640GTS vs 320GTS ..... Are these true?

[Andy3536]

Most 512's are 'value' cards though, much slower clock speeds for mem and gpu and there are only a few exeptions.
Nearly all games i pick up now say 256 and thats probobly as it's only become a standard for most.
Looking at the games i have
Race, 256 recomended
COH, 256 rec
Gtr 2, 256 rec
C&C3, 128
SH 4, 256 rec

Never have i seen a game say recomended 512 gpu, probobly as most equevelant 256's are better!

[GSte]

doom3 i thinkis one, and most suggest atleast 512mb gfx ram

Yeah, that's right, recommends 512mb for playing at 'Ultra High' detail setting.

[Mad-Max]

yes, but 1680x1050 is not a huge screen size is it?

Hey that was when the Bill used to be good

But 24/27 will be big enough when I get one

[Mad-Max]

Well......the various testing houses/sites around the web know quite alot more than you do i suspect

So under your and there understanding then a GTX with 768mb ram is pretty much useless then seeing how a GTX is only slightly faster then a GTS

[aidanjt]

Pretty much, the performance gains of the GTX comes from the extra shaders and clock, not the VRAM.

[Blitzen]

So under your and there understanding then a GTX with 768mb ram is pretty much useless then seeing how a GTX is only slightly faster then a GTS

Did you actually read any of this?
I stated that the GTX and Ultra cards were a fair bit ahead of either of the GTS's .....
So by your reasoning then, a 256mb 9600 would be faster than a 128mb 9800. Read the thread and grasp what is being said as i think you are wide of the mark.

Pretty much, the performance gains of the GTX comes from the extra shaders and clock, not the VRAM.

Absolutely.....i think this is were the point is being missed by most.

doom3 i thinkis one, and most suggest atleast 512mb gfx ram

Thats with older generation cards. A 79 series card with 512mb will get spanked in Doom by an 88 series card even if it has 320mb as it will in all cases.

[GSte]

Thats with older generation cards. A 79 series card with 512mb will get spanked in Doom by an 88 series card even if it has 320mb as it will in all cases.

Don't forget the 7950GX2.....

Also, the memory bus adds to the performance increase of the GTX.

[aidanjt]

Yeah, I kinda hit that with a broad sword by mentioning the clock rates.

[DougMcDonald]

Only thing I've noticed on my 8800 GTS 320 is running the beta of world in conflict.

Running the benchmark I hit a supposed 'VRAM overload' by somewhere between 1 and 4 MB.

Was maxed out on settings AA and AF etc and it is supposed to be pushing the dx10 side of the card so i suppose its not too bad

[menthel]

May this not be a problem with ram heavy games, especially in vista? What happens if you use up your memory with the game and o/s, not counting the graphics. Then perhaps the 640mb would pull ahead? Just theoretical from someone who knows very, very little!

[kalniel]

There's a slight advantage in oblivion - not the default game, but third party textures can push vram usage over 256.

Gothic 3 on full textures + filtering also pops over the limit in towns.

Those are the only two games I know that seem to take advantage of more Vram.

[Snapper]

May this not be a problem with ram heavy games, especially in vista? What happens if you use up your memory with the game and o/s, not counting the graphics. Then perhaps the 640mb would pull ahead? Just theoretical from someone who knows very, very little!

According to the yearly graphics card review in Custom PC, the only reason to buy the 640Mb RAM GTS is if you want to play games at a resolution of 1920x1200 or higher (and as my monitor has the relevant resolution I bought the 640Mb otherwise I'd have bought the 320Mb).

Cheers,
Mike

[chrismox]

Hmmm, that's all very interesting - you may have just saved me a few £s. I was going to get the 640Mb GTS, I may now get the 320Mb instead as my monitor's max resolution is 1680x1050.

[staffsMike]

I got the 640mb for £220 when the 320mb's were still £200 so seemed worth it to me...and i didnt pay

[notsobig]

BTW, what happened to your stepup program with EVGA Blitzen? I thought you now own 8800GTX. Back to the topic I think I'd personally go for 640mb version if I had money to depart with. Probably there's not much difference performancewise but I think 640mb one will have better resale value in the future on top of that like staffmike said there's not much price gap between these 2 models nowadays.

[jonathan_phang]

I think GRAW is another game that limits texture quality based on VRAM. I was always under the impression that more VRAM would help when using more AA on games, but as mentioned before there is always conflicting evidence...