128mb vs. 256mb

[Retne]

Out of curiosity I was wondering how big of a performance difference between the 128mb cards and the 256mb cards. If possible give links to benchmarks to give me an idea as well but I'm mainly looking for your opinion

 

[CrimandEvil]

On low end to midrange cards it means little to no difference since the 128-bit memory bus will never be able to fill all that memory and or get all that data to the GPU (also the kind of memory they use on these kind of 256mb cards is slow), it's mostly there for marketing sake.

On highend cards you don't have to worry about the GPU being starved with a 256-bit mem bus and a GPU core fast enough to handle all that data (the memory chips are typically really good as well).

 

[Wolf-R1]

Uh...I think he's asking about storage space rather than bandwidth.

If it is indeed about storage it really depends on the game you're playing and what size textures it will use as well as whether or not you're using the onscreen goodies such as anti-aliasing or the other stuff. Your screen resolution can affect this as well.

 

[Sly]

Well, if the bigger memory can store higher resolution textures/models, but the videocard itself can't render them fast enough unless you switch to low res ones, what's the point?

 

[CrimandEvil]

Well, if the bigger memory can store higher resolution textures/models, but the videocard itself can't render them fast enough unless you switch to low res ones, what's the point?

Exactly, thats the problem.

 

[chrisf6969]

Exactly, thats the problem.

Lets just keep it simple.

IE:
1. don't buy any non-high end part with 256mb, b/c the card can not reap the benefits of that much memory.
(the extra ram is marketing gimmick; ex: you get 6 fps instead of 4 fps at 1600 x 1200 with AA/AF, yes faster but still slideshow)

2. All high end cards that can actually make good use of 256Mb's only come in that (or 512) ex: 6800GT or Ultras, X800XL/XT, X850XT, etc

(excluding Asus's 128Mb 6800GT = rare bird, and handicapped by slow ram)

 

[SEALTeamSix]

1. Don't buy any non-high end part with 256mb - it's not useful.

2. All high end cards that can actually make good use of 256Mb's only come with 256mb (or 512mb, which is useless for now)

Truth++

There might still be some room for discussion about 256mb on an overclocked 9800XT, 5950, or something similar that has a 256-bit bus. Does anyone have information regarding whether 256mb makes a difference on these?

-SEAL

 

[RevMen]

What about on a 9800PRO? I ordered one yesterday to tide me over until I can afford a whole new PCI E system. The price difference between 128 and 256 was small, so I just got a 256. Is there no real performance difference then?

 

[CrimandEvil]

Well for the 9800s I think it doesn't really do much but as you said "it was only a few more $$" and the only real thing I can actually point at (with doing little research) is the old D3 hardware guide's numbers: http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjQ0LDc=

 

[jordan12]

Well for the 9800s I think it doesn't really do much but as you said "it was only a few more $$" and the only real thing I can actually point at (with doing little research) is the old D3 hardware guide's numbers: http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjQ0LDc=

And didnt 9800Pro's run at either a 128 bit bus or a 256 bit? So you had a choice?
Obviously the 256 is the better choice..

 

[CrimandEvil]

No the 128-bit 9800 Pros where a recent thing, more of a cruel joke actually since alot of them were marketed as 9800 Pros without mention of it being 128-bits rather then 256-bits.

 

[chrisf6969]

And didnt 9800Pro's run at either a 128 bit bus or a 256 bit? So you had a choice?
Obviously the 256 is the better choice..

YES, 256-bit bus is ALWAYS better than 128-bit bus.... which is better than 64-bit bus.

On the 9800 / 5900's the 256Mb didn't really make that much a difference.

The next gen 6800/ X800, were much better at using that much memory.

 

[CrimandEvil]

Now what I'm wondering is if the extra memory makes much difference with the 6600/X700 series cards, performance seems to be right around a 9800 Pro so I'm wondering if it matters now.

 

[SEALTeamSix]

Now what I'm wondering is if the extra memory makes much difference with the 6600/X700 series cards, performance seems to be right around a 9800 Pro so I'm wondering if it matters now.

Well, the 6600 and x700 both have a 128-bit bus, so they might be too choked to be able to effectively use 256mb. However, they use GDDR3 at much higher speeds than the older 256-bit cards, so that might alleviate some of the bandwidth bottleneck. I'm not sure though - anyone else know?

I do remember reviews showing that 256mb on older 256-bit cards didn't do much, but the 256mb on older cards might not have been utilized because the games weren't coded for it (aka didn't have large textures, complex filtering, etc), so maybe newer, more advanced games could use the extra memory better. That's just me speculating, but I'm sure someone could put some numbers to it.

-SEAL