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Thread: How much graphics RAM do I really need?

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    How much graphics RAM do I really need?

    Currently i've got a 4870 512MB. I'm playing games on a 24" panel at 1920x1200. The card is beginning to struggle somewhat with newer games such as BF3 and Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I'm holding off getting Skyrim until i've had a chance to upgrade.

    So I was comparing cards. I can get an MSI AMD 6950 2GB O/Ced (the Twin Frozr III) for around £230, then if i'm lucky i'll be able to unlock it to 6970 speeds (but i'm not counting on it).

    Or for £250-£260ish I can get a 1280MB Nvidia GTX 570. While I do currently own an ATI card (at the time the price/performance vs Nvidia was just too good to pass up) i've always preferred Nvidia as their drivers seem more stable and games tend to Just Work on release day more often, where AMD sometimes need a driver update or game patch to fix framerate issues. Also, an Nvidia card means in games that support it I can utilise PhysX, as long as it doesn't drop my framerate below usable levels. I'm happy to pay a bit more for Nvidia at a similar performance level.

    But the AMD card has almost twice the graphics RAM, and i'm comparing a stock GTX 570 with an overclocked 6950 that I might be able to push even further. My questions are 1) How would people say the two cards compare? I can find plenty of 6950/6970 vs 560Ti/570 reviews, but none that specifically compare the O/Ced 6950 vs a stock 570. And 2) Will I really benefit from that extra graphics RAM? I don't want to make the same mistake I did with the 4870 ("Double the graphics RAM is really expensive. Noone will ever use that much! It's half what is in there for the CPU!") but at the same time it seems like the only systems that make use of anything like that much graphics RAM are people running on 27" monitors at 2560 x whatever huge res or doing muti-monitor gaming setups. I certainly don't intend to upgrade past a 24" monitor within the next 5 years, by which time this card will be obsolete anyway, and while I have a second monitor (only a 19" 4:3 at 1280x1024) it basically displays all my IM clients and such on the Windows desktop while I game on the primary monitor. If I want a bigger screen i'll drag the PC downstairs and plug it into my TV, which is actually a lower res (1920x1080).

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    Re: How much graphics RAM do I really need?

    The 1280mb in the GTX570 will be more than enough, and the 2GB in the AMD is obviously well over spec.

    Really, just go for the card that you want

    I have the GTX580 which is only a smudge faster than the 570, along with 256mb more GFX RAM, and I can run BF3 absolutely fine.

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    Re: How much graphics RAM do I really need?

    1GB of VRAM for 1920x1200 res should be fine,
    if you are planning on going to a monitor with more res, then get a 6950/6970 with 2gb or gtx 580

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    Re: How much graphics RAM do I really need?

    I seem to remember video with one of the Battlefield 3 developers saying that for Ultra settings to work as intended 1.5GB was required, but I think this is by no means the norm.

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    Re: How much graphics RAM do I really need?

    Either card will suffice as for that resolution, 1gb and beyond is enough.

    Only if you decide to do multi-monitor or 2560/1600 should you consider anything more.... and if that were to happen you could always go SLI/XFire.

    You could also save a few pennies by heading to the classifieds on here and other forums.

    Looking at your system specs, I'd also overclock your Quad as that may be a bottleneck too.

    Oh, and look into getting an SSD as it'll make your system uber responsive

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    Re: How much graphics RAM do I really need?

    Quote Originally Posted by Skulltrail View Post
    I seem to remember video with one of the Battlefield 3 developers saying that for Ultra settings to work as intended 1.5GB was required, but I think this is by no means the norm.
    Thing is, if they're saying that *now*, but it's by no means the norm, how many months/years until it *does* become the norm?

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    Re: How much graphics RAM do I really need?

    Quote Originally Posted by bobfoc View Post
    Looking at your system specs, I'd also overclock your Quad as that may be a bottleneck too.

    Oh, and look into getting an SSD as it'll make your system uber responsive
    Yeah. I'm thinking that if I can scrape the cash together i'll get the 570 and either a 120 or a 240\256GB SSD, then get a new mobo, RAM, and probably an i5 2500K when Ivy Bridge is released.

    I do intend to try overclocking. It used to have a very minor overclock (was running at 3Ghz instead of 2.8), but that was literally just upping the FSB speed a bit and I had to drop that again to get it stable when I upped the RAM from 2x 2GB to 4x 2GB and thus filled all the slots. It's got a beast of a heatsink on the CPU, and the RAM is designed to run faster than it is at the moment *anyway*. The only thing stopping me overclocking is my own lack of knowledge about how to do it when it comes to which voltage values to try and increase to get it stable and such. Unfortunately it seems like every mobo manufacturer calls the settings something slightly different, and I don't know enough to translate from a guide written for a Q6600 and a different mobo to my Q9550 and mobo

    Aah well, i'm sure i'll work it out given enough time. That or fry the system

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    Re: How much graphics RAM do I really need?

    Quote Originally Posted by Carr0t View Post
    Thing is, if they're saying that *now*, but it's by no means the norm, how many months/years until it *does* become the norm?
    I guess that all depends on when the XBox 720 hits and how much texture space it has....
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    Re: How much graphics RAM do I really need?

    Quote Originally Posted by shaithis View Post
    I guess that all depends on when the XBox 720 hits and how much texture space it has....
    I find it awful that PC games development is subject to console limitations. For example, currently a console port will require 3 cores and be very single threaded. If the 720 is 6 cores, well... quad core people are screwed!

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    Re: How much graphics RAM do I really need?

    Quote Originally Posted by EvanJackPenn View Post
    For example, currently a console port will require 3 cores and be very single threaded. If the 720 is 6 cores, well... quad core people are screwed!
    How can a single threaded program require 3 cores? It'd have to be fairly well multi threaded to take advantage of the extra cores. Also most games now are still requiring dual core min spec, even though the 360 is 3, and the i5s are only 4 core. I wouldn't worry about the 720 obsoleting quad core chips.

    I also kinda wonder how much extra coding has to go to transferring between the 2 systems. The original XBox was an x86 chip, but the 360 is IBM's Cell chips, same as the PS3. Will the 720 go back to a more standard PC architecture if AMD are making the chips? And what will that mean for cross-platform design?

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    Re: How much graphics RAM do I really need?

    1gb is fine for gaming. 2gb and upwards is only really useful for multi-monitor setups or perhaps a higher resolution.

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    Re: How much graphics RAM do I really need?

    Anything over 1Gb is only necessary for anything over 1080p.

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    Re: How much graphics RAM do I really need?

    Quote Originally Posted by Carr0t
    but the 360 is IBM's Cell chips, same as the PS3. Will the 720 go back to a more standard PC architecture if AMD are making the chips? And what will that mean for cross-platform design?
    The 360 uses PowerPC CPUs, not Cell. But like you say, it's an odd choice given Microsoft's history of writing software for x86.

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    Re: How much graphics RAM do I really need?

    Quote Originally Posted by Fraz View Post
    The 360 uses PowerPC CPUs, not Cell. But like you say, it's an odd choice given Microsoft's history of writing software for x86.
    I thought the two consoles shared something? Either the 360 had some Cell elements melded with the main PowerPC core or the PS3 had a PowerPC chip acting as an interconnect for all the cells or something? I remember hearing about it when both systems were still in development, so it was a long time ago and I may be remembering incorrectly.

    I might be remembering hearing about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_(m...ment_.28PPE.29

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    Re: How much graphics RAM do I really need?

    Quote Originally Posted by Carr0t View Post
    I thought the two consoles shared something? Either the 360 had some Cell elements melded with the main PowerPC core or the PS3 had a PowerPC chip acting as an interconnect for all the cells or something? I remember hearing about it when both systems were still in development, so it was a long time ago and I may be remembering incorrectly.

    I might be remembering hearing about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_(m...ment_.28PPE.29
    They're all IBM chips... so you are probably right in that the PS3 has a central PowerPC core amongst the 7 or so SPEs. (edit: oh yes... the link you gave confirms this. d'oh.)

    In fact, IBM is the manufacturer of all the processors for the current gen consoles, Xbox, PS3 and Wii. I imagine they were pretty pleased with that result

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    Re: How much graphics RAM do I really need?

    Quote Originally Posted by biscuit96 View Post
    1gb is fine for gaming. 2gb and upwards is only really useful for multi-monitor setups or perhaps a higher resolution.
    True right now, but 1GB has been the standard (and 512MB budget) for quite a while now.

    If the game writers are trimming textures down to fit in that space, then at some point high quality graphics will lurch upwards in requirements again.

    I remember when ATI made 32MB graphics cards when 8MB was obviously enough on any game on the market, my how requirements have changed

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