Does 6800's 128mb ram limit it?

[homIcIde]

I'm seriously considering the 6800nu with farcry and doom3 from bestbuy to replace my pos old ti4200 right now. However, the 6800s 128mb of ram seems somewhat strange and potentially limiting to me. I would think that a card that is faster than the 9800xt should need the extra ram. Does it really matter that much? Will this limit me in a future games (ie in the next yr or yr and a half, I dont like to upgrade my vid card every 6 months like some). The GT really is out of my range right now, but maybe i should hold off for a bit? Should i save $120 and get a 9800pro? What do you think.

 

[LS1-10R]

Don't know the answer to your question but I do know the Ti4200 should never be called a POS. It will always rank as one of the greats. That is all.

 

[chrisf6969]

I'm seriously considering the 6800nu with farcry and doom3 from bestbuy to replace my pos old ti4200 right now. However, the 6800s 128mb of ram seems somewhat strange and potentially limiting to me. I would think that a card that is faster than the 9800xt should need the extra ram. Does it really matter that much? Will this limit me in a future games (ie in the next yr or yr and a half, I dont like to upgrade my vid card every 6 months like some). The GT really is out of my range right now, but maybe i should hold off for a bit? Should i save $120 and get a 9800pro? What do you think.

Dont bother upgrading from a ti4200 to a 9800 Pro. While it is faster, I dont think it would be worth the upgrade. A 6800nu would give you DX9 and be nice and you'd probably like the upgrade. However, I think you should probably wait just a few more months, the 6800GT would be a bigger jump that would last you longer. The 6800GT is like the ti4200 of the GF6 series. The 6800GT's will drop a little bit in price as availability increases a little more. At introduction you always have to pay MSRP or higher. But with in a few months the price always drops below MSRP.

 

[dderidex]

In certain cases, it may be limiting. High res + FSAA *combined* with high res textures, for example.

I've not found it to be a problem, though. My LCD limits me to 1280x1024, anyway. Even at that, 1280 x 1024 x 32bpp x 4 samples = only 20 mb framebuffer. That still leaves 100mb for textures, and there aren't *many* games that make use of that (not good use, anyway - even Doom3 that CAN have more texture space than that, you don't really *notice* it much when running with the more compressed textures)

Seeing as how you can still buy a 'modern' graphics card with 64mb of ram, I don't see developers *requiring* more than 128mb for some time.

Just remember to turn texture compression on in games where it is an option, and you shouldn't have any problems with 128. (My sig is out of date, btw - I have an XFX 6800nu with dual-DVI, so I'm speaking from a certain degree of experience)

 

[pakotlar]

it can be a limiting factor yes. remember this is a mainstream part. however, for the most part, for some reason the 6800 seems to handle texture swapping better than the 9800pro. check out VST benchmarks with AA enabled. not sure what the reason is.

 

[spicey]

I'd say yes to a certain degree. 128mb works great for Doom3, 1280 high detail, but if you try and push up aa or screen resolution, performance drops off quite badly. Not a problem for me as my monitor refreshes poorly at 1600, so 1280 is the main option.

Getting 55fps in Doom3, 1280, high detail, aax2 everything on except vsync.

3dMark03 9500

Still I think my Leadtek 6800nu is a great card, OC's very nicely and is quiet and stable. The GT version is more future proof, but cost a hell of a lot more.

Abit BH7 (Intel 845PE)
Intel 2.5 ghz P4 533 FSB OC 2.75 ghz
512mb 2700 DDR
256mb 3200 DDR
Leadtek Winfast 400 TDH 6800
Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2
30gb IBM Deskstar 7200
Plextor CD-RW 40r-40w-12rw
Pioneer CD 40x
Pioneer 16x DVD
Enermax 420 Watt Noisetaker AX
+3.3V@32A, +5V@36A, +12V1@15A, +12V2@14A,
-12V@0.8A, +5VSB@2.5A
19" Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 900u
Logitech Webcam Messenger
Windows XP SP2

 

[joemama]

If you play most of your games @1024X768 with low levels of AA/AF then it will be great now and fine for games in the near future.

 

[pakotlar]

I'd say yes to a certain degree. 128mb works great for Doom3, 1280 high detail, but if you try and push up aa or screen resolution, performance drops off quite badly. Not a problem for me as my monitor refreshes poorly at 1600, so 1280 is the main option.

Getting 55fps in Doom3, 1280, high detail, aax2 everything on except vsync.

3dMark03 9500

Still I think my Leadtek 6800nu is a great card, OC's very nicely and is quiet and stable. The GT version is more future proof, but cost a hell of a lot more.

Abit BH7 (Intel 845PE)
Intel 2.5 ghz P4 533 FSB OC 2.75 ghz
512mb 2700 DDR
256mb 3200 DDR
Leadtek Winfast 400 TDH 6800
Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2
30gb IBM Deskstar 7200
Plextor CD-RW 40r-40w-12rw
Pioneer CD 40x
Pioneer 16x DVD
Enermax 420 Watt Noisetaker AX
+3.3V@32A, +5V@36A, +12V1@15A, +12V2@14A,
-12V@0.8A, +5VSB@2.5A
19" Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 900u
Logitech Webcam Messenger
Windows XP SP2

what testdemo are you running? I get only 50 @ 1280 w/o AA.

edit: lol just removed my doom3 tweaks and raised that to 70.7, same res, no AA.


edit2: lol damn, just re-tweaked doom3. now getting 73.7 fps. god this card is fast.

 

[El Nacho]

Dont bother upgrading from a ti4200 to a 9800 Pro. While it is faster, I dont think it would be worth the upgrade. A 6800nu would give you DX9 and be nice and you'd probably like the upgrade. However, I think you should probably wait just a few more months, the 6800GT would be a bigger jump that would last you longer. The 6800GT is like the ti4200 of the GF6 series. The 6800GT's will drop a little bit in price as availability increases a little more. At introduction you always have to pay MSRP or higher. But with in a few months the price always drops below MSRP.

I went from a ti4400 to a 9800pro with 256mb ram, and it was worth it. For under 200 bucks i jumped two generations of cards. I guess it comes down to what you want to spend really. Though I told myself I wouldnt get a new card untill I could get a 256mb one.

 

[homIcIde]

Im limited to 1280x1024 by my lcd, but i like to play games at that res whenever possible. Ive never really been able to take advantage of AA and AF with a ti4200, but id like to. Do you think its reasonably to expect a decent drop in price of the GT by holiday season?

 

[Dreaz]

I went from a ti4400 to a 9800pro with 256mb ram, and it was worth it. For under 200 bucks i jumped two generations of cards. I guess it comes down to what you want to spend really. Though I told myself I wouldnt get a new card untill I could get a 256mb one.

two generations skipped?

did I miss something?

Original gen: GF4vs radeon 8500
one after: FX vs Radeon 9700 family

you bought one from the Radeon 9700 family

therefore you just upgraded one gen, not skipping two generations

 

[El Nacho]

two generations skipped?

did I miss something?

Original gen: GF4vs radeon 8500
one after: FX vs Radeon 9700 family

you bought one from the Radeon 9700 family

therefore you just upgraded one gen, not skipping two generations

i consider generations product cycles. There was still a good boost in performance going from a 9700 to a 9800. There for I skipped to generations. FX also had two generations.

 

[tranCendenZ]

256 would probably be better but that would make it more expensive. For $299 the 6800nu is a great deal.

In any case, the 128mb 6800NU is 15-30% faster than the 256mb 9800XT and will be a huge improvement over your ti4200, so its a good investment.