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Is it really necessary to get 256mb card?
pnKroK
Member Posts: 7
Hello out there...
Its been a while now since i need a new video card. I've been doing quite a bit of research and I've looked at benchmards and all that. The thing i can't quite decide is whether I should get a video card with 128mb of ram or 256mb? Is the 256mb REALLY gonna make that much of a difference from the 128? Or is that something that will come handy in the future and isn't quite used yet?
I'm specifically looking at a card with the nVidia GeForce 6800 chip... either the 6800 or 6800GT.
So...like i said before, is it really necessary to jump up to the 256mb of ram?
Currently I'm running a Asus A7V motherboard with 1333Mhz AMD chip. 768mb of ram.
My motherboard only supports up to AGP4X so that might have a little bit of a factor.
I'm holding out for either WoW or EQ2 (leaning more towards EQ2).
Any comments would be more than appreciated.
Thanks,
-rob C
Comments
Well u will be able to run all games with 128mb but if u can afort <--- spelling? 256mb do it, at some ponit u gonna need it anyway.
And since u are leaning to EQ II i would guess that 256mb would be the choice
It all depends on the card. Take the Radeon 9800 Pro, that one only has 128MB and its much better then say a gForce FX 5700 with 256MB. Just need to go look at the benchmarks.
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These are just my opinions, please direct your opinions of my opinions to your mama, not me and the other readers.
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Win XP Pro
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
1600 Mhz FSB
1 Gig PC3200 DDR400 RAM
160 Gig Ultra ATA HD
GeForce FX5700 256MB AGP
SoundBlaster Live 5.1
8X DVD+/-RW
not right now.
But I guarantee you it'll be a requirement in the next three to five years. You can still play high demanding games on a 128 card (provided that its a decent card).
Ive played Doom3 and EQ2 with a 4600 128 and I havent had a lick of problems.
RAM, however, is another story and one I would recommend you investing in. 1 gig is going to be the required standard VERY soon.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
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Originally posted by Jerek_
I wonder if you honestly even believe what you type, or if you live in a made up world of facts.
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The ONLY thing you need 256 Mb graficmemory is for running a game at 1600x1200 or higher with a lot of FSAA and/or anistropicfilthering...
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20030604/index.htmlCyan
Cyan
Exactly.
You need to get the video card that will suit your needs. I recently bought one and here is the list I checked off, yours may be different.
Graphics quality - does the card produce the best possible graphics with all the bells and whisltes (mentioned above) turned on?
Technology - Does the card have cutting edge technology that will ensure it's life span for at least a couple of years? Will developers really be writing games to take advantage of it's full potential? This time around, nvidia has gone ahead of the curve by added another addition to directX, something Ati has done in the past to push their cards slightly ahead. Whether this will be used in games to come or not is not known. PCI Express is a new technology that may be worth looking into, if you'd like to upgrade your motherboard anytime . . .
Performance - Is it fast enough? With all the options turned on, will my games crawl or will I get a good FPS? Do I have to settle for a lower resolution or turn down the graphics quality to help the card perform better?
Compatability - Does this thing fit into my computer? They are getting bigger, some take up 2 slots (your AGP and then they block a PCI). They require more power (both the high end nvidia and ati need to be plugged into your power supply). I avoided the nvidia for this reasonl, only to find out later that they were "conservative" in their estimate for the needed 480 Watt power supply.
Special Options - I am an nvidia fan. I love their video cards, but Ati has won me over with the 2 cards I recently bought from them (Ati Radeon 9800 XT and Radeon X800 XT). This time around, it was nothing other than the bundle that convinced me to buy Ati. With the 9800 XT bundle I am getting Half-Life 2!
Things like this can really help you decide which way to go if you are stuck on both of them . . .
Now to answer the question, do you need a 256 mb card, I say look at what games you are playing now or plan to play in the future and gauge from that. Personally I got a computer designed for games of the future, especially Everquest II, so 256 mb is important. For older games or games that do not require the graphical output, a 128 should be fine. It's all how you look at it, and how you want your games to look and perform.
On a side note, one good thing stores like Best Buy do, is they let you buy a video card and return it within I think 30 days, even after it is opened and used. I would buy a card from a store that allows you to do this in case you wind up changing your mind and need to return or exchange . . .
One final word of caution! Don't look at game boxes and intro screens and let the advertisements fool you. Yeah, sure, the game probably does run great on an nvidia. We all "know" they run best on P4's. And of course "everything" plays best on an Alienware. I am being sarcastic, these are all just commercials. Too many people think that when they see nvidia or Ati tagged onto a game, it means that game will run better with that type of card. That is false. It just means that brand is supporting the game, just as Tiger Woods supports Nike. Doesn't mean he would suck if he wore addidas.
WOW!!
Thanks everyone, for being so cool!!
I love message boards sometimes. At times you get the goofs who just don't offer any really substantial advice...but this time was good!
Well, i guess i still need to do some reading on what i really need to get in terms of a card.
i'm not CRAZY about running games at super high resolutions. Ideally i think i'd like to run EQII at 1024X768 with all the rest of the bells and whistles turned up as much as possible. I do realize once you start turning things up...things are going to slow down and maybe the extra ram might kick in and help a bit? BUt...i can also tolerate not having ALL the settings cranked up to 10. I don't mind turning up the suck and turning down the good a hair!! haha
When it all comes down to it...its about framerates. NOBODY wants a choppy game!!
Soooo...I'd like to stick with nVidia and i'm able to afford the 6800GT -256mb ram...i hope!! haha
One other question that i have is...
whats up with this PCI express now? I am considering upgrading my motherboard and cpu and ram later in the future (when i can afford it). Should i SERIOUSLY consider getting one of these PCI express cards? I don't have a PCI express slot in my computer...do i need a PCI express slot in my computer to run one of those cards? Will it make a difference if i have a pci express card (assuming i can run it in a normal pci slot) running in a pci slot over running a regular AGP card in my AGP slot?
Or should i just stick with the AGP card and just deal with it. Are future motherboards even going to have AGP slots?
Thanks once again!
-rob C
ack...one last question
are there any good/reliable sites for benchmark results on the most recent cards?
I checked out this one website...in russia? Thats all i've really looked at...i haven't really done too much of a search.
thanks!
Yeah, I'd do Betty....
But I'd be thinking about Wilma.
Well first of all if you choose to get a 6800GT then I'm sure you will be able to run EQ2 @ 1024x768, now based upon the rest of your system specs I'm sure that the game would get choppy in many of the crowded areas and as well if you tried to increase certain aspects to make the game seem nice but turn down the ones you consider useless the game will undoubtable be hesitant in less crowded areas. with the system you have now even if you got a GT you would not be able to turn all the settings or half the settings up to max.
Really if you are chooseing from just the 6800 or the 6800GT I would choose the GT considering that it has more memory pipelines than the 6800, i.e. 6800=12 6800GT=16. The pipelines will determine the amount of data/instructions that can be sent and recieve within a clock set. But the reason I say this even though your mobo will not be able to support all of the throughput data because it is only 4X AGP, you will undoubtably upgrade later on. @ that point you will probably have to upgrade your cpu,mobo and memory at the same time, but that depends upon wether you have DDR or not, judgeing from the vague description that you gave of your cpu I would bet that you don't have DDR.
PCI-E is basicly a pci card that transfers @ 16X as opposed to the latest AGP witch transfers @ 8X. Obviously it seems like a no brainer; 'the #'s are double,so it is twice the speed,so it is twice as fast!
' Truthfully it is not that simple, but you seem concerned about prices so If I were you I wouldn't worry about it. If you bought a PCI-E card you would still be able to use it in your comp, but it wouldn't perform to it's maximum potential, obviously. Now if you ran a PCI-E card in your comp now, the AGP card would definitly out perform it because AGP slots are designed to be utilized for graphic cards and usually have better transfer rates and better comunication with memory and cpu processes.
Future motherboards will definitly have AGP slots, alot of people want to think that since PCI slots are jumping ahead for now that AGP will never catch up, It all comes down to wether or not PCI has a better structure for future expansions in bandwidth or if AGP has larger potential.
Sites for Benchmarks:
http://www.guru3d.com
http://www.futuremark.com :Great for info and benchmark utilities, decent community as well.
http://www.tweaktown.com
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/ :Decent for info sometimes.
Your scathing wit and daring insight into the turbulent political crags of the internet are shining beacons of truth and purity for the slight remaining masses of visionless hypocriticial sheep who bleat at the thought of your glory
Your scathing wit and daring insight into the turbulent political crags of the internet are shining beacons of truth and purity for the slight remaining masses of visionless hypocriticial sheep who bleat at the thought of your glory
I have a 6800gt, A64 3200+ and 1 gig of ram, here are scores from a few benchmarks ive run
- 3dmark2001 - 22650
- 3dmark2005 - 4360 (This is lower than it should be because im on a college network and i had to reformat and wheni did i got a massive amount of spyware, so ill reformat when i go home again and update the score, which should be in the 5000 range)
Doom 3, time demo 1 - High Quality (no AA/Af): 1600x1200 = 61.4fps
1024x768 = 81 fps
UT2k4 (no demo, just average fps ingame) at highest possible settings with 1600x1200 is generally 50-60.
thanx again for all the replies...
correct me if i'm wrong...but doesn't connection speed have anything to do with choppiness too?
I DO realize that when it is a really populated area there is WAYYYY more to process...but please tell me it has something to do with connection speed too?!?!?
I figure i'm gonna stick with the 6800GT 256. I might as well spend the extra cash and get that little bit of kick.
I don't expect to run things at all super high settings. I'll be happy enough to bump things down and suffer a bit...but not toooo much.
I do realize that my system is a little out of date...but as soon as the money fairy decides to visit me, then i'll most definetly do some upgrading.
DDR? I'm assuming you're talking about the memory(RAM) on my motherboard? I just bought a 512mb ram simm and its PC-133 type ram...so no DDR for me!
One more silly question...
I've read/heard rumors that prices on cards are supposed to drop a hair in the near future...is this probably true? Or should i just stop pissing around an go get the friggin' card.
If anyone is curious how it runs on my system...once i get the card i'd be happy to post some benchmark results.
thanx again!
http://www.treasuretrooper.com/224628
i just bought a new geforce fx5700 256mb card for my 2 year old dell (
) and i read somewhere that my thing came with a 250 watt powersupply.... i know that is pretty low, would i have to upgrade it to use a new vid card?
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LlamaScat - PS - Emerald
Zimok - WoW - PvP Server
Zimok - SWG - Bloodfin
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Zimok - PS - Emerald
Zimok - SWG - Bloodfin
Gcard type most important.
If you get a 128mb R9800pro and put t against a 256mb 5700 the R9800pro will beat the 5700 silly.
Though i would suggest maybe slowly upgrading your mobo and RAM before slotting in a 6800GT to get the full value of the Gcard.
I just got a new laptop to replace my desktop. I'd just like to give you an example of how well you can do with just a 128 MB card. On this laptop I have a 3ghz P4, 1 gig of RAM, and only a 4800 RPM HDD. Plus the ATI 9700 mobility with 128 mb of Vmem. I can run Doom 3 with the Ultra setting and get 60 FPS. I get a few slowdowns when the combat starts or when you look at certain objects, but the fps rarely drops below 40-50 fps. It runs very nicely I must say myself.
In response to the poster that said don't pay attention to games that advertise they run best on certain video cards (ie GeForce or ATI). While these are marketing gimmics they are also factual points. Each video chipset has their own set of drivers, software, and hardware architecture. Games nowadays are built around whatever company is paying them the most. The architecture they are based off of is usually a bid process, however, games can be designed around a certain video card series. What this ends up meaning is that the drivers are more widely supported so while you may not always perform better your less likely to run into problems running that game on the supported card.
"Feel free to hate me, but hate me for the right reasons."
"Your still ignorant if you believe the first thing you see when the blindfold is removed."
"Be smart enough to know I'm smarter than you."
AH HAH!!!
Now here's the million dollar question!
Do i splurge and get the 6800GT 256mb, and then upgrade my mobo/cpu/ram in the next 6-12months?
Or do i just get a relatively cheap card ($200-$400) and sweat it out and get a new system. And then probably i'm gonna want a new video card at that time then?
Or is there a relatively cheap card now...that i'll be happy with for quite a while even when i get a new system?
Is the system (mobo/cpu/ram) really that much more important that the grafix card?
I guess you could either weight it one way or another.
Thanks
The mobo, cpu, and memory are not more important than the video card but they all have to be of equal quality. Lets put it this way...Imagine your computer like a car...you have an old crank starting engine (that would be your CPU), you have bike wheels (maybe your memory), you have a giant tin box as your chassis (this would be your mobo), and then you put on some super powerful nitros with a giant Nitro container. Well obviously if you tried to nitro in a car like that your car is likely to fall apart. While your computer won't fall apart having a screaming video card with tons of memory is pointless if you don't have the RAM to store the things the program needs to put in memory just to run, the CPU to cycle through the inputs and outputs that the program is sending to and from the RAM and video card, and if your mobo isn't well designed with good software/drivers to back it up your parts won't be able to communicate well. Remember, the CPU takes information from both the memory and video card and the program uses both at the same time. And of course the mobo connects all of these parts together.
"Feel free to hate me, but hate me for the right reasons."
"Your still ignorant if you believe the first thing you see when the blindfold is removed."
"Be smart enough to know I'm smarter than you."
ok...hehe
LAST QUESTION!!!!
which is gonna be a hard question to answer.
How viable is this card gonna be? I mean...i could spend all this money and get a good card and have it keep up with all the games and stuff for the next....2-3..maybe even 4 years?
Or should i just get a mid-level card and and be happy with that for a while.
I can definetly see myself upgrading my system in the next 6 months. So...toughing it out with my system and the new awesome-o card won't be that bad. Quite frankly...i'm hoping that things will run quite nicely. I'm not expecting everything to be jacked up to full rez and settings...at this time. And i figure that things will probably run atleast smoothly until i can upgrade.
haha...
DUDE!!! JUST GET IT OVER WITH!
I love to hum and haw about all this stuff.
I really do appreciate all the feedback.
Although...if i do decide to go with a lower/mid-range card...are there any suggestions?
-rob C
Here would be my recommendation to you.
A) Get a laptop like me and then you get a sweet package deal or...
If you don't need new peripherals (monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc.) wait a while and get a new tower. If you just wait a while you can get the price drop and you'll get in right at the time where all of the top of the line stuff needed for the latest games will no longer be the top and will be much cheaper. It will then be a few years before games come out that you can no longer run. This way when you install the hardware you will be setting up the rig the way it is meant to be set up. All of the parts working in tandem. You can also get sweet package deals. Mobo/CPU combos save you a ton of money. Many of them you can get the recommended RAM and video card to go with the mobo/cpu for a cheaper price also. Check out the combo deals on www.pricewatch.com and you should see what I mean.
"Feel free to hate me, but hate me for the right reasons."
"Your still ignorant if you believe the first thing you see when the blindfold is removed."
"Be smart enough to know I'm smarter than you."
uhm...
so when exactly is this all wonderful price drop supposed to occur?
I've hear about it all the time, but i don't know when it is.
Isn't it close to christmas!! hehe
No, the new technology is released usually end of Q1 of the new year. You are looking at anywhere between March and May of 06. The PC market is always growing and you can usually count on a new hardware specs every few months but end of Q1 of the new year is almost always when they release their new lines and drop the prices on their old.
"Feel free to hate me, but hate me for the right reasons."
"Your still ignorant if you believe the first thing you see when the blindfold is removed."
"Be smart enough to know I'm smarter than you."