GPU Memory Question

[Realillusion222]

Hey there, I am abit of a noob to the component world and I have a question.

I'll take the 8800GT for example:

BFG GeForce 8800 GT OC2 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

650MHz Core, 512MB 1900MHz GDDR3 Memory, 112 Stream Processors, SLi Ready, Lifetime Warranty with BFG Direct.

I understand that the 650mhz core is the clock speed on the card, and will ultimately affect how well the card performs, but what does the 512MB mean? How does this affect the overall performance of the card? I have seen 256MB 8800GT's, so what is the essential differance?

Thanks, and sorry it's a stupid question.

 

[mishima]

Thats the memory capacity, it mainly affects hi res textures in games and at what resolution you game at. Its said that 512MB cards deal with resolutions up to 2048. 256MB would be ideal for a 17/19" monitor as its going to cover their native resolutions up to 1024/1280.

 

[helmutcheese]

512MB is the amount of Memory the card has same as the sticks of Memory inside your PC sloted into the Motherboard, ok now ?

 

[Realillusion222]

512MB is the amount of Memory the card has same as the sticks of Memory inside your PC sloted into the Motherboard, ok now ?

Yeah, I understand that I was just wondering how the amount of memory the card has actually affects it's performance.

Thanks for the help Mishima

 

[Rroff]

The graphics card needs information about the world its rendering - the more detailed that world is - the more memory it needs - if the GPU doesn't have enough memory to store all the information it has to load it in and out of your system memory - which causes a performance hit - which can be anything from occasional stutters to constant 1fps depending on the load.

For todays games 512Mb is a comfortable level - although crysis in ultra high settings can sometimes use upto around 600megs.

Typically with current titles - medium settings will use upto 200megs and high upto 400.