GFX Card

[Neverin]

I'm thinking of getting a new graphics card and I was just wondering something. The graphics cards with less memory render the graphics faster than a graphics card with more memory. I know thats a technical fact, but how is the situation from a practical point of view? Will I notice the difference in rendering time between the cards?

[Lord Riff Raff]

That doesn't make sense, the whole point of RAM is that it takes exactly the same amount of time to read the data from any point in the RAM. The only thing that should effect it is RAM bandwidth. Theres no way an S3 Trio with 4mb of ram can compete with even a TNT2 with 16mb.

What does take more time is how long it takes to render the picture when the entire ram is filled. Which makes sense as it takes longer to process 4mb over 128mb. However the you also get 128mb quality rather than 4mb.

[RoseDragon83L]

I think what this might come from is that in some cases cheaper cards that come out with lower ram actually have faster ram in them then the ones with more ram. Been true alot with nvidia cards, not sure about radeon as I never bothered with them.
For instance when I bought my geforce4ti4200. The model that I got had 64mbs of ram, the model just higher up was the exact same card but had 128mbs of ram. The 64 was clocked higher so in all tests the card with 128 was slower. Same when I got my tnt 16mb. The newer 32's that came out were slower, in some cases cause they used cheaper ram to have the cards less expensive, other cases because they couldn't clock them as high having more heat come from them.

anywho... you won't be able to tell the difference cause one, the difference won't be too great, and two cause you'll only get one card so you won't know what you're missing .
but really in the long run the card with more ram will be better for games that come out next year and the coming years that can make use of the extra ram. So if you upgrade frequently it won't matter, but if you are going to use the card for a while get one with more ram.

as always though, shop around and look up info on them.

[Josh]

I use a GeForce FX 5200, and it works wonders for me. It's only around $100 in the US.

[jerome187]

Yeah, I have a GeForce FX 5200 too, I think I got it for 79$ from newegg.com

Supports dual monitors, has DVI and SVideo out too

[Neverin]

I think we've settled on a Geforce FX 5700 or something...

[Lord Riff Raff]

FX5700 or FX5200 are the ones to get the the cheap cards. Stay way clear of the FX5600 as it's built from the old core rather than the FX5950.

[cougerman]

Originally posted by Vanit
I think we've settled on a Geforce FX 5700 or something...

i bought Geforce FX 5700 after weeks of waiting for the shop to restock it, i'll get it delivered tomorow or tuesday, i'll tell you if its good when i get it, and post screenshots of it

[Bleakvoid]

i have a FX 5600 ultra 128mb, and it works great on my AMD system...

[Shindou Hikaru]

I'm thinking of getting a Radeon 9800 XT.Very high-end card.Is it worth it,though?

[Lord Riff Raff]

It's okay as long as you don't play:

Ut2k3
Games based on the Aquanox engine.
Games using z-buffer for effects.

As for all of the above Radeon drops the quality to get higher fps.


Unless you have a moniter that can do 2048 x (something or other), then it's not really worth it. Just get a FX5700 and buy stuff you can use like fast HDDs and stuff.

[Del_Boy]

I'm thinking of getting a Radeon 9800 XT.Very high-end card.Is it worth it,though?

All depends what games you play or intend on playing. If you intend on playing games such as HL2 when released, then steer clear of the FX5700 the card is a dog (comparatively especially in DX9 codepaths).