What's better, 256 GDDR3 or 512 GDDR2?

[Tarvaln]

I've been looking for a AGP card around $150. Most of the cards I've seen I can either get 512 megs GRRD2 of ram or 256 megs of GDD3. I'm wondering which would be better in terms of gaming. Also I'm wondering whether to get another ATI (I've had a 9800pro) or a Nvidia. Here are some of the cards I'm looking at. Any advice would be appreciated.

XFX PVT42KUDE3 GeForce 6800XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 8X Video Card

HIS Hightech H165PRQ512AN-R Radeon X1650PRO 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X IceQ Video Card

CHAINTECH GSA76GS GeForce 7600GS 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card

 

[Cookie Monster]

256mb of GDDR3 is better because of heat (i could point out to some other things). 512mb wont be utlised by low/mid rangecards so they become a waste of money. The thing you want to look at is the memory interface (bus) i.e 256bit or 128bit.

The 7600GS is around 20~30% slower than a 6800ultra last time i checked. A X1650pro is a X1600XT in disguise. (which was beaten by the 6800GS PCI-e although its performance is similiar to the 6800GT AGP)

The 6800XT is slowest out of the bunch. (unless im wrong)

I suggest you grab something along the lines of a used 6800GT AGP, X800XL/X850XT etc.

OR you could save yourself 30 more bux and grab a leadtek 7600GT AGP.

 

[TheRyuu]

No way in hell the card would even use the 512mb so it's totally not worth it.

Best choice out of all of those is the 7600GS. There are other alternatives as listed about my Mr.

 

[Tarvaln]

Been looking through e-bay for a 6800GT AGP, I keep seeing a lot of BFG cards. Are those crappy cards or just a card of choice for sellers?

 

[Cookie Monster]

Check the FS/FT section of AT forums.

 

[Topweasel]

Originally posted by: Tarvaln
Been looking through e-bay for a 6800GT AGP, I keep seeing a lot of BFG cards. Are those crappy cards or just a card of choice for sellers?

Between eVGA and BFG they are probably the biggest suppliers of Nvidia video cards in the US. The reason for large amount of BFG cards is solely caused by the ratio of those sold compared to competitors.

 

[Cookie Monster]

BFG was popular back than because of their "OC" cards. They were the first with lifetime warranty as well.

 

[Sniper82]

BFG is a good brand as is XFX,Evga,ect. But to be honest brand almost doesn't matter nowadays anyway just go for whats cheap..

 

[secretanchitman]

256MB GDDR3 is faster...i think because it uses less voltage to run than for GDDR2 and can clock up higher. correct me if im wrong though.

 

[evolucion8]

Well, DDR2 and DDR3 running at the same frequencies will run almost the same, but the DDR2 will have slighly higher latencies and will consume a lot more of power. Also the DDR2 cannot go too high compared to DDR3. And all those cards above mentioned, the X1650PRO may outperform the 7600GS in some cases, and in other cases could be the oposite. A Radeon X1650PRO is just 10MHz faster in Core Speed and RAM speed compared to the X1600XT and the fan noise level is a bit lower. You should go to a higher performer card like the 7600GT or find an used X800XL/XT or X850PRO/XT somewhere. The GeForce 6 architecture doesn't have the horsepower in current DX9 games.