graphics card hard ?

Thread Starter

Mathematics!

Joined Jul 21, 2008
1,036
Ok , I am pretty knowledgeable when it comes to GPU stuff but their are a few elements I don't fully get. This is partly because I don't have a frame of reference to go by.

Ok , here goes what makes a GPU better then others is the below defining factors
screen drawning rate 60 hz , 120hz , now 240hz offered.
resolution for HD if it supports 1920X1080 p progressive not interlace where the screen is only half drawn each frame
output ports if it has on it DVI , HDMI , RCA ,...etc and how many it has on the card.
contrast ratio's and color space stuff.
the speed of the GPU processor
weather it can be plugged into PCI-eX or just old PCI bus which is slower to get data from the mobo to the gpu
the amount of dedicated memory on the GPU itself


I can pretty much determine what a graphics card is going to cost by just knowning this stuff. But what the only defining fact that I don't fully understand is what the difference in the dedicated memory being 512mb , 1gb , or 1.5gb?

I know the more memory the faster things can run if you can fit it all into memory. But I have no frame of reference in what 512mb or 1gb or 1.5gb ...etc feels like for graphics cards and how much is needed???

Any help in this area would be great.
Main question is how much memory will a graphics card generally need / uses and will the best GPU need 1.5 or 2 gb of memory for what they have to do?

If I had 3 GPU all with the top of the line stuff and the same stuff except one had 512mb , one 1gb , and the last one 1.5 gb. Would you see a significant differences?

Even for gaming if every thing was equal the frame rate would all be the same and the HD would all be the same just curious if the memory would still have a huge effect?

I guess 1920 X 1080 = 2073600 approx => 2GB so if you had a 2 GB of dedicated memory you could almost hold each frame in dedicated memory on the GPU all at once and never use system memory. If this has any significants?
 
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thatoneguy

Joined Feb 19, 2009
6,359
The graphics memory over 128MB is used for rendering 3D graphics, such as games, with high quality.

Suppose you have a 2000x1080 display, that's 2MB of 1 bit pixel data, or several gig of full color data. Add in working area for the "Z Buffer" (Distance fade calculations) and more memory is needed.

The part that matters for non-game use PC's is the outputs available (VGA, DVI, Composite, etc). For the gamer, it's GPU speed, GPU type, memory bus size, speed of memory, and amount of memory. Gamer cards are almost always DVI output only, and usually two cards in parallel for better rendering quality at about the same frames per second.

Games aren't "playable" below about 20 frames per second, with over 60 being preferred.
 

Thread Starter

Mathematics!

Joined Jul 21, 2008
1,036
when you refer to GPU type you mean weather it is PCI or PCI-e ,...etc
when you refer to memory bus size what is the largest they provide I was think the bus is either 16 , 32 ,or 64 maybe they got as high as 128 ummmmmm

speed of memory won't this just be determined by the speed of the GPU and the size of the memory bused. So their was some reduntant factors that you threw in their. Not to be picky.

Anyway so as my above post I modified would you see a significant difference between the 512 , 1 ,1.5 if so is their any frame of reference you can give for that.

Also other then gaming if you just wanted to watch HD tv/dvd thru your computer or display your computer screen to your sony bravia 52 in HD LCD tv you don't have to worry about this memory issue ?
Just the outports , weather it supports 1920X1080 p , and weather it draws the frames in 120hz, maybe the contrast ratio should match the tv as well but other then that. That would be it???

That would save a significant alot of money for me.
 
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