more or faster ram?

[Zoom123]

Hello,

Which of these would be better:

1. Radeon HD 6570 1GB GDDR3

2. Radeon HD 6570 512MB GDDR5

This will be an upgrade for an older system witha Core 2 e6300 CPU (at 2.8GHz) with 2GB of RAM on Win XP.

 

[Bartman39]

I would think for that level of video the faster DDR5 ram even though its less would be better... Awhile back the Nvidia GT240 came either way and the DDR5 version was about 30% faster...:thumbsup:

Take a look here...

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=655&card2=653

More than double the memory bandwidth...

 

[-Slacker-]

Definitely faster vram. The speed of a vc's ram directly affects how fast it is by increasing it's band with, while all a bigger quantity of ram will help you with is coping with higher resolutions and more antialiasing better.

The 6570, however, is a vc that's designed for low resolution gaming, so 512mb will be more than enough...

Even if run a high resolution with it, you'll be forced to tone down on the visual settings a lot, which lessens the amount of ram you need for the respective resolution, so you won't need more than 512mb anyway.

 

[aigomorla]

ram is more dependent on resolution tho no?

Without knowing what monitor the op is running its very hard to answer this question.

 

[dma0991]

It depends on what resolution you're going to use. If it is the normal 1080P then the 512MB would be the better choice considering it has faster memory as well.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Faster.

Without knowing what monitor the op is running its very hard to answer this question.

I wouldn't think it would matter given it's a 6570. Even if it were at 2560x1600 or something, I don't think memory size would be a bottleneck, the GPU itself would start getting into trouble long before.

 

[Zoom123]

Thanks! My monitor resolution is 1680 x 1050. I am not a hard core gamer, I play the occasional CIV game every now and then but I mostly work with 2D apps (Photoshop etc) and 3D apps like Sketchup. Does this change anything in your suggestions?

 

[skipsneeky2]

find a second hand used q6600 that would be the best upgrade i think myself over ram or a card bet you could find a q6600 for $120 if you looked hard and long enough