Why do people (in SL mainly) fall for the higher video RAM = better gaming TRAP?

[geethq]

OK, first of all, I'm not saying RAM is not important. Video RAM is very important, but choosing the VGA ONLY by the amount of installed Video RAM is wrong.

Like in PCs, where you match the amount of RAM with the other parts of the PC, you need to match the video RAM with the processor in the VGA. For example, you don't buy a quad core CPU with just 1GB RAM, right? Doesn't sound right, because you buy the Quad Core CPU to do a lot of multitasking, but as you don't have enough RAM to load a lot of programs into RAM at the same time, you are losing the advantage of the CPU.

Likewise, the Video RAM has to be matched to the graphics processors as not to lose the advantage of one component by the other component.

Why do you need RAM on VGA? Two things mainly.
1. To hold the already processed frames (hence it is also called the frame buffer)
2. To hold the data that is to be processed.
3. To hold the high resolution textures instead of keeping them in the system RAM, as Video RAM is much faster than system RAM.

The 1st and the 3rd points are critical as they require a lot of RAM. The amount of RAM used for holding the currently processed frames depends pretty much only on the resolution.

Let's take three video card types.

1. Low end (such as 8500GT/HD3650)
Low end cards are characterized by less powerful processor + slower RAM, not amount of RAM on the card. Less powerful processor means you can't process large resolutions or complex calculations that are required in HIGH graphics settings, to give a playable frame rate. This means, you need to lower the resolution and graphics settings, THEN having lots of RAM is a waste. Basically 256MB of RAM is MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR THESE CARDS.

2. Mid range cards (eg: 9600GT/8800GT/HD3870/HD4850)
These cards can play games at 1280x1024 with no problem, and some work well at 1600x1200 as well. This means they need a lot of RAM to hold the frames, and as you can enable pretty much the highest graphics settings at those resolution, you need a lot of RAM to hold the textures and frames. But by a lot, I don't say A LOT! 512MB is pretty much enough for the processing power of these cards.

Note: Texture storage is very important in some games, and not very important in some. In Crysis, if you enable high settings without having 512MB, because of these amount of textures it requires, the performance goes down A LOT! This is why 8800GT 256MB is VERY VERY VERY slow in Crysis, even at 1024x768. (See that the resolution DOESN'T need most of the Video RAM)

3. Highend Video Cards (GTX260/280/HD4870/HD4870X2)
These cards are capable of handling 1920x1200 or even 2560x1600 and with AA too!!! This is where you really really need video RAM. 512MB is not enough to match the capabilities of the graphics processor in these cards. You need 1GB or sometimes, even 2GB is not a waste at least on the HD4870X2.

This is just a small guide, and there can be exceptions where more video RAM improves performance with low power CPUs too.

thanks ayye
meke midrange ekata 8800GT /HD3870/HD4850 dana eka waradiy
ekata enna oni 9600GT/8600GTS/8600GT/...........
eka high rang ekata dala
Enthusiast walata oya dan high end kiyala thiyena tika danna one mama hithanne

 

[MrJ]

why the hell they make that kind of VGAs?

Hmm In Country like srilanka majority have not enough funds to get High end gaming computers. Imagine you go to a computer seller and ask
"I want a computer to play Crysis at full graphic quality with 8x anti aliasing."
Seller check his computer and say "OK"
you: "How much"
seller: "50 000"
you: "good, with all parts.."
seller:"No just the VGA"
you:"Opps, to all parts???"
seller:"wait . Rs.3 50 000"
Opps! so imagine who going to waste 50 000 only for VGA when he came to buy complete PC for 50 000, (I say majority still there are game freaks who can spend that kind of money)

so VGA designers like Nvidia Ati design three ranges of vgas
low range
mid range
high range

in low range vgas you can see vgas like 8400GS 7300 GT etc...
even they have 512, 1024 RAM other performance like pipe lines, core clock, ram clock, dram multipliers are in low

don't expect high graphic quality from these vgas cause these are not for high end gaming just for normal use + normal gaming experience.


in mid range vgas you can see 8500GT, 8600GT , 6800GT, 7600GT etc...
some times even they have lower ram cap like 512, 256 , or 760 they have much high pipelines, core clock, ram clock, and dram multipliers like ddr2 ddr3 modules

when even you have mid range vga some advanced games like Crysis far cry etc.. you cant get maximum graphic output. they run slower in higher anti aliasing
and higher texture details.

in high end there's the place you want to be for high end gaming experience. vgas like 8800 GT(some can categorize this for mid range, but i prefer high) , 8800GTX , 9600GT/GTX etc..
aaahaaa these are real vgas.. I mean Excellent!!! you can live in the game these kind of vgas..

And Also pricing of above vgas in SL
low range 5000-12000
mid range 16000 - 25000 (cannot ensure exact price cause variation of shipping cost dealer to dealer)
high range something over 35000

But mid and high range vgas most of dealers will ship after your request .

And also you have to say if you going to buy high end vga you must have other high end compatible hardware to ensure you get full use of it!

High quality always cost something .. In this case they cost power !!!!! Ya power!!! some says "i dont think so".. Believe me It will cost more considerable power than usual PC !!! so if you are going to keep your eyes on Electricity bill.. you will remember your first bill for long time...

so local sellers always looking for much profit so they want risk there business to fill there stores with costly products. And they will sell what they have.

So we as buyers need t beware of what we need! so before you buy your PC parts always try to search it on the web and look reviews..... It s a good practice .

If you need high end you have ship it !!!!!!!!


thanks for reading this long post hope you got something out of this



Note: I didn't go through whole post ! I jumped to the last page, If some body mentioned about above facts apologizes for repeating....

 

[fallenzeraphine]

thanks ayye
meke midrange ekata 8800GT /HD3870/HD4850 dana eka waradiy
ekata enna oni 9600GT/8600GTS/8600GT/...........
eka high rang ekata dala
Enthusiast walata oya dan high end kiyala thiyena tika danna one mama hithanne

Woot 9600GT 8800GT HD3870 HD4850 are Mid range mate weather u like it or not lmfao, 8600GT is a Upper low end card by today's standards.

 

[gayannr]

@MrJ

I think bhai4uanu meant something else than you posted quoting his post.
equipping a Low-End VGA with a whopping 1GB Ram is more or less like cheating on n00bs

 

[gayannr]

Woot 9600GT 8800GT HD3870 HD4850 are Mid range mate weather u like it or not lmfao, 8600GT is a Upper low end card by today's standards.

Someone having a 8600GT has broken his heart

 

[kosandpol]

Here's a prime example of the SL mind set :
http://www.elakiri.com/forum/showthread.php?t=114925

This is why people fall for all kinds of traps.

 

[prasadana2]

Having the most amount of vga ram does not mean u can play the best games the GPU matters the most its like nvidia Mx an Fx series..

 

[Anusha]

thanks ayye
meke midrange ekata 8800GT /HD3870/HD4850 dana eka waradiy
ekata enna oni 9600GT/8600GTS/8600GT/...........
eka high rang ekata dala
Enthusiast walata oya dan high end kiyala thiyena tika danna one mama hithanne

Enthusiast is multi GPU.
Remember, when 8600GT came it was over USD200, and it was midrange. And none of those 4 cards are even close to the price! They sell for abour USD170 max. That's why they are called midrange.

 

[chanaka89]

Anusha ayya tell me a good VGA a to buy around Rs.12000-Rs.15000
I cant go for better ones

 

[Anusha]

Anusha ayya tell me a good VGA a to buy around Rs.12000-Rs.15000
I cant go for better ones

9600GT if you are lucky enough to find one at Barclays

 

[roshant]

9600GT if you are lucky enough to find one at Barclays

No-out of stock

 

[roshant]

SL Foxconn(nunet.lk) now importing 9500gt instead of 9600gt

 

[scoobyy]

Just felt like asking.

99% of people in Unity Plaza (sellers and buyers both parties) considered... the first question they ask when buying/selling a VGA how much is a VGA with "this much" RAM/how about a VGA with "this much" RAM.

Why is it that when you are buying a PC, you mainly look at the CPU (very bad thing) and when buying the VGA you mainly look at the amount of video RAM (again, as bad as previous case)....when VGA is actually a small PC itself??? Why don't people look at the processor in the VGA???

Let's hear some comments

ya they never mention about chipset.IDIOTS

 

[Anusha]

ya they never mention about chipset.IDIOTS

Chipset?
Chipsets are on motherboards

 

[sri_lion]

Chipset?
Chipsets are on motherboards

Ah! Chipsets, Capacitors... they all the same to them..

 

[geethq]

Woot 9600GT 8800GT HD3870 HD4850 are Mid range mate weather u like it or not lmfao, 8600GT is a Upper low end card by today's standards.

ok
aththatama todays standards wala hatiyata nam ehema wenna oni thamay

 

[kasuncs]

ATI gana sound ekak naththe ayi?

 

[geethq]

???

 

[GNS]

Someone having a 8600GT has broken his heart

& da one who sold doesn't give him any support to survive

 

[GNS]

ok
aththatama todays standards wala hatiyata nam ehema wenna oni thamay

na na, ehema wena ekak nae.
oya owwa wadiya hithanna yanna epa