8800 GTS VRAM

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Crash250f

Gawd
Joined
Nov 9, 2007
Messages
640
Let me start by saying, I am only just getting into hardware as a hobby, so my knowledge is probably below average around here.

I'm planning on buying an fhd2400 monitor tomorrow, for the 1920x1200 glossy screen gaming awesomeness. My plan now, is to get one of the new g92 8800GTS to handle that resolution. From the benchmarks that somebody recently posted, it seems like a good card for this purpose.

My problem is that I was under the impression that the 1GB verson would be the ideal choice for running at a high res, but I was looking at the VGA tables in Tom's Hardware (I know its not considered a great source around here) and saw something that bothered me. In Oblivion, at 1920x1200, no AA, 8x AF...a game I will be playing...the 8800GTS 320mb actually came out marginally higher than the 640mb version, and the OC'd 320mb beat them both by a good bit.

I know this may involve speculation, but will the 1GB version of the g92 GTS get significantly higher fps at higher resolutions than the 512mb version? I would have thought so until I saw those charts, and now I'm confused. :(
 
Crash250f said:
Let me start by saying, I am only just getting into hardware as a hobby, so my knowledge is probably below average around here.

I'm planning on buying an fhd2400 monitor tomorrow, for the 1920x1200 glossy screen gaming awesomeness. My plan now, is to get one of the new g92 8800GTS to handle that resolution. From the benchmarks that somebody recently posted, it seems like a good card for this purpose.

My problem is that I was under the impression that the 1GB verson would be the ideal choice for running at a high res, but I was looking at the VGA tables in Tom's Hardware (I know its not considered a great source around here) and saw something that bothered me. In Oblivion, at 1920x1200, no AA, 8x AF...a game I will be playing...the 8800GTS 320mb actually came out marginally higher than the 640mb version, and the OC'd 320mb beat them both by a good bit.

I know this may involve speculation, but will the 1GB version of the g92 GTS get significantly higher fps at higher resolutions than the 512mb version? I would have thought so until I saw those charts, and now I'm confused. :(
Click to expand...

Not at all. They should be about the same. There's a 1 GB version of the HD 2900 XT, which could've used the 512 bit memory interface to its fullest, but it provided minimal performance differences. If this 1 GB variant of the new GTS model really exists, the same will happen.
 
Firstly, the 320 only appears slightly faster in Oblivion because there's some significant variability in the way they have to benchmark it (with FRAPS runs). Half a frame per second is well within the margin of error, and realistically, the GTS 640 should always perform as well as, or outperform, the GTS 320.

Now, as for whether or not you want or need the 1GB variant (which hasn't been confirmed as far as I'm aware), that's entirely up to you. Is 512MB enough? Generally, yes. Almost always, in fact.

Go for the 1GB model if you want, but don't be surprised to find that you'll rarely reap the benefits, and also don't be too surprised if you find those seldom benefits to be fairly trivial. If not, then you really wouldn't be doing anything wrong by snagging an 8800 GT or an HD3870 now, unless you fancy AA, in which case getting the 3870 would be a mistake. Don't forget about EVGA's Step-Up program either.
 
Thanks for the answer, I hadn't thought about it like that. :)

Just wondering then, what would be the point of the extra memory when its not really being utilized? Marketing?
 
Well, I really do not think there will be 1gb model of GTS.
As somebody have mentioned, look at hd2900xt 1gb model, that card could have been so good. Extra memory helps a ton, so yes, ideally you will see marginal performance increase over 512 version.
 
Oh and phide, I was planning on grabbing an EVGA 8800gt, but they are hard to come by. Figured I could jump on these when they first come out. :p
 
The only snag there is that the new GTSs may, and probably will, command a high price just as the GT did when it was released (and still does today), and availability may be just as poor. Then again, supply might be overwhelming. It's a tough call to make.

My gut tells me that supply is probably going to suck, but if you stay vigilant on the launch date, you should be able to manage to score one (or two!). Good luck :)
 
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