Graphics Cards Memory

[ssc456]

hi,

whenever i have posted a thread concerning a pc build and graphics card i have always said i am no expert on graphics cards perhaps you can help me have a little more knoledge,

here what the main thing is im buildin a pc for a m8 of mine and he dont do no extreme gaming just goes on second life alot.

but as far as my knoledge goes which is not alot i judge a graphics card by how much memory its got which confuses me ?

coz alot of graphics cards i c say 256Mb memory supporting 512Mb wot does this mean whats the actual memory of that graphics card ?

and what is the better way to judge how good a graphics card is ?

thanks

 

[Starr]

Can you post a link to the graphics cards?

You usually want to compare the memory of the card and the speed of the card. You probably want to shoot for around a GeForce 6200 if he isn't doing intense gaming. They are pretty cheap.

 

[ssc456]

right well heres the 1 i was gonna buy

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/117995

but i generally wanted to know a bit more bout graphics cards for future reference

here is another example http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/119117

says 128Mb supporting 512 MB so technically is there n e difference in the 2 cards ? im sure there is but i dunno

how do i tell how good a graphics card is in very simple terms lol

 

[shankles]

It mite be saying that because it uses your system RAM.

Like my old geforce 6200 used 256 of my system ram so maybe the card itself has X amount and can use X amount of the Computers RAM.

Probably wrong but just a thought.

I would advise getting a geforce 7600 there a sturdy card for £50-80 which won't fail you!

 

[ssc456]

yh that was my theory that they had their own ram then used some of the computers

 

[THEpiGUY]

right well heres the 1 i was gonna buy

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/117995

but i generally wanted to know a bit more bout graphics cards for future reference

here is another example http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/119117

says 128Mb supporting 512 MB so technically is there n e difference in the 2 cards ? im sure there is but i dunno

how do i tell how good a graphics card is in very simple terms lol

When it says, "128MB [or 256MB] supporting 512MB," it means that the card uses a TurboCache. Shankles is pretty dead-on; the 7100GS has 128MB of its own memory and drains up to the 384 remaining megabytes from the system RAM. You really want to avoid using any card with a TurboCache if at all possible, unless you're on a tight budget.

A simple way to compare two cards is to check the speed and the bit-interface of the memory. For example, 256-bit memory is twice as fast as 128-bit memory of the same clock speed. The shader units (usually called pixel pipelines) and the core/shader clocks also play a big role in performance. There are many other factors, but the memory and shader units are two of the most important.

The amount of RAM is usually never a bottleneck; however, at high resolutions the extra memory should prove to be beneficial. But as a general rule, a card shouldn't have any more than twice as much memory in MB as its bit-interface. The cards you listed both have a 64-bit memory interface, so anything more then 128MB is pretty much wasted.

Hope this helps...and sorry for the big post.

edit: Also, a great organization of cards in the order of performance can be found here, though it doesn't take the new mid 8 series cards into consideration.

 

[kchi55]

The usual idea regarding computers is that the computer is only as fast as your slowest component, we really need other specs in order to find an adequate video card. To comment on the 7300LE and the 7100GS though, the 256/512MB that you see on lots of cards usually isn't a deciding factor in the speed of the card. It's more a question of how many pixel pipelines and vertex shaders there are, of course there is also attention to be paid to the core speed of the card. The 7300LE and the 7100GS in all honesty are very low-end cards, you should definitely aim for a 7600GT at the very least in order to run most games today at tolerable-high settings.

 

[JuanPedro]

im guess there doing it the same way with electrical stuff...
Ex. 400 Watts With 800 Peak

It can hold 400 watts no problem, but dont go over 800.

 

[metin]

Bringing up dead post?