What is needed for gaming at 1080p?

[Guest]

I rushed into ordering a pair of EVGA GTS 450 cards to run in SLI because I could have two cards within my budget. But then I read these cards may not be ideal for gaming at 1920x1080 which is the native resolution of my LED display. I read that 1GB of video RAM may not be adequate for unconstrained frame rates at 1080p. My first question is, if I'm running two 1GB cards in SLI, is this the equivalent of 2GB or no?

It's okay with me if I can't run every game on it's highest AA and shader settings. I just want to avoid jerky frame rates at 1080p. It's not too late to return one of the cards and I can sell the other on ebay if I would be way better off with a single card for the same price (roughly $200 invested in the GTS 450's accounting for rebates). So would I be way better off with say one GTX 460?

Thanks.

 

[monkeysweat]

a single 450 should be 'good enough' to game at 1080p,, just not at highest settings,, 2 450s should blow away a single 460,, however a single 460 is pretty good, too

the 450 is considered the xbox killer as it is the first card in it's price range capable of same frame rates at 1080p with similar graphics quality of a xbox for less than the cost of an xbox - 2 of them should be better, but then you also chance microstutter, etc,, but if you already have the card, try it out, it still may be good enough for you.

i personally have a 460 768MB model, i don't run it on 1080 panel so I can't personally confirm capabilities there, but i can run 720 panel or 22 inch monitor and only come to 60% (at most) usage when playing fallout 3 with everything fully maxed. and have zero stutter at a constant 60fps

 

[Guest]

Thanks that was an extermely helpful frame of reference actually. I played Fallout 3 on the Playstation 3 and I was hoping to get at least that level of performance. I know you said Xbox but that's probably pretty close if not better. People on the PS3 forums are really sensitive to comments about games looking better on Xbox than on PS3. Personally I don't care and I always figured it was probably true the Xbox gets a little ahead of PS3. I digress.

One thing I'm looking forward to is Skyrim on this new system I'm building, so thanks again for putting it in terms of Fallout 3 on a console. Very helpful given that I've been playing the PS3 instead of PC gaming for the last couple of years.

 

[mactronix]

First off no its not the same as having 2GB, each card has to have a copy of the info the other has so you have for all intents and purposes 1GB of Vram at your disposal.

You may have been able to do better but i don't think by much. A lot depends on what the clocks on your cards are. here is a review that shows the differences and includes stock clocks as well as factory overclocked settings.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTS_450_SLI/1.html

Mactronix

 

[monkeysweat]

and yes, the 1GB per card does not equal 2GB,, it just means both cards have a 1 GB buffer,, the big difference between 1 & 2 GB cards is just how many textures can be loaded at any given time,, so if field of view can be infinity or LOTS of textures (GTA IV) it will kill you frame rates and you will just need to lower that setting.

 

[Wamphryi]

I can play GTA 4 on full settings with draw distance set at 95 with a GTX 560 Ti. My GTX 460 with 768 MB RAM could not get the draw distance above 30 from memory. Resolution is 1080 P.

 

[monkeysweat]

^^ ya, that was my example,, also a 560 runs circles around a 460 768MB model because it also had the bandwith attached to the ringbus or something like that, but larger memory gave you more bandwith and is why the 1GB model was better.

 

[vcarl]

Minimum to run games pretty well on high in my experience is a 5770. I had one for a few months before crossfiring, and it ran everything I had on high or high-medium without getting below 45fps. A friend has a 460 768mb and it ran everything great as well.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

i have a 6850 and can't run everything maxed out at 1080p, but it runs more demanding games at high detail, so id say bare minimum for an enjoyable experience you need a 6850 or gtx460, preferable something better though. 1gb ram is enough though.

 

[Onus]

I tested my mostly older games (e.g. UT2K4, Guild Wars; some newer, non-demanding like Torchlight) and found that a lowly HD6670 could max them (including AA) at 1920x1080 with the frame rate pegged at 60. It all depends on the game. Anything newer I'd need to turn down; I've heard some people say they like to play SC2 on LOW settings because it minimizes screen clutter.
Since you have them, as monkeysweat said, try it out, then decide.