128 or 256?

So I've heard mixed opinions about this issue - for instance my bro says
he's heard a 128mb card will actually perform better than a 256mb card.

What's the deal?!

lol, but thanks for any help/ opinions/ info.

"Dragoncarer" wrote in message
...
So I've heard mixed opinions about this issue - for instance my bro says
he's heard a 128mb card will actually perform better than a 256mb card.

What's the deal?!

lol, but thanks for any help/ opinions/ info.

On some reviews I've read the 256mb cards sometimes had slower memory than
the 128. It was the slower memory rather than the amount of memory which
caused the lower performance.

"big8red" wrote in message
k...

"Dragoncarer" wrote in message
...
So I've heard mixed opinions about this issue - for instance my bro says
he's heard a 128mb card will actually perform better than a 256mb card.

What's the deal?!

lol, but thanks for any help/ opinions/ info.

On some reviews I've read the 256mb cards sometimes had slower memory than
the 128. It was the slower memory rather than the amount of memory which
caused the lower performance.

But if they had 'normal' memory - they would be 'better'? Would there be
anyway to check if they had slower or not, though? I can't imagine there
would be....

"Dragoncarer" wrote in message
...
So I've heard mixed opinions about this issue - for instance my bro says
he's heard a 128mb card will actually perform better than a 256mb card.

What's the deal?!

lol, but thanks for any help/ opinions/ info.

He's just parroting something he heard about specific cards. Given 100%
identical cards, the 256MB card will perform better with a modern game that
uses large amounts of large textures. That said, the number of games out
there currently that really need 256MB is small. That will increase in the
future though, obviously.

There are, however, cards out there that sound identical, but aren't. The
256MB version of the Radeon 9800 "Pro" for instance, actually had a smaller
memory bus than the 128MB one, which made the 256MB card slower than the
128MB card.

There's more variables than memory size you have to take into consideration
when evaluating things.

RF.

"RaceFace" wrote in message
...

"Dragoncarer" wrote in message
...
So I've heard mixed opinions about this issue - for instance my bro says
he's heard a 128mb card will actually perform better than a 256mb card.

What's the deal?!

lol, but thanks for any help/ opinions/ info.

He's just parroting something he heard about specific cards. Given
100% identical cards, the 256MB card will perform better with a modern
game that uses large amounts of large textures. That said, the number of
games out there currently that really need 256MB is small. That will
increase in the future though, obviously.

There are, however, cards out there that sound identical, but aren't. The
256MB version of the Radeon 9800 "Pro" for instance, actually had a
smaller memory bus than the 128MB one, which made the 256MB card slower
than the 128MB card.

There's more variables than memory size you have to take into
consideration when evaluating things.

RF.



Ah. It's kinda typical of him to get a bee in his bonnet about some things,
lol.
Thanks for that - so...what about the diff between the two cards I mentioned
in my other post (GB 6800GT 256 vs LT 6800GT 128)?

Dragoncarer wrote:


"big8red" wrote in message
k...

"Dragoncarer" wrote in message
...
So I've heard mixed opinions about this issue - for instance my bro says
he's heard a 128mb card will actually perform better than a 256mb card.

What's the deal?!

lol, but thanks for any help/ opinions/ info.

On some reviews I've read the 256mb cards sometimes had slower memory
than
the 128. It was the slower memory rather than the amount of memory which
caused the lower performance.

But if they had 'normal' memory - they would be 'better'? Would there be
anyway to check if they had slower or not, though? I can't imagine there
would be....

Well, you could read the numbers on the memory chips--don't know if it's
still true but it used to be that the number after the "-" was the speed
rating.

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

In article , Dragoncarer says...

"big8red" wrote in message
k...

"Dragoncarer" wrote in message
...
So I've heard mixed opinions about this issue - for instance my bro says
he's heard a 128mb card will actually perform better than a 256mb card.

What's the deal?!

lol, but thanks for any help/ opinions/ info.

On some reviews I've read the 256mb cards sometimes had slower memory than
the 128. It was the slower memory rather than the amount of memory which
caused the lower performance.

But if they had 'normal' memory - they would be 'better'?

Not necessarily as it requires more time for the additional 128MB of
textures to be transferred to the card.


--
Conor

-You wanted an argument? Oh I'm sorry, but this is abuse. You want room
K5, just along the corridor. Stupid git. (Monty Python)

"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...
Dragoncarer wrote:


"big8red" wrote in message
k...

"Dragoncarer" wrote in message
...
So I've heard mixed opinions about this issue - for instance my bro
says
he's heard a 128mb card will actually perform better than a 256mb card.

What's the deal?!

lol, but thanks for any help/ opinions/ info.

On some reviews I've read the 256mb cards sometimes had slower memory
than
the 128. It was the slower memory rather than the amount of memory
which
caused the lower performance.

But if they had 'normal' memory - they would be 'better'? Would there be
anyway to check if they had slower or not, though? I can't imagine there
would be....

Well, you could read the numbers on the memory chips--don't know if it's
still true but it used to be that the number after the "-" was the speed
rating.

Huh. Now I *really* want to do that - but I doubt the store would let
me....although it *is* a $600 card, so, y'know..but then it *is* 'dodgy'
msy - www.msy.com.au (you'll have fun - just wait for the colours!).

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

"Conor" wrote in message
t...
In article , Dragoncarer says...

"big8red" wrote in message
k...

"Dragoncarer" wrote in message
...
So I've heard mixed opinions about this issue - for instance my bro
says
he's heard a 128mb card will actually perform better than a 256mb
card.

What's the deal?!

lol, but thanks for any help/ opinions/ info.

On some reviews I've read the 256mb cards sometimes had slower memory
than
the 128. It was the slower memory rather than the amount of memory
which
caused the lower performance.

But if they had 'normal' memory - they would be 'better'?

Not necessarily as it requires more time for the additional 128MB of
textures to be transferred to the card.


I guess this is similar to where I've heard it said the it's unlikely you'll
use the extra 128.
Which most games now and in the immediate future won't need. So. I'm still
unsure!


--
Conor

-You wanted an argument? Oh I'm sorry, but this is abuse. You want room
K5, just along the corridor. Stupid git. (Monty Python)

Dragoncarer wrote:

So I've heard mixed opinions about this issue - for instance my bro
says he's heard a 128mb card will actually perform better than a
256mb card.
What's the deal?!

It's simple. Basically, 256MB cards are better than 128MB cards since
they have more memory for textures. However, this is only valid if both
cards are (except for the memory size of course) identical (means:
identical GPU, identical bus width, identical clock). However, there are
cards where the 256MB version has a smaller memory bus or a lower clock
rate than the 128MB version, thus making the 128MB card faster in most
situations...

Benjamin