Wanting to finish this argument

[O-P-M]

This guy i've been talking to says that a x700 with 256mb will use all of the memory effectively. I say it won't because the card isn't powerful enough. He says that any card with any set of memory will use it all. I say its a marketing gimmick to get the people to buy the more expensive card. What do you think?

 

[Ultra Wide]

It will use it.

Speed is another issue.

 

[O-P-M]

I say I've heard you all say that its a waste to have to much memory for a low end card.

 

[Phranq]

it is a waste...although on an x700 it might be the tiniest bit useful on high resolutions... something like an fx5200 256mb ram is completely useless, the x700 is borderline useless. Same with the x800xl 512mb and 6800 ultra 512 mb, they should no improvement at least in today's games.

 

[whoami]

The X700 is not a slow card, neither is it fast, but will it utilize 256MB, Yes.

 

[rfwinters77]

I thought the general rule of thumb was:

128bit bus + 256MB RAM = no biggie
256bit bus + 256MB RAM = can actually utilize all the ram effectively.

*shrug*

 

[TheJackal]

I thought the general rule of thumb was:

128bit bus + 256MB RAM = no biggie
256bit bus + 256MB RAM = can actually utilize all the ram effectively.

*shrug*

I would agree. It would just be slower, but it can use the extra 128mb of video ram.

 

[Lord of Shadows]

It can use the ram effectively, all one has to do is play some large quake 3 map with very high res textures to see that. Data bus width doesnt have much to do with whether or not ram is utilized ethier.

 

[darkhorse]

believe it or not I had a fx5700le that could actually make use of the 256mb, it didn't improve anything other than the fact that in BF2 I could run textures on high without any lag when compared to having textures on medium(which its at now on my 6600gt 128mb). It's not gonna be useless, but still go with a faster card with 128mb of memory if possible.

 

[deathBOB]

BF2? Might see some benefit, running textures on high requires 256mb.