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DDR3 on AGP Card?

nheather

nheather

nheather

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Joined
19 May 2004
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Location
Horsham, West Sussex
I'm trying to buy a second hand graphics card (such as X1650) and I see that some have 512MB DDR2 whilst others have 256MB DDR3.

I have read that DDR3 graphics memory is not much of an advantage on an AGP card because of limitations in the interface but on PCI-E it makes a big difference.

Is this correct?

Does OC have a 'Classifieds' forum? - can't see one.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
nheather said:
I'm trying to buy a second hand graphics card (such as X1650) and I see that some have 512MB DDR2 whilst others have 256MB DDR3.

I have read that DDR3 graphics memory is not much of an advantage on an AGP card because of limitations in the interface but on PCI-E it makes a big difference.

Is this correct?

Does OC have a 'Classifieds' forum? - can't see one.

Cheers,

Nigel
Click to expand...


Thats rubbish what you have been told or read.

AGP8x was never fully saturated, even the Gainward 7800GS+ (a 7900GTX on AGP) was fine on it, it had 512MB of 1.2ns Samsung GDDR3 Memory.


I cant comment on a 8800GTX as there aint one on AGP but think it may be beyond AGP8x.

DDR3 takes over from DDR2 because DDR2 cant run that high so same goes for GDDR.

GDDR4 will take over from GDDR3 at about 2500mhz+.
 
Thanks for the update. Thought that would be the case.

I'm trying to buy a graphics card, to replace a Radeon 9700 Pro, nothing too special, around the £30 to £40 mark.

Something like X1650 Pro or XT, 6800 GT, 7600 GT, 2600 Pro.

So looking 2nd hand and pretty much restricted to the famous auction site. Trouble is the people that post there often use stock library data or pictures and are mixing up the models, picture shows an AGP whereas the text suggests a PCI-E etc. More confusing is that they tend to mix up DDR2 and DDR3 references so it's quite hard to work out what they are actually selling.

A good purchase for me would be a X1650 Pro 256MB DDR3 - just need to find a seller who knows what he is talking about or bother to answer queries.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
Yep that's what I have decided.

Thing that puzzles me with X1650 cards is that I've seen a lot for auction claiming to be DDR3 and this is partly backed up by manufacturer website, and I had assumed that the DDR2 ones are older designs.

But all the ones I've seen being sold by retailers new (including here) have been DDR2 types.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
Almost bought one from a large computer retailer.

Website advertises Sapphire X1650 512MB and on the overview specifies DDR3 memory.

Just about to hit 'Buy It' when I spotted a 'Detailed Specs' tab. Opened this and low and behold it specifies DDR2 memory.

So I rang their technical presales to clarify and this is the answer I got

"Ah, I been asked about this before. Basically, it is fitted with DDR2 on board but this card has the ability to share the memory on your motherboard and when it does this it becomes DDR3. That is why the webiste specification lists it as being both DDR2 and DDR3".

Cheers,

Nigel
 
Thats also not true, the GPU will have DDR2 or DDR3, what they may mean is it will share your Mobo Memory be it DDR/DDR2 or DDR3.

The GPU's that share Mobo Memory are a waste of time IMO, Nvidia call it Turbocache, not sure what ATI call it.

If you have say 2GB of Memory in your PC, the GPU will take say 256MB of it, if its a 512MB Turbocache card (pure example).
 
Last edited:
Sorry I wasn't being serious. I knew it was pure BS but thought I'd share what they said with the forum.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
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