how much video mem?

[gangster]

with a limit of 1280x1024 and 32bit color is there any way i might benefit from more than 128mb of video memory? i don't do photo shop, etc. only ganes, so i might run fsaa or aa up high if i have the horsepower to get acceptable frame rates. would this tap out 128mb?

system memory is 1gig and i use w2k.

thanks for any help!

[Fluff]

I would probably get a 256 mb one personally. It's only a little more. Future games might make more use of the extra memory.

You probably already know this but remember for example.

A 6600GT 256mb, will be slower than a 6800GT 128mb.

[Wombat]

Yes, 256MB will help compared to 128MB, especially with future games. That RAM is used for textures and whatnot, and with my 128MB card I could sometimes tell when the textures were being swapped in and out of the card.

[greinedo]

Also yes, you need more than 128MB if you turn on AA/AF. I see it clearly with my ASUS 6800GT 128MB. My scores are very good w/o AA/AF, but not good with AA/AF turned on, compared to a standard 6800GT 256MB.

[Kurt]

OT: Greinedo, ta RAM ne tient pas le coup Ã* 510MHz ou c un prob avec la carte-mère??

[gangster]

thanks for the advice.

now i need a 256mb card. it seems a 6600gt 256 performs the same as a 9800pro 256 and i doubt that that is fast enough to be good a couple years. i see the 6800gt 256 at $280 and a basic ati x800 256 at $260. always thought ati had better image quality, at least from the searches on this forum.

any other card you think i should consider guys?

thx!

[Nowhere]

A little topic stealing: do you guys think that a Radeon 9550/9600/perhaps overclocked close to 9600Pro can benefit from 256?

[Wombat]

thanks for the advice.

now i need a 256mb card. it seems a 6600gt 256 performs the same as a 9800pro 256 and i doubt that that is fast enough to be good a couple years. i see the 6800gt 256 at $280 and a basic ati x800 256 at $260. always thought ati had better image quality, at least from the searches on this forum.

any other card you think i should consider guys?

thx!

Love my card, and it was $300. Depends on what games you play, I suppose.

[mmp121]

@NOWHERE

No it probably won't make much difference. Definately not with a 9550. That's a crap card. I don't even think a 9600 OC'd to 9600XT speeds will make a big dfference. You would be better off getting an NV 6600GT.

[Kurt]

The 6600GT is really the best bang for the buck right now. Next is the FX5900XT at about 30-50% cheaper.

The next one will be the X800XL when the price moves down slightly.

[Nowhere]

Crap? Costs 50 € and can be in every case overclocked at least to 9600 level...(basically it's underclocked 9600...)

[greinedo]

Be careful ! I had a 6600 GT (wich died) before buying the 6800 GT. While the 6800 GT is real cool (GPU freq=350 and memory bus=256 bits), the 6600 GT was hot and loud (GPU freq = 500, memory bus =128 bits only ).

The 6600 GT had a good speed (before dying), but at the expense of a too high gpu frequency (500 MHZ). This lead to many problems (heat, loud fans, higly sensitive to power supply quality, jerky video playback or freezings in 3D apps).

The 6800GT wich replaced my 6600GT is cool and has better score with only 350 MHZ core. It has also better overcloking potential (I'm runing always at 425MHZ core without any problem). It is a troublefree card. My opinion is that the 256 bit memory bus is also an important thing to consider.

That's why I advise 256 MB ram but also 256 bit memory bus.

In my case, the fact that the 6800 GT is AGP native is also important (I have an AGP motherboard). I think I killed the 6600GT (PCie native with bridge) while overclocking and the AGP to PCIe bridge burned.

@Kurt :
OT : Ce n'est pas ma RAM qui ne tiens pas le coup, c'est mon processeur A3500+ qui fait des erreurs sous Prime95 ou OCCT dès que je monte au-dela de FSB220 en mode synchrone 1:1. J'ai du récuperer un des premier CPU limite en specifs ! Du coup, les meilleures performances avec ce CPU sont obtenus en mode asynchrone (DDR333). Mais commes les timings mémoires sont agressifs, je ne pense pas perdre beaucoup au change.

[gangster]

thx for all the info, i ordered an ati x800xl 256 at $281 retail delivered. it ought to be sweet!

[Mehen]

yeah, i was about to recommend a X800XL 256mb, very close in performance to a 6800GT but cheaper, im sure you will be happy with it

[Kurt]

@greinedo: y'a moyen pour toi de verifier la freq exacte de la RAM en synchrone? avec CPU-Z ou qqch. Le BIOS ne donne pas tjs la bonne freq. ça parait bizarre qu'Ã* 220MHz elle ne fonctionne pas mais Ã* 255 oui.

l'Athlon64 Ã* u nmode bien Ã* lui de régler la freq de la RAM (cf article sur anandtech.com).