Posted by Mubbers
Something I'm keen to understand is this:
PC1 has 512Mb RAM and a Radeon 9700 pro 128Mb
PC2 has 768Mb RAM and a GF4 4600 Ti w/ 128Mb
In all other respects the PCs are the same.
Which runs UT2003 with the highest FPS, everything switched on?
OR if they both started with the same amount of RAM (512Mb) how much more RAM would you have to add to PC2 before it had the same graphics performance as PC1?
Mubbers
kind of hard to compare the 2... first off the bandwidths of the cards and the way they process graphics is COMPLETELY different..
also bear in mind that 512mb ram is more than sufficient to play games... additional ram helps speed things up but unlikely to notice more than a token increase in performance for games... might just be smoother...
concerning the memory... currently the 2.8ns bga memory used by the radeon 9700pro is THE fastest on the market...
the 4600 as far as I know is designed for 128mb but might be able to take more.. not sure since I have never owned one... the 9700pro is designed to handle a max of 256mb... which is what future version will carry...
the memory for gpu's is different from regular memory... its faster and is optimized for one thing only...
now zedric is on the mark with his comments BUT the ti4200 with 64 is faster than the 128mb version not because of additional ram but because the 64mb is clocked higher than the 128mb version, this is for the AGP 4x version... the newer revision 2 (with 8x agp) has higher clocked ram...
doom III is supposed to be using 80mb memory from your gpu for textures which seems like a lot but I am sure that it will consume far more at higher res... per the grapvine the ut2k3 super duper uber res which will be unlocked when cards with 256mb on board ddr come out uses upto 140mb onboard memory... which will not therefore work on our measly 64mb and 128mb cards
more onboard memory in video cards is better as more textures can be loaded into there... get at least 128mb if you are buying now..