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GTX 580 1.5 GB v GTX 580 3GB?

Sgt Tackleberry sounds a bit fishy to me mate. What resolution are you using and do you have more then one screen ?

I used a 1.5Gb and 3Gb card at 1920 x 1200 resolution on a single screen it made zero difference on them games you mention and I tried other games too than the ones you mention and none benfited from the more VRAM, they all produced the same results and in some cases even the 3Gb was a few frames slower.


Are you sure you used the same graphics drivers at the same settings, same settings in the games and same clocks on the GPU ? I'm guessing this is why you have seen an improvement because the drivers you had before were probably messed with and set to higher quality settings for example and this will lead to slower performance. When you installed the new card i'm guessing you did a complete reinstall of the drivers and they were set back to defaults which are balanced for performance and video quality. Also remember your new 3Gb is a very overclocked version of the GTX 580 and still would not give that high a difference in frame rate, you are talking almost SLI levels of improvements there.

Check the reviews of them games you mention with 1.5Gb and 3Gb cards on a single screen the 3Gb makes zero difference. The only time 3Gb comes into play is 2560 x 1440/1600 and using high AA settings (for very few games this even matters or even shows an improvent at all) or using more then one screen.

Check what I mean here, this is the fastest 3Gb card you can buy that is overclocked at the factory and they compare it to a 1.5Gb standard GTX 580 with no overclocks and in most cases the non overclocked and lower VRAM card is 1-2 FPS difference and that is due to the overclock not the VRAM.

MSI GeForce GTX 580 Lightning Xtreme Edition 3 GB

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_580_Lightning_Extreme_Edition/
 
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BF3 is very vram hungry ive seen mine go up to 1.4gb that was the main reason i changed to 3gb 1920x1800.
 
The game I noticed the biggest increase on compared to a 580 1.5gb model (yes, I've owned both and can prove it via OcUK receipts lol) was crysis 2 with the dx11 patch at 1920x1080. It verges on unplayable after the first level when you get deeper into the city and some of the later parts where indeed unplayable. The 3gb model though has around 55fps for literally 95% of the time and only dips when theres tonnes going on at once. My 1.5gb couldn't hack it at all.

I had reported 1.8gb vram usage for reference on the 3gb model :)
 
James J said:
The game I noticed the biggest increase on compared to a 580 1.5gb model (yes, I've owned both and can prove it via OcUK receipts lol) was crysis 2 with the dx11 patch at 1920x1080. It verges on unplayable after the first level when you get deeper into the city and some of the later parts where indeed unplayable. The 3gb model though has around 55fps for literally 95% of the time and only dips when theres tonnes going on at once. My 1.5gb couldn't hack it at all.

I had reported 1.8gb vram usage for reference on the 3gb model :)
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hmm i tested myself 1.5gb vs 3gb on crysis 2, i don't see any differences between these two 580 gtx, and about 1.8gb, the 3gb eats more vram than it needs it called memory leak :)
 
kalyyy said:
hmm i tested myself 1.5gb vs 3gb on crysis 2, i don't see any differences between these two 580 gtx, and about 1.8gb, the 3gb eats more vram than it needs it called memory leak :)
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Lol why is it a memory leak? If it was it would be in the system RAM, not vram...
 
if crysis 2 dx11 will require 2go of vram, all 580 gtx 1.5gb (90% of customers) owners will be ****ed, i tested myself yersteday with a 1.5gb and i have 55 fps too
 
Meaker said:
Hmz, I am not convinced how accurate these VRAM usage meters are.
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It's not just that but video memory is a storage space, people seem to think just because they have 1.5GB usage on a 1.5GB card that they need more memory or performance will suffer, yet much of that usage might just be stored textures for later levels.
 
ALXAndy said:
Me neither. That's why I have a brilliant VRAM meter in my house.

It's called - my eyes.

GTX 470 1.2gb didn't have enough.
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Really, so where are your comparison benchmarks and repeat tests to make sure no other issues? The reviews I have read seem to disagree with you so excuse me if I don't jump to accept your claims.
 
From MY testing 3GB is a waste of time on a 580 in 99% of the time.

The 580 architecture can not make use of it !

Our friend is dreaming with his figures :D a 580 3Gb will not run High res Crysis 2 @1920x1200 maxed out......It would not even hold vsync 25fps (if You could set it)

Save Your money for the new stuff ;)
 
JAKUS said:
From MY testing 3GB is a waste of time on a 580 in 99% of the time.

The 580 architecture can not make use of it !

Our friend is dreaming with his figures :D a 580 3Gb will not run High res Crysis 2 @1920x1200 maxed out......It would not even hold vsync 25fps (if You could set it)

Save Your money for the new stuff ;)
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Thats because crysis 2 doesnt support triple buffering, so ofc it won't run smoothly with vsync enabled...

You can try and disprove me all you want, yet I've owned both cards and its definitely a smoother experience on the 3gb models.
 
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