Is 2Gb Enough?

[Christopher Gonzalez]

Title says it all.

Debating these cards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709%20600030348%20600451269%20600451260%20600007787&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&CompareItemList=48%7C14-162-137%5E14-162-137-TS%2C14-162-144%5E14-162-144-TS&percm=14-162-144%3A%24%24%24%2438%24%24%24%3B14-125-462%3A%24%24%24%2438%24%24%24

First priority is 1080p with high-highest graphics settings (2gb higher clock speed is great), second is future proof (where 4 gigs might be needed).

 

[blackjackedy]

For 1080, 2gb is enough. If you plan on getting a higher res screen sometime in the future however you might want to spend the extra $10 and have the added security as I don't think down the road you'll ever think "damn I really wish I hadn't spent that $10 extra, I could really do with half a tin right now".

 

[michael908]

770 doesn't have enough bandwidth to properly use the extra vram. Benchmarks show that the card is limited by it's own performance rather than the vram when used in 3 monitor setups.

 

[blackjackedy]

The absolute frame rate is often not improved by the extra vram, but it in some games such as crysis 3 it can prevent short but large dips in frames, and textures aren't going to get any smaller in the future

 

[Christopher Gonzalez]

The absolute frame rate is often not improved by the extra vram, but it in some games such as crysis 3 it can prevent short but large dips in frames, and textures aren't going to get any smaller in the future

My main concern is the sacrifice of 100 Mhz for 2 more GB... I'm afraid that if I buy the 4GB, I won't be able to run games as fast, but if I get the faster/less capacity card, I'll run out of VRAM.

 

[Christopher Gonzalez]

770 doesn't have enough bandwidth to properly use the extra vram. Benchmarks show that the card is limited by it's own performance rather than the vram when used in 3 monitor setups.

What exactly do you mean by this? Is it that the memory frequency in a way bottlenecks the GPU?

 

[Uberragen21]

770 doesn't have enough bandwidth to properly use the extra vram. Benchmarks show that the card is limited by it's own performance rather than the vram when used in 3 monitor setups.

What exactly do you mean by this? Is it that the memory frequency in a way bottlenecks the GPU?

What michael908 said is: It's not the amount of memory in current 2GB graphics cards, it's the bandwidth. Even 384bit bandwidth is too small to properly utilize 2GB of memory, let alone 3, 4 or 6GB. Therefore, choosing a high (384bit) bandwidth with the fastest possible memory 1750 MHz is the best route.

 

[ProfoundGlee]

The absolute frame rate is often not improved by the extra vram, but it in some games such as crysis 3 it can prevent short but large dips in frames, and textures aren't going to get any smaller in the future

My main concern is the sacrifice of 100 Mhz for 2 more GB... I'm afraid that if I buy the 4GB, I won't be able to run games as fast, but if I get the faster/less capacity card, I'll run out of VRAM.

Well.... does your monitor even support gaming above 60fps? If not, you shouldn't be that concerned about "running games as fast" as only Crysis 3 and few others regularly break below 60fps at 1080p. I would go 4gb so you can SLI in the future with a multi-monitor set-up, unless your monitor can properly display fast FPS and you have super sensitive vision... then the extra 10^8/s will help more.

 

[Christopher Gonzalez]

The absolute frame rate is often not improved by the extra vram, but it in some games such as crysis 3 it can prevent short but large dips in frames, and textures aren't going to get any smaller in the future

My main concern is the sacrifice of 100 Mhz for 2 more GB... I'm afraid that if I buy the 4GB, I won't be able to run games as fast, but if I get the faster/less capacity card, I'll run out of VRAM.

Well.... does your monitor even support gaming above 60fps? If not, you shouldn't be that concerned about "running games as fast" as only Crysis 3 and few others regularly break below 60fps at 1080p. I would go 4gb so you can SLI in the future with a multi-monitor set-up, unless your monitor can properly display fast FPS and you have super sensitive vision... then the extra 10^8/s will help more.

Well, would a 770 with 4GB still tackle games as well as the Galaxy HOF? I agree that SLI down the road with 4GB would do just fine, but until then, what type of performance can I expect with the 4GB? Also, if I went 4GB, I think it'd be fine to stray from the Galaxy model. Their 2 GB had insane clock speed, but the 4 GB fell behind...

Which one do you think is the best?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709+600007787+600451269+600451260&QksAutoSuggestion=&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Configurator=&IsNodeId=1&Subcategory=48&description=&hisInDesc=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&AdvancedSearch=1&srchInDesc=

(NO EVGA HYDRO COPPER PLEASE!)

I don't know if this is true, but I think EVGA cards just OC the stock GPU and VRAM that's in the stock 770, when other manufacturers use beefier components, but if that isn't the case, then OK! I'm not OCing the graphics card at all, and I know the Windforce is known for that, but I won't OC... If the Gigabyte is really as good as they say, I might adjust the boost clock...

Sorry I'm so lost in this realm, I'm very new to this.

Thanks!