View Full Version : 512 vs 1gb
I'm in the market for a new card.
I game at 1920x1080.
I'm having a hard time deciding what card to purchase; I don't want to spend more than 150$.
I have been looking at EVGA's b-stock, and notice a few options.
they have a 1gb memory 8800GT or a 512 8800GTX; I know the GTX is "faster", but since I play at a high resolution, do I really need to look for a card with higher memory?
don'tknow
10-10-08, 02:02 AM
At 1920x1080 you will need a 1GB card, especially with AA/AF on. 512mb handles 1680x1050 and below just as well, but beyond that it starts to suffer.
thideras
10-10-08, 02:04 AM
At 1920x1080 you will need a 1GB card, especially with AA/AF on. 512mb handles 1680x1050 and below just as well, but beyond that it starts to suffer.I play games at 1920x1200 with my 9800GTX without issues, AA/AF included. Heck, I even play some games at 3840x1200 with no issues. 1gb is unneeded...
chevro1et
10-10-08, 06:52 AM
It may be unneeded but it can give a slight boost to performance at higher resolutions:
Guru3D HD4870 1024mb review (http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-ati-radeon-hd-4870-1024mb-review/8)
Granted, it is an ATi product, but have a look thru the performance graphs.
Well I'd definitely get a 4870 if I wanted to spend that much, but I'm mostly looking at 3xxx series ATI cards or 8xxx series Nvidia cards. Thanks for the link though.
On a related note; would you pay 30 bucks more for a 9800 GTX over an 8800 GTX? I'm getting the feel that it's really not worth it, as they're essentially the exact same thing.
thideras
10-10-08, 10:03 AM
On a related note; would you pay 30 bucks more for a 9800 GTX over an 8800 GTX? I'm getting the feel that it's really not worth it, as they're essentially the exact same thing.The two cards are very different. The 8800GTX is the older G80 core. The 9800GTX is the new G92 core.
What is the difference?
The G80 core had less processing power but better memory throughput.
The G92 core has more processing power but has less memory throughput.
That means with high AA/AF, the 8800GTX should be slightly faster.
Honestly though, just get the 9800GTX. ;)
Yeah, seems to be the best option. Thanks Thideras.
thideras
10-10-08, 01:18 PM
No problem :thup:
White_Pawn
10-10-08, 02:37 PM
hd4850 not an option?
Mr.Guvernment
10-10-08, 03:28 PM
as said you DONT need 1G with the newer cards i would say a 4850 as it is an awsome card.
older cards arent powerful enough to even use 1G anyways. the 4870 barely benefits from 1G vs 512 right now
Blazing fire
10-13-08, 03:34 AM
as said you DONT need 1G with the newer cards i would say a 4850 as it is an awsome card.
older cards arent powerful enough to even use 1G anyways. the 4870 barely benefits from 1G vs 512 right now
Agreed. Check up (H)ard OCP: http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTU2MiwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==
For those lazy ones
We know there are really two games here you are most interested in, the new ones of course, Crysis: Warhead and Stalker: Clear Sky. In that regard we really wanted to know if the 1GB Radeon HD 4870 would provide us a better gameplay experience, especially in a game like Clear Sky. Well, yes and no. We need to be careful here how we explain this, because while it didn’t offer us better framerates allowing higher visual settings, it certainly did give us a tangible smoother gameplay experience that can certainly be felt when playing.
...
in order to achieve real MSAA at all you have to run in the highest level DX10 mode in the game, which is a very demanding setting. The only way we could run at this setting was to lower Sun Quality, Sun Rays and SSAO to “Low.” We just weren’t able to run the game at settings high enough to reflect any difference in the video cards. The game is simply GPU limited with the hardware we used here today.
...
Now, while all that is true, the 1GB video card did actually help us in another way, a way which we cannot exactly show you here, only try to explain to you. We are gamers and so are you; when you play a game part of the immersion is the fact that it runs smoothly and consistently without pausing, stopping, or getting choppy. This is where the 1GB 4870 video card actually helped us. With the 512MB Radeon HD 4870 we encountered some lag or pausing when you complete one task and have the next task loading. We also noticed some lag and pausing when moving into new areas, new buildings, new scenes that were loading into view. However, with the 1GB 4870 these pauses didn’t occur at all, there were smoother transitions through the Stalker world as we would walk or run through it. When we entered new areas, new buildings, or new tasks loaded it was seamless, just the way we’d expect it to be, and thus in that way it helps the gameplay experience positively. It should also be noted the GTX 260 was also smoother in this way, because it too has a large memory capacity.
The same was true for Crysis as well
...
main advantage we enjoyed in games was a smoother more seamless immersive quality of play.
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