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1GB or 2GB GPU cards for gaming, which is best?

WiseBat

WiseBat

WiseBat

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23 May 2011
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Are 2GB GPU's really necessary for gaming or will 1GB versions be suitable for few years. What differance do they make? Does it increase the MHz the card clocks at?
 
Depends greatly on games and what resolution. 1920x1200 is borderline 2gb is worth having.
If you have something like 2560x1400 resolution then its an absolute must.

On the other hand if you have a 15" 800x600 its not worth having 2gb (unless you are planning to replace the monitor)
 
no it does not necessarily improve the clocking prowess of the GPU but it helps when handling larger screen resolutions.

Generally 1gb is ideal for anything upto 1920 x 1080 and 2gb for anything beyond that resolution.

eg a 1gb card may struggle with a monitor capable of 2560x1440 but a 2gb card would be fine.
 
varkanoid said:
no it does not necessarily improve the clocking prowess of the GPU but it helps when handling larger screen resolutions.

Generally 1gb is ideal for anything upto 1920 x 1080 and 2gb for anything beyond that resolution.

eg a 1gb card may struggle with a monitor capable of 2560x1440 but a 2gb card would be fine.
Click to expand...

Don't forget AA effectively increases the resolution of the monitor, so internally cards need to use larger amounts of RAM.
 
DA2, needs more than 1Gb to use the high res texture pack.

Shogun 2, well putting the settings to a high enough IQ, uses more than 1Gb of ram, whether or not it needs to at a hardware level, no idea, but the game devs made it that way, so as it stands the game can use more than 1gb of ram if you crank up the settings.
 
opethdisciple said:
DA2, needs more than 1Gb to use the high res texture pack.

Shogun 2, well putting the settings to a high enough IQ, uses more than 1Gb of ram, whether or not it needs to at a hardware level, no idea, but the game devs made it that way, so as it stands the game can use more than 1gb of ram if you crank up the settings.
Click to expand...

I think that explains the way things are going. If you buy a new card it should have more than 1GB VRAM. :)

When I was buying my card it was a choice between 570 and 6950, and the 2GB on the 6950 swung it for me. The 570 looks like the more capable GPU, but it only has 1280MB onboard.
 
Realistically, the only thing you can do with graphics cards is compare benchmarks. Extra VRAM is pointless unless the card's powerful enough to process it. At 6950ish levels, the extra gigabyte makes good sense, but on a GTX 460, 2GB would just be wasted.
 
Well I sold my 2gb 6950's and bought a 1.5gb GTX 580, not noticed any difference yet, when I get my hazro I will get back to you :)
 
For the sake of the price difference between say a 1GB 6950 and a 2GB 6950 it makes more sense to buy the 2Gb one.

Not many people point out that when you max out iq in CCC/NvidiaCP, the cards going to be using as much memory as it has at it's disposal.

I have loads of older games that I never played that can be maxed out this way and look fantastic.

Card reviews/benchmarks don't max out the ccc and report what each card can do with probably only HOCP as the exception.

Imo, most but not all of the people that tell you 2GB is overkill/not needed are the ones still using 1GB.

I would very much doubt if team greens next high end cards don't come with 2GB, as this time round their cards are colapsing at high multi monitor resolutions.
 
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