512MB 7900GT

[Flatulentcow]

Hi,

I've been looking at various 7900GT cards for a while now, and the XFX 7900GT Extreme Edition seems pretty sweet.

Thing is, there aren't any 512MB XFX 7900GTs around here (South Africa), and the 512MB cards that are available are about $80 - $100 more expensive.

Is that extra 256MB of VRAM really worth paying that much more for? I'll probably upgrade my GPU again no later than the end of next year - do you guys think that there'd be a noticeable difference in performance between a 256MB 7900GT and a 512MB 7900GT when playing games that are released between now and then?

Thanks.

 

[Nextman916]

how much is an 7900gtx over there?

 

[Ulfhednar]

Benchmarks everywhere (including Anandtech if you search for "GTX 512" and go to the memory scaling page) show 512MB offers no true increase over 256MB of video memory. Save yourself a wad of cash.

 

[Flatulentcow]

Okay, thanks a lot.

Nextman, the cheapest 7900GTX around these parts is $720 US. Most of them come in at around $80 - $100 more.

 

[Gstanfor]

I can't speak for the american situation, but, here in Australia, a 7900 GTX will cost you on average $830 (just like with 7900 GT, marginal bottom feeder models can be had for a little less)

A 256mb 7900GT averages $500 Text Text (some mostly off color, marginal brands can be had for as little as $399-430 though, but nothing worth buying IMO - these will have zero o/c potential and use bottom of the barrel componentry)

The Expertvision/Palit/Gainward 512mb 7900GT's average $525 Text (unless you are silly enough to pay magazine listed prices) I paid $505 for mine.

auspcmarket
7900 GT 512
7900 GT 256
7900 GTX

 

[Shadowmage]

What do you mean by 'marginal brands'? Could you give an example?

 

[Gstanfor]

Brands like Forsa, innovision, inno3d, videoexcel, etc. They tend to purchase the chips and memory that are just barely stable at spec (the scraps of the fabbing process), put it on a cheap pcb with a cheap loud cooler, cheap supporting components and sell cheaply. The chips have hardly any spare operating margin let alone overclocking margin. They are the sorts of card your local electronics superstore carries (at twice the price they should be).

Very often with these cards, if you do a "detect optimal frequencies" test on them, they will return LOWER values than what they started out with. My parents have an Inno3D 6600LE that does that, however, the only 3D action it ever sees is the occasional bout of Kyodai Mahjong, and I have a 120 mm fan blowing onto the video card region.