A Hypothetical Question.

[dguy6789]

This is simple enough. IF(they probably will not) nVidia made a 128MB 7800GTX and sold it for $175, would you buy it over current gpus in that price range?

This would be a much smarter move in my opinion than having something like a 7600 or whatever they may use. Think of it. 7800GTX performance for any and all games that do not use more than 256MB of memory, which to date, there is basically one, and that is not proven.

 

[2Xtreme21]

For $175, hell yes. Though they won't make a 128mb version of the top card out. And, actually, there is a very distinct performance increase in faster cards with 256mb of onboard memory since it provides more space when using FSAA and at high resolutions.

 

[Matthias99]

Well, sure, but this is unlikely to happen. Most of the cost of the higher-end cards is in the bigger and more expensive GPU/PCB, not the RAM itself.

A 12/16-pipe GPU has fewer transistors than a 20- or 24-pipe one (in the same hardware line), which means better yields and more dies/wafer (and so leads to lower costs). Lower power requirements mean your power regulation doesn't have to be as good. Lower clockspeeds mean your signal tolerances don't have to be as tight, so you might be able to use a PCB with fewer layers. 128-bit memory requires far fewer traces on the PCB, and again means you can probably get by with fewer layers.

Creating a 'low-end 7800GTX' doesn't make a lot of sense, as the card makers would still have all the costs of dealing with a high-end GPU (but less of a profit margin).

 

[dguy6789]

I was just wondering what the normal population would think. A friend of mine(although a little misguided) says he would rather have an X850XTPE for $500 than a $175 7800GTX.

 

[cirrhosis]

Oops. I voted no. >.<

Would definitely buy it if I was going midrange, or suggesting a quality build to coworkers. I'd rather splurge for the top-end-flavor-of-the-quarter card though, but that's just me.

 

[Lonyo]

Honestly the extra power would probably go to waste because you couldn't up the resolution and AA/AF levels because you'd probably become RAM limited, so not only is it not feasible financially, it's not sensible because it would have a huge limitation due to the RAM.
That said, I might buy it if you could still get respectable frame rates. It's probably be faster thna a 256MB 6600GT, but might manage to be slower than a 256MB 6800 card at high res w/AA/AF.

 

[jr9k]

I would buy two and SLI them!

(unless a 7800GT was more powerful)

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Lonyo
Honestly the extra power would probably go to waste because you couldn't up the resolution and AA/AF levels because you'd probably become RAM limited, so not only is it not feasible financially, it's not sensible because it would have a huge limitation due to the RAM.
That said, I might buy it if you could still get respectable frame rates. It's probably be faster thna a 256MB 6600GT, but might manage to be slower than a 256MB 6800 card at high res w/AA/AF.

If the RAM itself is still fast (ie, 256-bit 600+Mhz GDDR3), I doubt cutting the RAM size down to 128MB would hurt a 7800GTX that much (keep in mind that a 1600x1200x32 framebuffer is only ~8MB, and 2048x1536x32 is only ~12.5MB). The only difference might be that you would have to lower texture detail in some games, and you could see some issues at VERY high resolutions with SSAA enabled.

If you kneecap it in terms of bandwidth (for instance, equipping it with 128-bit DDR2 at 400-500Mhz, similar to a 6600GT but with WAY more fillrate), its AA/AF performance will drop like a rock. If you want more precise numbers, you could see the same thing by severely underclocking the RAM in a 7800GTX or 7800GT.

 

[Rage187]

256 is a minimum nowadays.

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: Matthias99

Originally posted by: Lonyo
Honestly the extra power would probably go to waste because you couldn't up the resolution and AA/AF levels because you'd probably become RAM limited, so not only is it not feasible financially, it's not sensible because it would have a huge limitation due to the RAM.
That said, I might buy it if you could still get respectable frame rates. It's probably be faster thna a 256MB 6600GT, but might manage to be slower than a 256MB 6800 card at high res w/AA/AF.

If the RAM itself is still fast (ie, 256-bit 600+Mhz GDDR3), I doubt cutting the RAM size down to 128MB would hurt a 7800GTX that much (keep in mind that a 1600x1200x32 framebuffer is only ~8MB, and 2048x1536x32 is only ~12.5MB). The only difference might be that you would have to lower texture detail in some games, and you could see some issues at VERY high resolutions with SSAA enabled.

If you kneecap it in terms of bandwidth (for instance, equipping it with 128-bit DDR2 at 400-500Mhz, similar to a 6600GT but with WAY more fillrate), its AA/AF performance will drop like a rock. If you want more precise numbers, you could see the same thing by severely underclocking the RAM in a 7800GTX or 7800GT.

Eventually you're going to be running out of space, and higher resolutions and things like AA are going to make that happen sooner.
This also suggests that 128MB isn't going to come close to cutting it at high res with AA in some games, since 256MB is sometimes limiting.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Lonyo
Eventually you're going to be running out of space, and higher resolutions and things like AA are going to make that happen sooner.

Absolutely. Triple-buffered 2048x1536x32 would take up nearly 40MB for just the framebuffers, which is a third of the available memory on a card with "only" 128MB of VRAM (and that's not even taking AA overhead into account; SSAA in particular uses a ton of extra RAM).

This also suggests that 128MB isn't going to come close to cutting it at high res with AA in some games, since 256MB is sometimes limiting.

I would expect it to start hurting performance noticeably above 1600x1200. I recall a lot of tests with previous-generation cards showing very little difference up to 1600x1200 (even with 4xAA) between 128MB and 256MB cards.

It would be very interesting to see if you could adjust the texture/detail settings in B&W2 and DoD:Source to eliminate that peformance loss -- but that would take a more detailed article.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

with only a 128mb of ram, youd not be able to get the most from that GPU. Hi res + lots of eye candy would certainly do it over.

 

[Cooler]

No I currectly have a card with 256mb that would be a down grade.

 

[Fern]

No.

When I went from a 9800p with 128MB, to this 6800GT with 256MB I noticed in D3 that the pause or stuttering stopped when entering a new room etc. (Note: not talking about slow-downs when more critters were on screen)

I, for right or wrong, attributed this improvement to increased vid ram and therefore don't wanna go back to 128MB.

Fern

 

[JonnyBlaze]

no. i have 128 now. my next card will have at least double.

 

[xtknight]

It'll never happen.

No, I'd buy the 256 MB version for ~$400. I don't want to downgrade from the 256 MB I already have. I *might* recommend it to casual gamers, but I don't want to be stuck with 128 MB if I decide to keep the card for a while.

 

[Eureka]

Not really... the 7x00 so far is just an extension of the 6x00 series... they still have the 6800GS to cover their midrange. Then again, with all that core power... hmm...

Norm

 

[dingetje]

i would buy 2 and sli them

 

[dguy6789]

Remember, we are comparing the 128MB 7800GTX to other $175 cards, not 6800GTs and the like. The ram can and will limit the card at high resolutions with AA, but other cards for $175 aren't fast enough in the first place to run what would need 256MB.

 

[BenSkywalker]

Remember, we are comparing the 128MB 7800GTX to other $175 cards, not 6800GTs and the like.

The 6800GS is within striking distance of $175 so you are actually talking about 6800GT level performance at that price point. With a tiny 128MB of video memory the 7800GTX would fall flat where it is strongest- at ultra high resolutions w/AA.