256 memory or 512 memory - does it really make a difference

[RaMDOM]

Right then I know that people say that on Graphics cards memory does not make a difference, it is what the GPU does, and I fully beleive them.

However I am now asking as I would like (read: need) to upgrade from my aging 6800GT. I have recently got a 20" wide screen monitor and while the 6800 renders most games at native (1050 x 1680) there are a few which are now struggling, such as FEAR, X3, Oblivion, Company of Heroes. With other games I am finding that I have to reduce my graphic options to less than I would like to get a smooth rate as well.

Thing is, I like to markedly upgrade when I do and have sworn to get a 512Mb card for my next purchase, like the 1900 or a 7900 variant. Thing is I now see the 1800XT for £150 on the OCUK site and keep thinking maybe I should buy that. But will I see that much difference over my 6800? Even though ir has the same amount of RAM, and then upgrade to a Dx10 card in a year and a half

The Dx10 cards are just around the corner. Should I wait and get one of them? should I wait until they come out watch the price of a 1900xt or 7900 fall and get one of them?

My cursor has hovered over the buy button for the 1800XT loads of times now but I am just not sure.

Man I have asked a load of questions - I hope someone will be able to answer even half of them.

 

[VeNT]

the 6800GT is hardly aging
I'd say you'ed see little or no real world benifits of 512 ram on your card as all it effects is how meny (and of what size) textuers your card can load at one time.
the price of 512 over 256 does not (with current games) relate well to the performance ingame.

theres gonna be a fair old wait for DX 10 cards I'd say, we'll have another paper relese but the real world cards will be longer in comming.

 

[Tetras]

Thing is that you want a decent upgrade to the 6800 GT and while an X1800 XT is nice, an X1900 XT would be better and you'd have the 512MB of memory for higher resolutions/settings/little bit of future proofing.

DX10 won't make a big impact for ages and even games which are DX10 support a DX9 mode atm and I can't see that changing for a long time. You should get at least a year out of an X1900 XT, probably longer.

 

[RaMDOM]

just seen the OcUK GeForce 7900 GTO SILENT 512MB GDDR3 for £199.74 what ya reckon? only £50 more than the 1800XT's. Would it be better paying the £50 and going for this card? Surely this would last me 2 years like the 6800.

 

[Cyber-Mav]

going by the current failure rates of 7900 series cards you would be lucky if it lasts 2 weeks let alone 2 years. i have no idea why manufacturers are still making these cards, but there is the other added speculation that OCUK has purchased all the failure prone cards at a discount and are shipping them on the sly.

 

[MeatLoaf]

Depending on your budget id get a 7600GT, an X1800XT or the risky 7900GTO.

Even the 7600GT will be quicker than the 6800GT i think.

 

[FishPolice]

there is the other added speculation that OCUK has purchased all the failure prone cards at a discount and are shipping them on the sly.

Why? So they can annoy the customer base they've built up over the years? That sounds likely. Not.

Manufacturers are still producing the 7900s because there is still demand for them. Plus they don't want a load of ATI converts that they would have to later tempt back.

 

[ACESHIGH]

The X1800XT offers a huge performance increase over your 6800GT.
The X1800XT is likely the best bang per buck card at the moment.
If you want a 512MB card then get the X1900XT, the best value high-end 512MB card & worth the money spent over the 7900GTO.

 

[Metallifux]

As the RAM on a gfx card is essentially just a frame store, 512MB of RAM only comes into play at high resolutions where the extra RAM is required to load the larger textures for each frame. I suspect that at your monitors max, 256MB will be just fine.

 

[RaMDOM]

Shocked about peoples opinions and experiences with the 7900GTO's. Will take it on board though and will probably look at getting a 1900 variant.

Wanted to stick with Nvidia as switching to ATi will probably mean a system re-install just to be sure. but I am not that loyal - card previously was a 9500pro.

 

[tomos]

afaik, memory on the card helps a lot when you have a higher res display. unless you have a high-res monitor then a 256mb card should do fine iirc

this is why i want to move to a 512MB card at the mo.

 

[Jack Bauer]

I wouldnt go for the 7600GT, yer it will be faster than your 6800 but not enough to warrent the upgrade. I think it sits some where between the 6800GT and 7800GT. If I remember right your wont be gaining any new features either. I would be looking at cards with 3D05 8000+ to replace your card. So x1800xts 7900s x1900GTO, maybe even x1800GTO ( altho at OCers price for the x1800xt they are not worth it, not sure if the x1800GTO are cheaperelse where. )

Also is the rest of your system up to running games at high enough res to use the 512 video memory? For example 1Gig memory at least. CPU aint as important as long as it resonable.

 

[Gibbo]

going by the current failure rates of 7900 series cards you would be lucky if it lasts 2 weeks let alone 2 years. i have no idea why manufacturers are still making these cards, but there is the other added speculation that OCUK has purchased all the failure prone cards at a discount and are shipping them on the sly.

You clearly don't know how things work in manufacturing.
First of the very good reason why these cards are still manufacturered is because they ALL DO NOT fail. Problems were from early batches and NVIDIA have no doubt been shipping perfectly working cards now for a while but it takes time to filter down as partners may still have old product and then old product could still be in the channel or in stock at etailors.

OcUK would never purchase stock prone to failure, LET ME REPEAT THAT, NEVER! PLUS if we had stock and knew it was prone to failure, WE WOULD NOT SHIP THEM ON THE SLY, they would go back to the supplier.

You clearly have no sense of how a business works, every product that OcUK sells must be supported. If we knowingly sold faulty product it would bite us in the ass as it would all eventually be returned back to us which would mean any profit made would all be lost in RMA expenses and keeping customers happy. This is something OcUK would never do and I find it quite offensive you would try to suggest such a thing and start a rumour.

If OcUK knowingly had faulty product we would ship it all back to the supplier for a full credit/refund, they would not be shipped on the sly.

Same goes for Nvidia these cards are surplus stock from an OEM, we are taking a small batch of 200 units to begin with and if these sell and seem error free then we shall push and sell hopefully a few thousand. Again NVIDIA is a business that intends to grow and remain and as such would not deliberately sell dodgy product.

P.S. In response to the original posters question if it was my money for £200ish or less I'd be buying an X1800/X1900 XT as they are just too damn good.

 

[robaylesbury]

There's a famous saying that goes -

"The bridge you burn is the one you might need to cross later"

No company with any business sense would knowingly sell products they knew to be faulty. In our internet age such efforts will invariably reap bad publicity, which equally invariably leads to diminished revenue.

I have to support Gibbo in this instance.

 

[edgaruy1980]

Well, if you play quake 4 at ultra settings, with 256 is more chappy the game.
With 512 mb is so smooth

 

[RaMDOM]

I wouldnt go for the 7600GT, yer it will be faster than your 6800 but not enough to warrent the upgrade. I think it sits some where between the 6800GT and 7800GT. If I remember right your wont be gaining any new features either. I would be looking at cards with 3D05 8000+ to replace your card. So x1800xts 7900s x1900GTO, maybe even x1800GTO ( altho at OCers price for the x1800xt they are not worth it, not sure if the x1800GTO are cheaperelse where. )

Also is the rest of your system up to running games at high enough res to use the 512 video memory? For example 1Gig memory at least. CPU aint as important as long as it resonable.

The rest of my system is AMD64 3800, ASRock Dual SATA mobo, 2GB RAM single channel. should be fine for a new card I reckon. Really the only reason I want to upgrade is because of the new NEC Multisync 20WGX which I bought after reading to many OCUK forum threads - tis an expensive past time readin hardware forums!

Completely dismissed the guys post about dodgy stock, so don't worry. amazed that your response was so controlled Gibbo.

Think though that in this instance I am convinced to go for the ATi card. Now I just have to decide if I only want to spend £150 or £200+.