Memory, Pipelines, & Clockspeeds -- Oh My!

[Morpth]

Ok, I searched this topic for an answer to my question, but didn't find it, so here goes:

Although this question could be applied to any brand, I will narrow it down to Nvidia. How does the following components play into the best value for a video card? Those components I speak of are:

Memory Type & Speed,
Memory Interface/Bandwidth,
The number of Pipelines, and

what Nvidia refers to as:

Graphics Bus Technology
Effective Memory Interface
Memory
Process
RAMDACs


In essence what I am trying to understand is how the 4 models of the GeForce 7 Series GPUs Model Compare against one another with respect to value for the money. Oh, one other thing, how does the addition of just 1 or 2 pipelines affect performance all things being equal?

Thanks in advance...

Morpth

 

[imported_Finny]

*Sigh* Well, simply put, the more of those top 3 things, the faster the card itself is, but that's only a general rule. You see, the way they affect performance can vary depending on the game and in what ways it's graphically demanding. The biggest three factors are pretty much what you said:

1. Pixel + vertex pipelines/shaders (This is what can confuse folks comparing the X1900 series and their nVidia counterparts- Pipelines & shaders aren't necessarily the same thing)
2. Core (GPU) & memory clocks (I.E. the MHz number you see for it. Again, the higher, the better)
3. Memory interface (Generally, they say that you have to multiply or divide the memory clock by 2 to compare different memory interfaces. Here's an example:
1000 Mhz 128-bit = 500 Mhz 256-bit)

However, there's also the different architectures that come into play, and there are countless arguements of other factors in the videocards themselves (Which are basically the things you mentioned in the 2nd list; other members will be able to correct the specifics).

As for video card naming, it's kinda tough actually sorting out a naming sequence because of the lack of a defined naming system. (nVidia seems to be cooling it down a bit, but that may not last forever...) I'll put the cards in the 7 series in order of strongest to weakest here:

7900GTX
7800GTX 512 (Hell if you can find one though, and you'd really be wasting your time anyway)
7900GT (Best value)
7800GTX
7800GT
7600GT
7800GS (AGP only)
7300GS

An that's about all the info I can give you myself...

 

[Vinnybcfc]

Originally posted by: Morpth
what Nvidia refers to as:

Graphics Bus Technology
Effective Memory Interface
Memory
Process
RAMDACs

RAMDACs generate the analog (vga) signal on the card

Not really important anymore as all modern cards (ATI and Nvidia) are clocked at 400mhz

Originally posted by: Morpth
In essence what I am trying to understand is how the 4 models of the GeForce 7 Series GPUs Model Compare against one another with respect to value for the money. Oh, one other thing, how does the addition of just 1 or 2 pipelines affect performance all things being equal?

If you want to do some basic calculations: clock speed x pipelines = fillrate but this has become out of date.

If you said how much you have got to spend it would help

The best value card is the 7900GT or in SLI (overclocks really well) but stocks are low atm

 

[BassBomb]

process is the size of the transistors , like what they are built under

90nm is where its at for modern gpus G71 is 90nm, i believe as is R580 and R520

older processes 110nm, 130nm

smaller = smaller die = cooler