Cards with extra ram

[Monaro]

Something I've been wondering about is video cards that have more ram than the reference cards.

Obviously nvidia and ATI have a certain spec for their cards but manufacturers have room to move for added value, but how much value is it really?

I've noticed in the last generation or so when there's been doubling of the video ram on certain models such as average-spec 256MB boards having 512MB shoehorned in to them that never really seem that much better, and I see now MSI is introducing a 2GB 9600GT. Is the GPU designed or even able to really take advantage of all that extra ram? I might be mistaken, but they never seem to be on performance boards, more on mid-range cards which makes me think it's more of a numbers gimmick.

 

[TerraPhantm]

The extra memory is useless in most cases because the memory bus is too small to fill up that extra buffer quick enough.

 

[Valset]

2gb would be useful only for certain things, none of is gaming. the 1GB cards (single GPU) are really only good if your doing high rez AA and such. There are apps that will make good use of the extra memory, esp soft modded cards. it probably is a gimmick as the market for high memory cards is probably pretty small.

 

[MrGuvernment]

Marketing, nothing more then marketing, people think more ram = faster card and 8800Gt cant even use 1G well enough, the GPU just arent powerful enough.

 

[Nenu]

If running at 1920 / 2048 res or higher and have enough GPU power left to use the higher AA modes, 1GB of graphics ram will be needed.
ie For those running SLI or higher at those resolutions, you will be happier with 1GB cards (and around 3GHz Intel C2D/Quad) to get the most from the cards.

 

[future145]

along time ago people said the same thing with 512mb

 

[Diablo2K]

along time ago people said the same thing with 512mb

And at that time it was true. Most of the time when cards have more memory than the referance cards they offer little to no help in performance.

 

[Monaro]

Cheers for confirming guys, as I suspected - a marketing gimmick. Can't wait to see someone with 32-bit Windows with 4GB of ram and a 2GB video card

 

[Somnambulator]

if the card cant work fast enough to fill the additional 512MB of a 1GB 8800GT or similar, then it's all marketing. As [H] has already shown with i believe the Asus 8800GT 1GB, it's 100% marketing for all current cards.

 

[SamuraiInBlack]

if the card cant work fast enough to fill the additional 512MB of a 1GB 8800GT or similar, then it's all marketing. As [H] has already shown with i believe the Asus 8800GT 1GB, it's 100% marketing for all current cards.

But isn't that also because none of the vendors have put that extra memory on the flagship cards? I've noticed that it tends to be the midrange to low end cards that they stick more memory onto, rather than say a 9800GTX.

 

[cannondale06]

if the card cant work fast enough to fill the additional 512MB of a 1GB 8800GT or similar, then it's all marketing. As [H] has already shown with i believe the Asus 8800GT 1GB, it's 100% marketing for all current cards.

well that is true for the most part but Hard makes its conclusions on 3 games which is pretty damn silly. If you look at other reviews out there you will see that the 8800gt with 1024 does help in some games in some situations. Nvidia is very ineffient compared to ATI with its memory. for example the 8800gt 256mb nosedives much more than a 3850 256mb compared to their respective 512mb models.

 

[Valset]

But isn't that also because none of the vendors have put that extra memory on the flagship cards? I've noticed that it tends to be the midrange to low end cards that they stick more memory onto, rather than say a 9800GTX.

Not necessarily, there really isn't a lot of room on the higher end cards. If there was room, the 9800GTX would benefit from it in SLI mode. Look how much they had to pack the 3870 X2. If vender's could easily add memory to them I am sure they would. Maybe there is something from Nvidia that prevents them but look at diamond 3870 1GB. the extra 512mb is worthless in gaming but is a soft modder dream. so its not completely useless.

 

[Valset]

if the card cant work fast enough to fill the additional 512MB of a 1GB 8800GT or similar, then it's all marketing. As [H] has already shown with i believe the Asus 8800GT 1GB, it's 100% marketing for all current cards.

not that there isn't just marketing (I think it is as well) I don't think that it has to do with the GPU being slow but rather the way the coding is done. If you look at the high end workstation cards (the same as the gaming card save increased memory) running CAD they have no trouble using the additional memory. So do a lot of video editing programs.

Of course I don't think that we will be seeing any games that will use it soon, hopefully the developers learned from the crysis fiasco.

 

[kllrnohj]

not that there isn't just marketing (I think it is as well) I don't think that it has to do with the GPU being slow but rather the way the coding is done. If you look at the high end workstation cards (the same as the gaming card save increased memory) running CAD they have no trouble using the additional memory. So do a lot of video editing programs.

Of course I don't think that we will be seeing any games that will use it soon, hopefully the developers learned from the crysis fiasco.

It also has to do with the memory bandwidth being too slow. If you double the amount of data, you are going to need double the bandwidth to keep things flowing smoothly (lets just assume its really high res textures that don't need much processing) - bandwidth the G92 certainly doesn't have. It really isn't a coding issue