2GB o' RAM w/ 256MB Card....

Which video card ram/system ram choice?

  • High end 256MB card with 2GB of system RAM

    Votes: 106 72.6%

  • Higher end 512MB card with 1GB of system RAM

    Votes: 40 27.4%
  • Total voters
    146
F

foofighter06

Gawd
Joined
Dec 17, 2003
Messages
851
or 1GB of RAM with a 512MB card.

I have about 800 dollars to spend. Should I get a x1800xt with 512MB of RAM, and use my current 1GB of system RAM with that.

Or....Should I get a 7800GTish with 256MB of RAM and get a new set of 2GB RAM.

I'm also going to be getting a 100 dollar Nforce 4 Ultra mobo.

Not concerned with SLI.

I plan on playing; BF2, Q4, CoD2, Doom 3, FarCry and so on. All at 1600x1200, with AA and AF on if performance allows.
 
The 2gb/7800GT would probably benefit you more than the 512mb card. BF2 loves 2gb of RAM
 
Where do I fit in, 7800GT with 2x256 RAM....... :eek:

(Cant have it all I guess, hehe)
 
I would definately go with 2 gb ram and a nice 256mb card. Lots of new games are wanting more and more ram such as BF 2 and FEAR which both like 2GB.

I'm getting my second Patriot XBLK dual channel kit for xmas :D so I'll have 2gb soon :)

Also a friend of mine has a pretty similar system to mine.

AMD 3200+
6800
Only he has 2GB of RAM and in BF 2 he loads at least 10-15 seconds quicker then me and the game runs much smoother especially in those crazy fire fights with people everywhere on maps like karkand.
 
Look at it this way: once you spend $400-500 on a 256 MB card, your stuck with 256 MB vid memory.

You can always upgrade system memory later, when the prices come down, but it will costs lots more to upgrade the video card again.
 
Yes but graphics cards tend to be superceded(sp?) quicker too. Looking at benchmarks, is 512MB really being utilised by the current games on the market?
 
BBA said:
Look at it this way: once you spend $400-500 on a 256 MB card, your stuck with 256 MB vid memory.

You can always upgrade system memory later, when the prices come down, but it will costs lots more to upgrade the video card again.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm thinking. 512MB cards may not be that useful right now in games, but with UE3 around the corner I dont want to be forced to upgrade from a 256MB card. I'd rather just have to upgrade to 2GB of system RAM.

I would love to see some examples of load times in BF with a 512card vs a 256card in a system that has 1GB of RAM.
 
Go with 2GB of system memory. It is accessed way more frequently than graphics memory, and there aren't any GAMES out right now that have a use for 512MB of graphics memory. But system memory, on the other hand, is infinitely useful.
 
Bona Fide said:
Go with 2GB of system memory. It is accessed way more frequently than graphics memory, and there aren't any GAMES out right now that have a use for 512MB of graphics memory. But system memory, on the other hand, is infinitely useful.
Click to expand...

That seems to be the winning argument.

So you fellas don't think Quake 4, or BF2 at 1600x1200 would use 512MB of video RAM?
 
Bona Fide said:
Go with 2GB of system memory. It is accessed way more frequently than graphics memory, and there aren't any GAMES out right now that have a use for 512MB of graphics memory. But system memory, on the other hand, is infinitely useful.
Click to expand...


Don't buy that argument.

Every review you will see where a 256 MB card is compared at high resolutions with FSAA shows a drop off in performance in all games. The reviews with 512 MB cards do not show near as much drop off in performance at high res fsaa settings.

In fact, if you plan on upgrading anything later, the mem is the only choice you want to skimp on right now.
 
That's just it.

I should have said that I want to play all my games at 1600x1200. With AA and AF on if performance allows. So I would think that a 512MB card may improve my FPS at that rez, while 2GB of ram would only help load times.
 
Thats my thought exactly, which is why I ordered 7800GTX 512, I play everything at native res (16x12 on Dell FP2001). I will just keep the 1GB ram I have for now and upgrade later.
 
In my opinion, don't get either. I don't think the performance increase justifies the cost. Most benchmarks I've see have been marginal gains for both upgrades. If you save the money now, then later on when the upgrade is more justifiable, the 512mb cards will be based on better cards.
 
jdLordHelmet said:
In my opinion, don't get either. I don't think the performance increase justifies the cost. Most benchmarks I've see have been marginal gains for both upgrades. If you save the money now, then later on when the upgrade is more justifiable, the 512mb cards will be based on better cards.
Click to expand...

I completely agreed with that in the last gen cards. When ATi and nVidia first released their 512Mb cards they were absolutely not worth the price. The x800xl 512MB cards, and the 6800GT/Ultra 512MB cards didnt show any improvement in performance with the games out then.

However, with F.E.A.R., Call of Duty 2, BF2, and other new more GPU intensive games; I think a 7800GTX w/512MB or a x1800xt w/512MB would help out.

Of course, what I really need is some numbers to back that up.
 
Definately more system RAM as graphic card dont practically even use 256 MB of VRam installed on them (maybe they will in a year or two)...........
 
hauntedfury said:
Definately more system RAM as graphic card dont practically even use 256 MB of VRam installed on them (maybe they will in a year or two)...........
Click to expand...


If someone says the same thing enough times...do people really start believing it?

I say that because your argument is wrong. Cross compare reviews, you will see the 512 MB cards do not drop FPS near as much as 256 MB cards when the FSAA and res is cranked up.

It does make a difference.
 
I think I remember a review talking about the hitching issue in BF2. I think they mentioned that a 512MB card helps almost as much as having 2GB of ram to eliminate teh problem.

If thats true(im trying to find the review) then I will prolly end up going with a 512MB card and 1GB of RAM.
 
Definitely the 256/2gb choice. Especially if you play a lot of BF2. 512 on the video card is just now barely showing a difference with certain games - but not enough of a difference to make me go buy one. Now if you start playing FEAR you are going to need two 512 video cards, 4gb ram, 2 dual core CPU's, and a small linux cluster to offload some of the shadow and texture processing... (ok that last line was a joke)

EDIT:
BF2 played as smooth as glass for me with a 256mb 6800 GT and 2gb of ram. (1280*1024 everything maxed, 2x aa) Don't rely on one article based on one persons "perception" that that game got way better with 512mb video ram. Wait for next year when you upgrade again to get a 512mb card when it will probably be "the norm"
 
Nohpys said:
Yes but graphics cards tend to be superceded(sp?) quicker too. Looking at benchmarks, is 512MB really being utilised by the current games on the market?
Click to expand...

agreed not alot of the current games utlize that much vidoe card ram, i say get the 2gigs of ram and the 256mb card and by the time the next gen cards come out games will be utilizing the 512mb of vidoe ram, then i would say upgrade your video card
 
Get the extra ram (which is useful regardless of the situation) and the 256 card.

Then get an SLI mobo (if you haven't already ordered the ultra) and get another card later.

This way you'll get up to 512 anyway once you need it, plus you get all that useful RAM
 
Seizure Explosion said:
Get the extra ram (which is useful regardless of the situation) and the 256 card.

Then get an SLI mobo (if you haven't already ordered the ultra) and get another card later.

This way you'll get up to 512 anyway once you need it, plus you get all that useful RAM
Click to expand...

That wouldn't increase the texture buffers for games. I'd still have a 256MB video buffer for newer games... :(
 
2gb of ram will be better for bf2, 512mb card will be better for doom3 (ultra quality mode). That and the 512mb card will be better in high res AA/AF situations, so I'd go with the 512mb card and 1gb ram personally.
 
bobzdar said:
...the 512mb card will be better in high res AA/AF situations, so I'd go with the 512mb card and 1gb ram personally.
Click to expand...

That's the way im leaning.

I want the most FPS in a video game I can get. I'm thinking a 512MB new generation card will give me that.

2GB of ram will not give me more FPS. Unless it stops hitching, or frame skipping.

Im not concerned with overall system performance. Just speed once I get into a game.
 
BBA said:
Look at it this way: once you spend $400-500 on a 256 MB card, your stuck with 256 MB vid memory.

You can always upgrade system memory later, when the prices come down, but it will costs lots more to upgrade the video card again.
Click to expand...

yep. you can always buy more ram later.
 
Let me hijack this thread for a moment, based on the above comments from various members, is there any noticeable difference in game speed to upgrade to a dual core opteron CPU from a regular opteron CPU?

If not, I'll just stick up buying up to 2 GB of RAM and be done with it. In other words, does today's game requires a heavy GPU power, and moderate CPU power, or heavy CPU power w/ moderate GPU power?
 
You can upgrade your system memory, you can't upgrade your videocard memory. Nuff' said.
 
This one is a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned - all your games will run a lot faster with the X1800XT+1GB option. Having 2GB of system RAM instead of 1GB is nowhere near as important as your video card is to the speed of your games. They might load a bit quicker with the extra memory but if frame-rate is more important to you then spend your money on the video card. Apart from BF2, what other games benefit significantly from the extra gig of memory anyway?
 
If you can deal with a few lower settings get the 2GB of ram as you will have better general system preformance. Get a next gen video card if you want to upgrade.
 
coz said:
This one is a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned - all your games will run a lot faster with the X1800XT+1GB option. Having 2GB of system RAM instead of 1GB is nowhere near as important as your video card is to the speed of your games. They might load a bit quicker with the extra memory but if frame-rate is more important to you then spend your money on the video card. Apart from BF2, what other games benefit significantly from the extra gig of memory anyway?
Click to expand...

Compare the answer to that question with the answer to this question: "what games would benefit from having 512MB RAM + faster memory/core speeds?"

I think the choice is obvious.
 
R1ckCa1n said:
Where is the "both a 512MB Card and 2GB of System RAM"?
Click to expand...

I agree 100%, I have 3 gigs of ram and 3 7800GT's in sli and all games run great with all the eye candy maxed out at 1600x1200.

:cool: :p :D
 
System Ram is FAR more important unless you are running insanely high resolutions with uncompressed textures and high anti-aliasing.

Yes, BF2 is helped greatly with 2GB of memory like everybody else is saying.

If you are upgrading to NF4, then go for a card that will last longer.
 
Here's the thing, down the road in a few months AMD will be moving to DDR2, so that means your going to be buying a new motherboard and new memory. So I would highly recommend the 512MB card now, then when you have the money, get DDR2 and a new Mobo.
 
play it smart. get the 7800GT + 1GB now and when new games come out get another 7800GT for SLi. Since you are buying a new Nforce4 mobo just get one that supports SLi.
 
Skyviper said:
Compare the answer to that question with the answer to this question: "what games would benefit from having 512MB RAM + faster memory/core speeds?"

I think the choice is obvious.
Click to expand...


The answer to your question is EVERY GAME.
 
Spare-Flair said:
System Ram is FAR more important unless you are running insanely high resolutions with uncompressed textures and high anti-aliasing.

Yes, BF2 is helped greatly with 2GB of memory like everybody else is saying.

If you are upgrading to NF4, then go for a card that will last longer.
Click to expand...

System RAM is only important is you use enough of it that you need to page to the hard drive.

BF2 is reported to do this, but there is no proof. One ram company did their own test as a sales campaign for their new high speed 2GB memory kits. Independant sites have not been able to reproduce the gains.


On the other hand, there is plenty of proof that every game will benefit from one of the two top end 512 MB cards.

Enough said.
 
We also haven't been considering the performance difference between the X1800XT and the 256MB 7800GTX. The ATI part is going to perform faster and with better Image quality than a 256MB 7800GTX (especially with the recent development where ATI has basically done everything short of officially raising the X1800XT's core clock to 700Mhz; which basically means that you can be assured of a 75Mhz overclock out of the box).

1GB is plenty for 98% of the games out there; and I'm sure that 1GB is still enough for even BF2 and FEAR (it's just that people have 400MB of background processes running while they play their games). If you go through MSCONFIG every now and then and remove unnecessary startup processes you should be able to get your normal RAM usage down to at least 200MB (that would free up space for BF2 and FEAR).
 
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