Video card memory interface?

[Zaputh]

I'm shopping for a new video card for my Dell XPS 410 and have a question about the memory interface. Most cards I've found in my price range have a 128-bit memory interface. Others have a 256-bit interface. What does this mean? How much does it affect the performance of the card? Thank you very much for any info you might be able to give me!

 

[bryanW1995]

the only good video cards out right now are 8800gt and hd 3870/3850. all of these are 256 bit interface. suffice to say that if you are gaming and you are upgrading your current card then you should buy one of these if they are anywhere close to your budget. 3850 is 179, 3870 is 220-250, 8800gt is 240-330. Dell actually was running a deal yesterday for a 3870 for 207 + tax with free shipping.

what is your budget btw?

 

[Zaputh]

My budget is between $150 and $175. I've been looking at the 8600's (particularly the EVGA 8600 GTS).

 

[bryanW1995]

I recommend the visiontek. newegg says that it only has a one year warranty, but their web site says lifetime and they are lifetime for almost all of their other ati-based cards. they are the only ati reseller that offers lifetime warranty. that also happens to be one of the cards that offers free shipping.

for comparison with the 8600gts, the 3850 is significantly better than x1950xtx and is in fact very comparable to 2900pro, even with its limited 256 mb of ram. check out this chart:

http://www.tomshardware.com/20...ard/page6.html#summary

yes, you're reading it right: the 3850 is approximately 5 levels above the 8600gts. the 512mb of ram is completely wasted on the 8600gts, it's just a marketing gimmick on a weak card like that. the only other card that you should even consider is 8800gt 256 in that price range, though as I mentioned before it is not available yet and nvidia has had some serious availability issues with 8800gt.

 

[spittledip]

With that price range the best you can do is the Radeon 3850.

 

[Zaputh]

This is the exact card I have been looking at. I haven't shopped for any ATI cards, but I can start. I've been hearing more and more good things about them. The only reason I've been shopping for Nvidia is that I've got a friend with a great 7600 and Nvidia seems to be more popular. I'm absolutely willing to have my mind changed though!

 

[Zaputh]

Another question: how much of a performance difference is there between my old card (a 7300 LE) and the card I have picked out (an 8600 GTS). That chart on Tom's Hardware claims the 7300 LE to be ten tiers below the 8600GTS so I'm guessing the upgrade is worth while (whether I get the 8600GTS or it's ATI equivalent). Again, thanks for the advise. I'm still learning, but I'm extremely interested in all of it! My goal for the next few weeks is to get the absolute best card in my budget.

 

[bryanW1995]

yes, 7300le completely sucks. 8600gts is equivalent to a high end card from 2-3 yrs ago. 3850 is BETTER by a significant margin than anything that came out more than a year ago, ie, all 7 series gpus including 7950gx2 and the former champ x1950xtx. You will see a huge improvement from a 7300 le if you get a 7300gt, but that doesn't mean that you should spend 150-175 on one. basically, 38x0 and 8800gt completely destroy anything else out there on a price/performance basis. the ONLY reason to not buy one of those two cards is if your budget is significantly below 180. I say that b/c if it's in the 150+ range it's worth it to spend the extra $30 for 3850. I nearly bought a 2900 pro a couple of months ago b/c I thought it was such a good deal at $270. In fact, if it had dropped to $250 I would have bought it. Now you can get the same performance as the 2900pro for $179 shipped at newegg here http://www.newegg.com/Product/...=Radeon+HD+3000+series , plus the 3850 requires about 1/2 the power and puts out about 1/2 the heat of 2900 pro. Oh, did I mention that it's nearly silent, too? And it is a single slot cooler design while ALL other cards in its class other than 8800gt are dual slot? Seriously, just put up a poll on this thread and see how many people recommend the 8600gts 512 over an 8800gt or 3850.

 

[JBT]

If you can spend the extra on the 3850 do it. That card smokes a 8600GT. I'd go with the VisionTeK in BryanW1995's link.

 

[bryanW1995]

even the 8800gts "superclocked" that he linked to is crap. no offense of course, but I think that anand said it best in the title of his 8800gt article when he called it "the only card that matters". of course then 38x0 came out and that 1-2 punch obsoleted anything else in the $150-$500 price range overnight.

 

[darkxknight]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
even the 8800gts "superclocked" that he linked to is crap. no offense of course, but I think that anand said it best in the title of his 8800gt article when he called it "the only card that matters". of course then 38x0 came out and that 1-2 punch obsoleted anything else in the $150-$500 price range overnight.

more of 150-250 price range

 

[bryanW1995]

well, 8800gts 640 was 350-400 and 2900xt was 390-500. 8800gt and 3870 are both faster than either card. 8800gt is in fact more comparable with 8800gtx for that matter. 8800gtx prices have plummeted since 8800gt came out, as have 2900xt. the only cards that can even outperform either 8800gt or 3870 are the 8800gtx and 8800ultra, both of which were $500+ before 8800gt came out.

 

[Munky]

To answer the OP question, the memory interface determines how much data the gpu can read/write to the video memory at once. In general, a more powerful gpu needs a wider memory bus to accommodate it, and that's why all high performance cards now use at least a 256-bit bus. But just because a card has a wider memory bus does not mean it's faster, the 2900xt being a prime example of that case with a 512-bit interface. You should really look at benchmarks and reviews of cards in your price range to make an informed decision, and at the moment the 3850 is by far the fastest card $180 will get you.