GDDR and DDR

panyan · 9 Jan 2012 at 11:56

i was talking to a friend of mine recently and he wondered why if RAM is so cheap, we cant just use some of it to bolster the VRAM on our graphics cards (we likened it akin to ssd caching

)

the only thing i could think of is that GDDR might be a different speed to the RAM in which case it might be a pain to get working correctly

but then i thought:

- if DDR > GDDR then why dont we just use the RAM for your Graphics cards?

- If GDDR > DDR then why dont they use the better chips for RAM?

it was all a little confusing which is why im looking for a clear answer here

CinderzFTW · 9 Jan 2012 at 20:24

GDDR and DDR are the same thing! GDDR just means DDR for a GPU!

Same thing all the way through!

Havana_UK · 9 Jan 2012 at 21:29

Basically the same, but not exactly:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GDDR5

dave_beast · 9 Jan 2012 at 21:40

With multi monitor setups, I think we'll eventually see expandable GPU's, where you can purchase extra ram and install it - Extra revenue for the manufacturers!

andybird123 · 9 Jan 2012 at 23:01

What, like a Matrox G200 you mean?

rocking it old school

Mick-1965 · 10 Jan 2012 at 11:21

dave_beast said:
With multi monitor setups, I think we'll eventually see expandable GPU's, where you can purchase extra ram and install it - Extra revenue for the manufacturers!

andybird123 said:
What, like a Matrox G200 you mean?

rocking it old school

Just thinking the same.
Its not a new Idea, I can remember buying a 2MB upgrade for my Matrox mystique.
It'd be good if manufactures bought this idea back.

Jay794 · 10 Jan 2012 at 11:23

Can't you already upgrade vram?

I had an old GFX card manual that said it can take up to 4GB

edscdk · 10 Jan 2012 at 11:25

Jay794 said:
Can't you already upgrade vram?

I had an old GFX card manual that said it can take up to 4GB

are you sure it did not say upgrade to 4MB..... it was way back then that you could add memory to the cards

Hagar · 10 Jan 2012 at 11:28

I suppose that is all onboard graphics is and windows tries to be with ram assisting the graphics.

I also had an S3 Virge where I upgraded the memory from 1Mb to 2Mb by swapping a socketed ram chip.

Jay794 · 10 Jan 2012 at 11:43

Found this

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080906123506AAhdK1R

andybird123 · 10 Jan 2012 at 11:53

right, graphics cards (these days) have the VRAM soldered on, so no you can't

in the olden days you used to be able to with certain cards when they had the modules as an add in but they stopped doing that years ago

even most integrated graphics that use part of the system ram as VRAM have a fixed amount that they will use up to so just throwing in more and more system ram won't allow you to use more of it as VRAM, and I've never seen an integrated chip that will let you use up to 4GB

even the graphics cards that come in 2 different flavours, they do this by replacing ALL of the RAM chips with double sized ones, it's not like they use double the number of chips so you could even plug in extra ones

TheMorningStar · 10 Jan 2012 at 12:09

It would be interesting to see gfx cards with a ram upgrade slot. this should be pretty easy to do but could have a few consequences. VRAM needs to be as close to the GPU as possible so think about physical difference in circuit length, it's also an idea that all ram chips be equidistant from the GPU for timing purposes. What could be more beneficial could be to have a secondary ram cache which could handle the overflow from the primary ram. This may minimize game stutter when the card is struggling to move around textures etc as it would take away a lot of the latency associated with talking to they system ram.

Jay794 · 10 Jan 2012 at 13:10

Couldn't you just buy bigger chips and solder them on yourself?

Havana_UK · 10 Jan 2012 at 13:32

Jay794 said:
Couldn't you just buy bigger chips and solder them on yourself?

If you cand find someone who could solder CSP then yes (but you can't, they need to be reflow soldered).

All of the surface mount components will be soldered in one pass, and possibly even the through hole components as well, but if not they could be hand soldered at the end of the production line.

panyan · 10 Jan 2012 at 13:36

im waiting for graphics cards that have flat ram slots like a laptop that you can upgrade the vram

Havana_UK · 10 Jan 2012 at 13:51

panyan said:
im waiting for graphics cards that have flat ram slots like a laptop that you can upgrade the vram

Aint gonna happen because of the way semiconductor package technology has moved on over the years...

...but you knew that anyway

Plus, sockets are expensive and add potential reliability issues.

panyan · 10 Jan 2012 at 13:55

Havana_UK said:
Aint gonna happen because of the way semiconductor package technology has moved on over the years...

...but you knew that anyway

yeah, but its nice to dream about 8GB or VRAM

onelosttiger · 10 Jan 2012 at 13:58

dave_beast said:
With multi monitor setups, I think we'll eventually see expandable GPU's, where you can purchase extra ram and install it - Extra revenue for the manufacturers!

This could get interesting. Just think, first upgradeable RAM, then upgradeable processor. Soon we'll have a full upgradable graphics computer within our computers!

lofz · 10 Jan 2012 at 14:01

Jay794 said:
Couldn't you just buy bigger chips and solder them on yourself?

Only if the card bios supports it. This could possibly void warranties though.

panyan · 10 Jan 2012 at 14:04

onelosttiger said:
This could get interesting. Just think, first upgradeable RAM, then upgradeable processor. Soon we'll have a full upgradable graphics computer within our computers!

graphics cards are getting so complex and power hungry, they may are more like a "daughter-board" than a "card"