CUDA Cores needed?

herboren

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Apr 18, 2011
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I was doing some research on Toms and google. I noticed that CUDA Cores are programmable only by the developer, unlike an actual processor in a computer the CUDA Cores can be modified. I also understand that the memory-interface plays an important role as the bus gets wider the faster that data travels but at the cost of a small percentage of reduced clock speed, unless overclocked. My question is, how many CUDA cores do we actually need for gaming? and with most games coming out, should we invest into more cores and keep a general amount that is needed?

Of course games coming out do require some hefty processing but how do we choose cards with the default count of cores need without sacrificing an arm and a leg. I have adjusted setups in newegg and noticed that the price only jumps higher if I bump up the amount of CUDA cores needed.

I am not really looking for a card I am comfortable with the one I have, but a general question for the public and future buyers.
 
you guys got it all wrong. Cuda cores are the heart and soul of Nvida GPU's just as Stream processors are what AMD calls thiers. When not being used to processess graphics such as rendering your game frames, they are idle and thats where the idea of gpu computing came about. We have the ability to processess many many streams of data with these highly parallel 'cores' and thus the proprietary cuda programming language extensions came about. AMD uses opengl.

Without cuda cores or stream processors your gpu wouldn't be able to do anything. It'd be like having an i7 with no cores.
 



Yes but what games actually use them?