6800GT with 128Mb

[Chudilo]

I found a 6800GT from a respectable manufacturer with only 128mb of ram.

What sort of a performance hit can this cause?

Do games really use textures that are that big now? I think 128 should be plenty for all practical purposes.. I mean unless you load a movie into a texture I do not see a game using all 256 mb of ram ... And while 128 might be a bit on the small side for something like that.. I think it should be plenty.

Is my reasoning right? Have I been "out of the loop" for so long that I am anaware that textures really do get that big?

 

[uOpt]

Doom3 is probably the game game that controls it most closely.

With 128 MB you get medium quality settings, with 256 you get high quality settings. I think tomshardware has a downloadable zip file with screenshots of the different quality settings.

Keep in mind that feeding in the big textures takes effort, too, so your frame rate will still drop independently of whether your graphics card can manage the setting or not.

What I am also concerned about is mods. The Red Orchestra mod for UT2004 is a real RAM hog, taking up a lot more than the plain UT. Now, RAM usage doesn't mean it will also make use of more video RAM, but the point here is that privately/volunteer developed mods will probably not pay attention when choosing their textures. A commercial developer will make sure he won't overload the card leading to texture trashing, but these mods will very likely do, leading to sudden drops in framerate with "low" memory video cards.

 

[Numan]

I found a 6800GT from a respectable manufacturer with only 128mb of ram.

Put that Asus video card back where you found it. It will not give you the same speeds as other 6800GTs. If you only wanted a normal 6800 then it might be worth it (don't have any prices in front of me to see how it compares)

 

[FishTankX]

I'll believe it when I see the benches. Not many games need 256MB

 

[Gannon]

I agree FishTankX, PC developers shoot for lowest to mid range common denominator most of the time with certain exceptions for FPS companies who's audiences are willing to spend insane amounts of cash for upgrading their systems.

 

[Chudilo]

I seems like the the High quality is anavailable in Doom3 with only 128 mb. which means that 128mb, is not good enough then ...Price difference between a 128mb card and the 256 one is only $50.. So if you're willing to spend $349 you might as well, go with the 256 mb for $399.

These prices are just avarage prices..

 

[foofoo]

hi,
if you are talking about the asus v9999 you should know that maximumpc reviewed it in this months issue and it is NOT the GT chipset. it is a regular 6800 with 12 pipelines instead of 16. even though it has the GT in the name. pretty misleading.
if this is the one you are considering - stay away. it's pretty expensive for a vanilla 6800

 

[uOpt]

Originally posted by: Chudilo
I seems like the the High quality is anavailable in Doom3 with only 128 mb. which means that 128mb, is not good enough then ...Price difference between a 128mb card and the 256 one is only $50.. So if you're willing to spend $349 you might as well, go with the 256 mb for $399.

These prices are just avarage prices..

The whole point about Doom3 medium and high quality is the texture RAM used.

All other quality settings are seperate.

I still suggest to head over to tomshardware and download the zipfile with the comparative screenshots

 

[Chudilo]

Here is the link to image quality comparison.
Link to the image comparison

As you can see only medium quality would be available if you only have 128mb. I personally don't think that it is good enough. I could do without Ultra quality but I do need the High quality.

 

[Comparisonman]

I have run Doom3 in High and Ultra settings with my Radeon 9700 Pro w/128mb RAM without any problems. Personally, I think if that 6800GT is a true GT at a good price then get it. The amount of video ram only really matters if you are using a high resolution in combination with high quality video settings. If 1024x768 is good enough for you, then don't sweat it. I run that all day on Ultra with my Radeon 9700 128mb.

 

[dmw16]

DONT GET THAT CARD!!!!!

There was a review of it in MaximumPC this month and it sucked (for the price). It performs like a 6800NU. FOr $400 get a something else.

 

[Chudilo]

foofoo That is exactly the card I am talking about , thanks for the heads up