7900GT or (GTX with 512mb)

[TantrumusMaximus]

I'm a little confused as which is a better card for me.

I have a Dell 2405 LCD and am wondering if the 512mb is worth the extra $ at high resolutions.

Right now I am interested in the 7900GT and doing the volt mod.... but if the RAM is the factor then I'll get a GTX.

What exactly does the extra 256mb buy you? I'm assuming larger texture sizes?

 

[JPB]

I would go with the 7900 Gt. Since it is faster than the 512 GTX ( unless your referring to a 7900 GTX and not the 7800). And overclocks like madd

 

[Extelleron]

The extra V-RAM only begins to make a difference when playing @ 2048x1536 w/ at least 4xAA/16xAF.

 

[gramboh]

Doesn't Doom 3 Ultra Quality mode need 512meg? Or is that Quake 4 I can't remember. I haven't tried it, going to try it tonight on my card and see what happens.

If you are keeping the card for 2 years I'd go with 512meg if you can afford the extra amount, otherwise no.

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

Originally posted by: Extelleron
The extra V-RAM only begins to make a difference when playing @ 2048x1536 w/ at least 4xAA/16xAF.

Wrong. There was a review comparing a 7800 GT with 256MB ram vs a 7800GT with 512MB ram (Yes a company makes one). There were performance increases in most resolutions above 1024X768 with AA and AF, with higher increases in higher resolutions. Searching for the article right now.

EDIT: Article

I vote for the 7900 GTX for single card solution, but the 7900GT SLI would be faster.

 

[professor1942]

If you're going to spend the big bucks on a 512 MB card, you're better off with one of the ATI ones (X1800XT or X1900XT).

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: XabanakFanatik

Originally posted by: Extelleron
The extra V-RAM only begins to make a difference when playing @ 2048x1536 w/ at least 4xAA/16xAF.

Wrong. There was a review comparing a 7800 GT with 256MB ram vs a 7800GT with 512MB ram (Yes a company makes one). There were performance increases in most resolutions above 1024X768 with AA and AF, with higher increases in higher resolutions. Searching for the article right now.

EDIT: Article

I vote for the 7900 GTX for single card solution, but the 7900GT SLI would be faster.

HL2 Lost Cost Max 4x/8x w/ "Full" HDR

512 vs 256

1024x768: 66.8 / 66.1
1280x1024: 43.6 / 42.7
1600x1200: 30.9 / 28.8
2048x1536: 21.5 / 12.9

What I said stands true: You dont see a difference unless you're playing @ 2048x1536 +AA/AF. Anyone who says 30.9 is an imporvement over 28.8, that they'd notice when playing, is lying. Unless its noticeable, its no improvement.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: Extelleron

Originally posted by: XabanakFanatik

Originally posted by: Extelleron
The extra V-RAM only begins to make a difference when playing @ 2048x1536 w/ at least 4xAA/16xAF.

Wrong. There was a review comparing a 7800 GT with 256MB ram vs a 7800GT with 512MB ram (Yes a company makes one). There were performance increases in most resolutions above 1024X768 with AA and AF, with higher increases in higher resolutions. Searching for the article right now.

EDIT: Article

I vote for the 7900 GTX for single card solution, but the 7900GT SLI would be faster.

HL2 Lost Cost Max 4x/8x w/ "Full" HDR

512 vs 256

1024x768: 66.8 / 66.1
1280x1024: 43.6 / 42.7
1600x1200: 30.9 / 28.8
2048x1536: 21.5 / 12.9

What I said stands true: You dont see a difference unless you're playing @ 2048x1536 +AA/AF. Anyone who says 30.9 is an imporvement over 28.8, that they'd notice when playing, is lying. Unless its noticeable, its no improvement.

actually you can notice improvements that dont show up in fps. there was another review out there on the whole 512mb vs 256mb. i remember it saying that FEAR was much smoother even though the fps were about the same. with a 2405 it would be best to go with a 7900gtx. a 7900gt will struggle with some games at that native resolution.

 

[TantrumusMaximus]

Thanks for all the feedback. So the GTX is better for running higher res's.

Only thing I'm wondering though.... if I buy a 7900gt and do the volt mod... will the extra RAM in the GTX still be better than the overclocked 7900gt?

I am fighting with my pocket book right now.

 

[LW07]

Originally posted by: TantrumusMaximus
Thanks for all the feedback. So the GTX is better for running higher res's.

Only thing I'm wondering though.... if I buy a 7900gt and do the volt mod... will the extra RAM in the GTX still be better than the overclocked 7900gt?

I am fighting with my pocket book right now.

The extra ram would probably still make a difference, but if you're thinking about a 7900GTX, then I would recommend a X1900XT over both of them.

 

[firewolfsm]

Actually, at resolutions that high 1GB of memory helps. I forgot which review it was but the dual 7800GTX 512 had almost twice the performance of dual 7900GTs (it should have an advantage but not nearly that big)

 

[JBT]

Between those two get the 7900 GT, The only reason to go with tha GTX is if you are going to go SLI. If your not I would go with a X1900XT as it is the best for a single card configuration IMO.

 

[Dainas]

Obviously some confused people here, ok for the slow people who forgot; the 7800GTX 512mb uses 1.1ns ram, which means it will overclock quite abit better than the 7900GT 256mbs of 1.4ns. Also the 7800GTX 512mb used cherry picked cores and overclocks identicly (if not alittle better due to superior cooling) than the 7900GT.

To this day the 7800GTX 512mb is FASTER than a 7900GT and always will be! However they are still horribly expensive (might as well get a 7900GTX if you actualy find one). I'd recommend a 7900GT just because of price/performance.

If by some miracle you can find a 7800GTX 512mb for less than $500, you'd be much better served by a single X1900XT, 7900GT SLI is more than worth the extra money.

 

[JBT]

The OP never mentioned the 7800 512GTX... only some other member.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Dainas
Obviously some confused people here, ok for the slow people who forgot; the 7800GTX 512mb uses 1.1ns ram, which means it will overclock quite abit better than the 7900GT 256mbs of 1.4ns. Also the 7800GTX 512mb used cherry picked cores and overclocks identicly (if not alittle better due to superior cooling) than the 7900GT.

To this day the 7800GTX 512mb is FASTER than a 7900GT and always will be! However they are still horribly expensive (might as well get a 7900GTX if you actualy find one). I'd recommend a 7900GT just because of price/performance.

If by some miracle you can find a 7800GTX 512mb for less than $500, you'd be much better served by a single X1900XT, 7900GT SLI is more than worth the extra money.

7900GT is 90nm. 7800GTX512 is 110nm. Cherry picked cores do not necessarily mean they will o/c well. It just means it will run at 550MHz stably as intended to. 7900GT has shown incredible o/c results here in our forums, especially with the volt mod. And at 90nm, uses less power and does not produce as much heat. The memories on 7900GT's are being clocked pretty high as well despite their theoretical maximum. Maybe the chips are marked conservatively. The only disadvantage of the 7900GT would be 256MB instead of 512 and this will only be a disadvantage in rare situations and only on certain titles.

Recommend 7900GT.

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

The 7800GTX 512MB may have 1.1 ns RAM but it doesn't show much more overclockability on the RAM compared to the 7900GT as most people have been able to achieve 1800+ mhz on the 7900GT without volt mods. Also the 512MB GTX will have higher latencies compared to the 7900GT since its using 1.1 ns ram.

As for "smoothness" of 512MB framebuffer vs. 256MB framebuffer, 2GB of ram generally takes care of that issue with 256MB cards.