4850 question

[suklee]

1. I spotted this Gigabyte GV-R485OC-1GH with a Zalman fan on it and 1GB RAM for the same price as a 512MB where I live. Turns out this 1GB vid card is about US$200.

Is there a catch, i.e. is this card gimped in any way? and..
Is it pointless to have 1GB on a 4850? Or would a 4870 make better use of the RAM.

Picture:
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Fil..._gv-r485oc-1gh_big.jpg

2. Do brands matter when it comes to video cards? The cheapest 4850 I saw was ColaMax HD4850 PCI-E 512MB DDR3 for $157. Anyone heard of this brand?

 

[geokilla]

#1. I'm not an expert, but I think you won't need 1GB RAM unless you're going to be gaming at a high resolution and play like nothing but Crysis. Others should be able to give better advice than mine.

#2. Different brands have different warranty services. Never heard of that brand though. You can try googling that brand and see what are some testimonials for them.

 

[suklee]

I game at 1680x1050 now. Never tried Crysis but may do so in the future? Also, I'd like to add a 1920x1200 at some point "in the future".

Found the Colamax card http://www.colamax.com/product.aspx?pid=12
Interesting fan... http://www.colamax.com/images/...d/product/12_photo.jpg

 

[Modular]

Gigabyte is a perfectly fine brand. I'm familiar with them from nVidia cards, although I have never owned a Gigabyte card personally.

IMO, the 1GB version of the card isn't necessary, but if it's the same price as the 512mb versions, then I'd say go for it. As far as videomemory usage is concerned, I can tell you that there have been times that I am maxing out my memory on my 4850 per Rivatuner, so I'd say that 1gb is the way to go at this point.

 

[SSChevy2001]

Can't find the memory bandwidth of the specs, but if the price is close and the bandwidth is the same I say go for it. Sapphire 100242-1GL has the same memory bandwidth for sure. There's not going to be a huge performance difference in most cases.

 

[BFG10K]

The 1 GB will be a bit better at high resolutions but if you can afford it it's better to get the 4870.

 

[octopus41092]

If its the same price why not?

 

[Hauk]

Originally posted by: octopus41092
If its the same price why not?

Thank you...

It would be worth a few bucks more even if you didn't need it. There will be a point when 1GB is desired/required and you'll have a card to keep or sell when that time comes.

 

[nosfe]

Originally posted by: octopus41092
If its the same price why not?

if its the same price it usually means that the memory is slower, either lower frequency or higher latency and considering that right now 512mb is a bottleneck only once you hit 25x16 i'd say go for the one with 512mb

 

[suklee]

Originally posted by: nosfe

Originally posted by: octopus41092
If its the same price why not?

if its the same price it usually means that the memory is slower, either lower frequency or higher latency and considering that right now 512mb is a bottleneck only once you hit 25x16 i'd say go for the one with 512mb

This is my worry as well. I am not sure how they could have fit 1GB in there and still keep around the same price point of a 512MB card?

The 1 GB will be a bit better at high resolutions but if you can afford it it's better to get the 4870.

This is a good option. I could wait for the 4870 to come down in price.