cheap 512mb graphics cards?

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naa, not there, poor exaple pehaps, but i see them all the time, espiclly on ebay, look up 512mb graphics card, theres always loads goin cheap, just wondering why?
 
harry18 said:
naa, not there, poor exaple pehaps, but i see them all the time, espiclly on ebay, look up 512mb graphics card, theres always loads goin cheap, just wondering why?
that's because the GPU isn't the best.
the 512MB card on that site is an X1600

what makes a card good is not the amount of memory it has. it's the GPU (graphical processing unit)

for example, a 7900 GT 256MB is one of the top cards on the market. it performs much better than the 512MB X1600.

or there is the Radeon 9800 Pro. tests show that often the 128MB version outperforms the 256MB version.
 
hmmmm, interesting, so what makes a good card then, lemme get this right, a graphics card has its own cpu and memory, so one of those VGAs would be like putting 1gb ram in y mobo, with a 400mhz P2, when you want a p4 with that gig, right?, how can you tell how good the vid card is then?
 
the GPU is what makes a card fast
first, you want to look for a card with more pixel pipelines. the more pipelines, the more it can render at one time.
also, the higher the clock speeds, the faster the pipelines render.
 
Yep, first look for the most pixels, then when you find a few you like look for the highest clock speeds. Don't even worry about the memory.
 
Cards with 512 MB would have to have a powerful GPU. This is because only a few things use up more then 256MB of VRAM, and in order to get the settings that use more then 256MB you have to have the settings jacked WAY UP. Maxing out games like FEAR, Doom 3, and Quake 4 on high resolutions (which uses around 300-400MB of VRAM) will kill a 512MB 6600GT or a X1600.

Look at the GPU first then the memory. But the things you should look for when looking at memory is:

Type of memory (you want GDDR3)
is it 256-bit or 128-bit?
What speed is it?
How much of it is there (128, 256, 512)?

Most new games on high settings on normal resolutions like 10x7 and 12x10 use around 100-140MB of VRAM. Therefor I recommend that you get 256MB. 128 is starting to reach it's cap, but 256 is fine for now.
 
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