Does abundance of RAM offset lack of GPU memory (in gaming)?

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Dew itt right

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Oct 28, 2005
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I'm debating getting 640Mb or 320Mb 8800GTS.

Everyone is saying that if you plan on gaming at a higher resolution, you need to get the 640Mb 'coz you'll need the additional memory. I'm wondering if I won't take the hit as much if I get the 320Mb due to the fact that my PC has 4Gb of system RAM to use. I'm no expert on where data gets allocated during gaming or the difference in access speeds between GPU memory and system memory. I'm just wondering if the extra system RAM would make up for the lesser video RAM.

Also, please don't say "well if you're already spending that much you should just spend a little more and get the 640Mb". I'm looking for factual responses please.

Thanks guys - system is in the sig...
 
No, it wont make up for it. Your system memory is much much slower and takes much much longer to access than the local GPU memory, so it wont matter how much system RAM you have, you'll still take the hit from the lack of GPU memory.
 
DarkBahamut said:
No, it wont make up for it. Your system memory is much much slower and takes much much longer to access than the local GPU memory, so it wont matter how much system RAM you have, you'll still take the hit from the lack of GPU memory.
Click to expand...

You're mostly right. However, through some clever caching schemes (i.e. pre-loading the video card with data from ram before it's needed, and keeping as much stuff as possible on tap in system memory) you can help the video card out. System memory will never be as fast as memory on your video card, but it can give you a boost if the game is programmed well.
 
If you will look at reviews where they bench both cards at resolutions of around 1680x1050 or higher you will see that the 640MB version is noticeably faster. This difference is only going to increase more with newer games. It's why buying 320MB versions for SLI is completely pointless. You can monitor how much VRAM games use with different programs like Rivatuner I believe.
 
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