2900pro (1024mb)

topshot · 26 Sep 2007 at 14:54

is it worth the extra over the 512mb version? i was origianlly going to get a 640mb GTS but since the ATi Pro is nearly £30 cheaper and has more memory should i go for it?

will the extra memory make any difference over the 512mb Pro? or am i better spending the cash on an extra 2 gig of RAM.

spec will be:

Q6600
Gigabyte P35C_DS3R
2 GB Crucial Ballistix PC6400
Corsair 520w PSU
Vista Premium 64bit Edition

want to play games like Total War 2, Crysis, Bioshock etc at 1680x1050

thefishdude · 26 Sep 2007 at 14:57

i belive the benefit of 1024mb of ram on the gfx card is very marginall and not really worth the extra cash unless you running your games at insane resolutions.

Darg · 26 Sep 2007 at 15:00

Developers won't really be looking at a requirement of anything over 512mb for quite some time. It's a toss up really.. It's only £35 but you mightn't see much difference between the two.

RavenUK · 26 Sep 2007 at 15:41

Forget the 1GB version and go with the 512MB version and an extra 2GB of ram, vista will appreciate the extra memory.

gareth170 · 26 Sep 2007 at 15:55

get the 512mb card because the 2x00 series will use system ram as video memory in xp and vista...

topshot · 26 Sep 2007 at 15:59

ok thanks for your replies. will go for the 512mb and have 4gb of RAM instead of 2gb :cool:

gareth170 · 26 Sep 2007 at 16:02

deleted

Darg · 26 Sep 2007 at 16:28

gareth170 said:
get the 512mb card because the 2x00 series will use system ram as video memory in xp and vista...

All cards do that :confused:

It used to be called the AGP buffer size but I assumed PCI-E cards could do the same thing.. And anyway it's pretty useless as the speed difference between the onboard VGA RAM and the system memory is enormous. It takes so long to transfer data from memory to the VGA card you're probably onto the next frame already anyway

Scougar · 26 Sep 2007 at 16:31

I can see it helping in games like Stalker (on highest settings), which is really gfx memory intensive.

Matthew

xsnv · 26 Sep 2007 at 16:40

The 2900pro 1GB will have a core clock of 742mhz (same as the XT So it should be the exact same core and not possibly speed binned ones like in in the 512MB pro)

It's going to be cheaper than the 2900xt by about £40 and should have pretty much the same performance.

Minstadave · 26 Sep 2007 at 16:43

xsnv said:
The 2900pro 1GB will have a core clock of 742mhz (same as the XT So it should be the exact same core and not possibly speed binned ones like in in the 512MB pro)

It's going to be cheaper than the 2900xt by about £40 and should have pretty much the same performance.

For £35 more I'd be tempted by it.

gareth170 · 26 Sep 2007 at 16:46

Darg said:
All cards do that

It used to be called the AGP buffer size but I assumed PCI-E cards could do the same thing.. And anyway it's pretty useless as the speed difference between the onboard VGA RAM and the system memory is enormous. It takes so long to transfer data from memory to the VGA card you're probably onto the next frame already anyway

not everybody knows cards can share system memory, that why i was showing him.

now system memory are getting faster theres no need to buy a card with lots of memory on it.... ddr3 will be coming for system memory so it'll be very near video memory speed...

decto · 26 Sep 2007 at 16:56

xsnv said:
The 2900pro 1GB will have a core clock of 742mhz (same as the XT So it should be the exact same core and not possibly speed binned ones like in in the 512MB pro)

It's going to be cheaper than the 2900xt by about £40 and should have pretty much the same performance.

Where did you read that?

The Saphire 1GB shows in OCUK @ 600mhz core

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Scougar · 26 Sep 2007 at 16:57

ditto... 2900PRO 1gb is 600mhz on the core from everything I have seen.

Matthew

J.D · 26 Sep 2007 at 17:06

Not worth it in my opinion.

The extra 2Gb is a good idea too but it might shave a bit of your CPU total as Willhub had to drop from 3.4Ghz to 3.2Ghz with an extra 2Gb. Also I've seen someone say that even under extreme use that he used 2.6 - 2.8gb maximum.

I'd stay with the 2gb for now, get the 2900pro 512mb version and if you feel you could do with another 2gb then just add it on whenever it suits you

.

xsnv · 26 Sep 2007 at 20:30

decto said:
Where did you read that?

The Saphire 1GB shows in OCUK @ 600mhz core

AD

Here: http://www.techreport.com/discussions.x/13267

After two of its partners broke the news prematurely, AMD has finally given the Radeon HD 2900 Pro an official introduction. The card is launching in 1GB and 512MB variants, which both feature 320 stream processors and a 512-bit memory bus. The 512MB model is clocked at 600MHz with 800MHz GDDR3 memory, and an AMD spokeswoman tells us the 1GB variant runs at 742MHz with 800MHz GDDR4 RAM.

and here: http://www.guru3d.com/newsitem.php?id=5947

It appears as though vendors have some play in the actual clock frequencies. The official ATI guidance claims the core-clock is locked at 600 MHz, though PowerColor engineers claim some of these cards can be "clocked much higher." The 1GB variants top out at 742 MHz, according to the same guidance.

Both very reputable sources.

jaykay · 26 Sep 2007 at 20:32

But thats overclocking. At stock its at 600mhz.

xsnv · 26 Sep 2007 at 20:33

jaykay said:
But thats overclocking. At stock its at 600mhz.

What?! Do you want to read both articles again...

jaykay · 26 Sep 2007 at 20:35

xsnv said:
What?! Do you want to read both articles again...

But it makes no sence. They are selling 2 exact cards at different price ranges why????? Im so confused. It has to be at 600 or someone has made a mistake in the prices.

xsnv · 26 Sep 2007 at 20:40

jaykay said:
But it makes no sence. They are selling 2 exact cards at different price ranges why????? Im so confused. It has to be at 600 or someone has made a mistake in the prices.

Who is they?

I checked out the saphire site and they haven't got a page for the 1gb version of the 2900pro yet.

However those two sources (and a few other iirc) claim amd specified the 2900pro 1GB as running at 740Mhz stock not overclocked.

I guess we'll have to wait and see. Besides it's still a pre-order on ocuk. Things can still change.

The way i see it, it's different prices the right way. I certainly wouldn't complain (unless i just bought a 2900xt 1gb of course

)