What's the difference?

[Larisa]

So there are 2 ATI 5770 for sale on Amazon.com. They are the same except one has 1 GB ($153) and the other has 512 MB ($142). Is this the only difference? Would someone be crazy to pass up another 512K for $11? Isn't the 1 GB a better/faster card? What am I missing?

Here are the links:

http://www.amazon.com/PowerColor-Ra...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1272912140&sr=8-11

http://www.amazon.com/PowerColor-Ra...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1272912190&sr=8-12

 

[Whyfly??]

Don't know if you know but the more Vram there is the bigger the monitor it can support.
From what I see it's all the same besides the Vram.
Someone would have to be extremely cheap (In my opinion) to pass up such an offer.
Basically a 1Gb card can support around a 28-30 inch monitor.
A 512Mb can only support like 18-20 inch monitors.
So if you want to buy, fork out the $11

 

[Larisa]

I have a 600 watt PSU, is this enough for this card?

Here is what I have:

MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum Motherboard

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Socket AM2 CPU

Corsair XMS2 4GB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory

XFX GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB PCIe Video Card

WD Caviar 500GB Serial ATA HD 7200/8MB/SATA-3G

Apex PC-389 ATX Black Mid Tower Case

ULTRA LS600 600W ATX POWER SUPPLY

Samsung 22X DVDRW SATA OEM

 

[foothead]

Don't know if you know but the more Vram there is the bigger the monitor it can support.
From what I see it's all the same besides the Vram.
Someone would have to be extremely cheap (In my opinion) to pass up such an offer.
Basically a 1Gb card can support around a 28-30 inch monitor.
A 512Mb can only support like 18-20 inch monitors.
So if you want to buy, fork out the $11

Not how it works at all. The larger framebuffer allows the GPU to render more scenery/objects/whatever. You could easily run a 2560x1600 monitor off a 512MB card, it will just not perform as well with detail turned way up.

As far as size of monitor, that is not directly related either. What would matter is resolution, because higher resolutions mean more rendering = more scenery, objects, whatever.

 

[Larisa]

Thanks Foot. Is my PSU big enough for this card?

 

[foothead]

Definitely. They draw very little current.

For $11, I would get the 1GB one no matter what your resolution is, for upgradeability and so it keeps more resale value.

 

[Whyfly??]

Not how it works at all. The larger framebuffer allows the GPU to render more scenery/objects/whatever. You could easily run a 2560x1600 monitor off a 512MB card, it will just not perform as well with detail turned way up.

As far as size of monitor, that is not directly related either. What would matter is resolution, because higher resolutions mean more rendering = more scenery, objects, whatever.

Yeah I kinda assumed that bigger monitor=bigger resolution.
Sorry about that confusion, but for some reason whenever I think bigger monitor it automatically brings in bigger resolution. So my answer was partially right, stupidly worded though.
I always thought that more of the Vram equals the higher resolution it can run? Which is basically dependent on side (sorta, you have to think like I do) I never knew it works with rendering?

 

[Larisa]

Okay, I will order right now!!!

Thanks to all!!!

Pots-a-loo-wee!!! (that's Russian for kisses!!!)

 

[GibsonSGKing]

Not how it works at all. The larger framebuffer allows the GPU to render more scenery/objects/whatever. You could easily run a 2560x1600 monitor off a 512MB card, it will just not perform as well with detail turned way up.

As far as size of monitor, that is not directly related either. What would matter is resolution, because higher resolutions mean more rendering = more scenery, objects, whatever.

This. There are very few occasions that actually use more than 512mb's of Vram though...

 

[foothead]

This. There are very few occasions that actually use more than 512mb's of Vram though...

LOL you clearly have never played oblivion with infinite view and scenery mods. It is unplayable on 1GB cards unless you have an uber low resolution. Other thn extreme cases though, I typically recommend 1GB for 1680x1050 or more, but there are more important things such as the memory type, bus width, clock speeds, etc.