128 megabyte video cards?

[Atlantean]

Does anyone know when companies such as asus, and hercules, and visiontek, and leadtek will be producing video cards that are 128 megabytes?? and how much will they cost, probably they will be out next year?? or this year?

 

[vss1980]

I think the GF2 chipset is limited to just 64MB maximum memory. Not sure about GF3 limitations.

The video card makers can only put what is possible on the card. If the graphics chipset doesn't support it, they cant put it on.

I only know of one chipset that will be sporting 128MB support for sure, and that will be the PowerVR Series 4 (KyroIII) card.

 

[MrCoyote]

It's been rumored that Hercules has been toying around with producing a GF3 with 128mb. I believe GF3 can support 128mb put it would raise the price even more than what it is already!

 

[Remedy]

Yeah like 399 for a 64mb imagine how much 128 would cost, probably 599 maybe more. Although if you can flash that to a quadro3 then it would be worth it.

 

[BFG10K]

I'm pretty sure that the GF3 can handle 128 MB RAM. Of course we're unlikely to see 128 MB cards for a very long time, since the fast, low latency RAM required by video cards is very expensive.

 

[MulLa]

Currently only professional card carry 128mb versions.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Wasn't the Voodoo 5 6000 equipped with 128 SDRAM ?

 

[vss1980]

V5 6000 did have that ability, but you would never get 128MB worth of memory usage out of it, due to the architecture.

 

[bluemax]

one very good question: WHY BOTHER?????

1600x1200x32 + FSAA still won't challenge 64MB very much. Of course, at those settings you're getting a slideshow even with a GF3. :Q

 

[BFG10K]

Wasn't the Voodoo 5 6000 equipped with 128 SDRAM ?

Yes it did - and it showed. It had a very hefty price tage.

 

[NiceSocks]

i remember being promised at xmas time about 2 years ago when the tnt2 just came out 128mb cards

they had screen shots, one was of a room that looked 100% realistic.

It was scheduled for the next year, but that was 2 years ago i think

anyone remember this?

 

[kazeakuma]

From what I remember the GF2 can support up to 128MB RAM. I remember a tech doc somewhere showing support for 32, 64 and 128MB configs. Reason why no one does it is cost and usefulness. 128MB is only useful in professional cards, how many games would benefit?

 

[nsxdemon]

First of all, since when was the Voodoo5 6000 in production?? it was a flop and was never even produced as far as i know...wouldn't mind getting my hands on one if one exists though.
Also, 4ns sdram is real expensive. Getting 64 megs of it on a video card is pretty pricey, let alone 128 megs of it...and until games start working in colo depths beyond 32 bit (like 40 or 48 bit), 64 megs is MORE than enough to handle all the textures. For high resolutions, it's the ram speed to worry about, not the ram amount.

 

[jobberd]

Are we ever going to need more then 32 bit? I mean, our eyes already max out seeing all the different shades of colours at 24 bit, if im not mistaken, and the extra 10 bits are used for other purposes (i know this isnt wholly 100% correct, but im reciting from memory, so correct any mistakes). Im pretty sure 32 bit will suffice for a long time

 

[nsxdemon]

exactly...and i don't see any reason to go up beyond 32 bit either, but if we would, then 128 megs may be a solution. but for now, 32 bits isn't pushing a 64 meg card...personally i've got a geforce2 ultra from best buy through a friend and it's badass, but i can't imagine any difference between 64 megs of 4ns ddr sdram and 128 megs of it. Just a huge price difference, that's all. Now if we could pull some 3ns ram, then that's a different story!!!

 

[jobberd]

well, games with very, VERY large textures could also benefit from 128 mb, but there are no such games in the market, nor shall there be in a long while, so you are correct. It would be better to focus on improving the speed of the ram rather then the actual amount of ram as of now

 

[richleader]

The ram on the voodoo 6 was also dirt cheap SDR.