (i.e. "Low-res tectures"). In most new games, the "High-res" texture set is still made to fit inside of 128 megs... I don't know of a game in existance that has a 256 meg texture-set (maybe Far Cry?).

But I've seen it mentioned in Doom3 benchmark articles that 256 meg cards have no performance increase over 128 meg cards, which leads me to believe that even the heavyweights are still targeting 64 meg as the norm, and 128 meg as the high-end.

Anyway, the point being a 64-meg texture set is still pretty good, although you might be missing out a bit of detail. But 128 meg is still primo, and 256 is almost completely useless.. not to mention, slower in most cases because it's usually cheap RAM.

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>~2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>

 

[t3kn0b0y]

Dell did not follow agp specs and the 4600's and up are too long and hit an ide slot in the back of my mobo causing the gpu not to "snap" into the agp slot

 

[cleeve]

Say, if you're going to upgrade on-the-cheap, why not get a decent card like a 9600 PRO? Or even a 9600 non-pro?

Either of those will anally rape a 5200.

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>~2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Don't forget the efficifency of the fetch parameters of the design.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK

 

[cleeve]

Dammit Grape, I can't relate to that technobabble gobbledygook.

For god's sake, can you explain it using an inappropriate sexual metaphor, please?

(Preferably one that uses the terms "rape" or perhaps "pedophilia")

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>~2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>

 

[Ris3n_Da3mon]

(Preferably one that uses the terms "rape" or perhaps "pedophilia")

Or both.

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