1g v.s. 512mb

[pillfred]

What basically i was wondering is at what point does the extra ram really factor in?
Was considering a build with either of these two cards. From what i can gather from toms hardware is they are about comparable in most bench's with the 9800 usually being somewhat better, even with half the ram. I only run at 1440 atm so resolution isn't really a factor. Though a larger monitor may be next on my list. Just got me curious is all.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125258
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339

 

[Shadowmonk]

The general difference is @ what resolution you play. The more memory the better the card is generally speaking at high resolutions, if you sticking to low rez then theres really no advantage, but it never hurtz to have too much vid mem, if you were to upgrade your display im sure youd see a clear difference at 1680 x 1050 or above.

From my expierience with the g92 core cards like the 9800 GTX+, even with 512mb ram they hold their own pretty darn well against most of the ATI counterparts, but the 4800 series is a generation newer so it may have more punch for a little less money.

 

[JigPu]

It's been a while since I've seriously took a look at how video cards work. That disclaimer aside, I don't imagine there have been any fundamental changes in this area.

Video RAM provides a spot for games to store geometry, textures, and shader programs. It can, of course, store this in system RAM as well if video RAM fills up. The problem with system RAM though is that it's generally slower than video RAM. As long as your video RAM never fills, this isn't a problem. Once it does though, it needs to get rid of some data and copy over other data from the system RAM.

Generally, going with 512MB shouldn't cause that big of a performance hit. Very detailed games enjoy the extra space and don't have to hit system RAM as often, explaining the slight performance bump you see in benchmarks. If you're planning on keeping the card for a long time, the extra RAM may be worth it as games are just getting bigger. If you only plan on keeping the card for one to three years though, it probably isn't worth it.

JigPu

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

the 4850 is a great card, 1G may be a little over what it can use, but mine ran games decent at 1920 x 1080, toss in some overclocking, get the 4850.

 

[pillfred]

AS luck may have it a friend at work said he would be coming into some money and would be getting G295? And thus would be willing to sell me his 9800gtx+ cheap. I was more just prospecting but if the price is right i think im gonna have to jump on it. Ty for the replies as well.

 

[A-Dub]

Here's a pretty good article that shows how much ram is needed for different resolutions/graphics settings:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-ram-4870,2428.html

 

[burningcpu]

In my experience, at 1920X1200 the added RAM really makes a big difference.