Upgrade Path from x800xl

[wayliff]

Hello

I'm fairly happy with my x800xl from 3dconnect. This model has 256MB. (PCI-e)
It runs well for what I do on a 19"LCD.

I'm starting to consider moving to a 24"LCD at some point maybe not immediately but maybe within 6 months.

When I do that will the video card I have continue to be sufficient?
My concern lies in the fact that I have heard that the bigger the LCD then the more RAM you may need.

And also that i do some gaming...mostly RTS but I do like to get quality and have stuff turned on and no hiccups.

So looking at what the market has at the moment.
What would be the recommended ram size for that LCD? and what card would you recommend?

Thanks

 

[Stumps]

are you using AGP or PCI-E?

 

[wayliff]

Ok...

System:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Socket 939
2GB DDR 400
EPOX Nforce 4 Ultra Mobo
2 x 320GB Seagate HDs on Raid 1
450W OCZ Modstream PSU
Win XP Pro SP2

Budget is max of $200 for video card.

 

[Stumps]

What about the rest of the system and your budget?

 

[wayliff]

Originally posted by: Stumps
What about the rest of the system and your budget?

See above

 

[Stumps]

go for something decent then....a X1950 or 7950GT would be a decent upgrade, I'm not sure on US prices but they can be had for less than AU$350 so I would say that they are in the US$200 bracket.

 

[wayliff]

i was looking at the x1950 but i still have the question regarding the relevance of the amount of ram vs the size of the LCD.
Or as long as the resolution is supported by the video card then it should not matter?
Anyone?

Thanks for your suggestion Stumps.

 

[Munky]

As you move up the display size and resolution, the most important performance factor is not the amount of video memory but how fast the gpu itself is. A x1950xt with 256mb of memory would still perform faster than a x1950pro with 512mb of memory, because the xt has a more powerful gpu core. Anyway, you should consider one of these cards;

x1950xt
7950gt
x1950pro

Also, consider that by the time you actually buy the bigger monitor, there might be newer cards released that offer better performance and/or features for that price.

 

[wayliff]

forgive the question but how does the amount of ram come to play then...why go 512 over 256?

 

[Munky]

The amount of memory matters somewhat, because at higher resolution all the used buffers take up more space, like the back and front color buffers, the z-buffer, and some offscreen rendering buffers. If you have AA enabled, then the memory requirements go up. If you're using AAA or TRAA, those take up even more memory still. However, what most people seem to forget is that whenever a program uses shaders, the gpu must process that shader for every pixel on the screen, and each instruction in a shader usually takes multiple clock cycles to execute. So the higher resolution usually puts even more stress on the gpu than on the memory. How much hit the card takes when it runs out of memory depends on the game, and on the card.

Take a look at the following articles, and compare the difference between the x1900xt 256MB and the 512MB model, and then compare the x1900xt 256MB to the x1800xt, which has a weaker gpu core but still comes with 512MB of memory. More often than not the x1900xt 256MB beats the x1800xt.

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/ati...n_x1900_xt_256mb_performance/page5.asp
http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/hard...0_xt_256_mb/8/#abschnitt_battlefield_2

 

[wayliff]

thanks for the info that helps!

 

[evolucion8]

The performance drop between 512MB and 256MB is 14% at worst. Will benefit gamers that plays over 1600x1200, otherwise is not important below that resolution.