Video Card MB

[JeffK91]

I've been pondering this question for along time now, what exactly does having more MB mean? I mean I see vid cards with 128mb and one with 256mb but the 128 is better? Can someone please explain this to a newb, thanks in advance.

 

[JeffK91]

bump

doesn't anyone know?

 

[Chrono]

i belive that its the memory, for hungry apps

a 128MB graphics card is fine, and most of the time u wont even notice much difference between 128 and 256.

For games like Doom3 though, this is memory hungry, and a 256 will perform better

so, 256 isnt all much better, its the clock speed u have to look out for

 

[C.Ingram]

Video RAM (the memory on a video card) is used to store texture information. Textures are loaded into the video card so they can be drawn using acceleration. More is better. Video RAM determines the quality of textures you can use (more RAM means more room per texture, which means better quality is possible).

At the consumer level, you won't see a *need* for more than 256MB for a while, but, as I said, more is better.

 

[dale5605]

256 is better in the top-end cards because those cards are fast and make good use of the memory. In lower end cards though the ones with 256 are often slower than the 128mb versions.

 

[emeraldice]

But as we always say here, the Video memory is used as a sales gimmick. More important things include clock speed, bits, pipelines, etc.

 

[C.Ingram]

When playing games, video memory is crucial. Many games have different levels of texture "packs" targed for different sized cards.

 

[VIII]

As some1 said above, with mid end cards, such as the 6600GT, 9800pro, 9600pro. 128 is enough memory, as others said, the 256 is just to make more money. With high end cards, like your 6800gt, x800pro and above, 6800ultra.. 256 is basically a necessity which is why you see near to none that are 128.

so, mid end card, look for 128 nowadays, 256 will become standard soon, i reckon.
higher end card 256 at least. 512 will be out soon,

 

[-[ZoU]-Kronos]

yeah, basically look at the combination of the RAM and the clock speed. the 5200 256mb is for people who think more memory=better card. thats false. the reason why the 5200 is cheap is becuase its got a cheap core which is really drives your gpu capabilities.