Graphic Card Question...

[VsUK81]

I am looking into updating my existing 9600GT card for something far better & was looking at the xfx HD 4870 cards. I have found two im interested in but dont know which one is better & why.

XFX HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card
& the
XFX HD 4870 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card

The only difference is size of memory & im not sure which is better to buy as the price difference is nearly £30. Any help would be fantastic.

Thanks

 

[Hefemeister]

The 1gb card would be great if you game at higher resolutions. 1920 (1600) x 1200 and above. If you play at lower resolutions you could save the money with the cheaper card.

so for 1650 (1280) x 1024 and below get the 512mb card.

 

[b1gapl]

Welcome to Tech Forums, VsUK!

The 1GB would be better for games with lots of textures, and if you're playing at a high resolution, such as 1920 x 1200.

If those meet your gaming needs, and you have the extra 30 pounds, I'd say why not, go for it.

Make sure your power supply is adequate. A 500W PSU is required.

**edit**
hefe beat me to it

 

[Hefemeister]

Wonder twin power: Activate.

 

[VsUK81]

Hi, thanks for quick reply guys. Well the max res my TFT mon goes is 1280x1024 & any higher it looks like its had a stroke

So i presume the 512mb card would suit me fine? As i purchased the GTA IV & it really made my existing card go into a coma & when i attempted to notch up the draw distance, it goes up to 100 but max the card would accept was 16 utilizing 256MB memory the card has. Im not to much fussed on quality & mainly into speed, however if i can have the details on medium for a change in staid of low would be nice

Also, i have a 600W PSU.

 

[Trotter]

Yep. The 512 is a perfect fit.

 

[dario03]

Doesn't GTA4 require a lot of video card memory? I was under the impression that it did so 1GB might be a good idea, but I'm not sure.

And what kind of cpu did you have? Because I do know that GTA4 is very cpu intensive.

 

[veg1992]

Doesn't GTA4 require a lot of video card memory? I was under the impression that it did so 1GB might be a good idea, but I'm not sure.

And what kind of cpu did you have? Because I do know that GTA4 is very cpu intensive.

Not really.

The game assumes it will hog up your memory and then caps you based on it, so you can just remove the block and then it should play fine @ 1280X1024.

 

[dirkpitt45]

I've found that I get about 1-2fps or its the same depending on the game with my 1gb 4850 compared to a friend's 512mb. That could also be anything with that small of a difference, I went with the 1gb just cause it was the same price as the 512mb at the time, so might as well.

 

[VsUK81]

its just a Athlon 3.2 x2 cpu, but all the other games ive played including farcry 2 did pretty well on a single 9600GT on low quality but it just had a real fart at me when i attempted GTA4 .

I am thinking of going for the 1GB card as if prices drop as im sure they will over the months to come, might get another & fire them up together.

I only buy if & when i need to, im not one to go out & buy it just because its new & better if you get me