Someone explai in laymans terms (Graphics)

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*SynergyX*

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so someone explain...coz i want to buy a card but this all confuses me....coz the price range is fairly similar
1GB GDDR3 256 Bit vs 1GB GDDR5 128bit

as far as i understand...in the case of the GDDR3 the bigger bus makes up for the slower memory... and in the case of the GDDR5 well you have faster memory...

so which card should i buy (gaming in mind obviously)...last card i bought was a ati x800pro...back in the day...but SC2 is got my wallet flapping
 
*SynergyX* said:
as far as i understand...in the case of the GDDR3 the bigger bus makes up for the slower memory... and in the case of the GDDR5 well you have faster memory...
Click to expand...
Exactly! GDDR3 is obviously slower than GDDR5, but a 256-bit bus can transport more data than a 128-bit bus at a time.
 
Which 2 cards are these? Would make it a lot easier to say which is better...
 
cant say what cards...looking at spendin R2000 or thereabout....and expecting it to last me atleast 2 years in terms of games....
 
And keep in mind that the latencies on DDR5 are higher than DDR3 meaning the memory needs to run a lot faster to keep up. A DDR3 256 bit card will typically rings around a 128bit card even with "slower" DDR3 memory.
In the case of the GTX460, the 1GB cards will perform better than the 768GB cards, not due to the extra memory, but the fact that the 1GB cards have a 256 Bit bus while the 768 MB has a 192 bit bus.
 
The GTX 460 *should* cost R2000, I don't know if you can get one for that. Well the reason we say is there's a good leap in performance from the 5770 to the GTX 460 and 5850 but the 5770 is decent, you can get that for like R1700-1800, maybe even cheaper.

The 5770 is still a really decent card, good enough to play almost all modern games at full settings 1920x1200. Obviously Starcraft too! Theres some good info and comparisons in this review. http://www.anandtech.com/show/3809/nvidias-geforce-gtx-460-the-200-king
 
GIGABYTE® ATI® Radeon HD5770 - 1GB GDDR5, 128-Bit Memory Bus, PCI Express 2.0, 2x DVI, 1x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI, HDCP Compliant
Core: 850MHz / Memory: 4800MHz, DirectX 11, OpenGL, ATI® AVIVO HD & Powerplay, ATI Eyefinity, ATI Crossfire - Win Vista / 7 Certified

versus

GIGABYTE® ATI® Radeon HD5570 - 1GB GDDR5, 128-Bit Memory Bus, PCI Express 2.0, 1x D-SUB, 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, HDCP Compliant
Core: 785MHz / Memory: 4000MHz, DirectX 11, OpenGL, ATI® AVIVO HD & Powerplay, ATI Crossfire - Win Vista / 7 Certified


will i see a big difference?
 
The GTX 460 768mb can be found for R2k, I bought 2 this week.

Nvida cards are mostly GDDR3 and 256bit, where ATI cards are mostly GDDR5 and 128bit.

From the cards mentioned here - GTX460 1Gb > GTX 460 768 > AT 5770 > ATI 5570.
Price whise, I would say GTX 460 768 > ATI 5770 > GTX 460 1Gb > ATI 5570.

Keep in mind that the 5570 is an entry level card and can't really be compared to the other cards.

My 2c.
 
wetkit said:
Funy enough, but these days I look at power consumption and noise.
Click to expand...

I look for size. if it's bigger there must be more stuff in it. :D
if it runs extremely hot, and has huge-ass fans on it, it must be doing some serious stuff

the crapper the fans, the less I want it. :o

if it has a heatsink, look for another card.
 
The 460GTX has 2 versions - a 768mb and a 1GB - the 768mb ones go for around r2000 - the 1gb versions go around r2500 ish. There is a noticeable difference between them, but if r2000 is your upper limit, the 768mb is the best card to go for at the moment.

Don't pay too much attention to the spec sheet of graphics cards - it's usually misleading. Read reviews and ask us.
 
lol my current setup runs SC2 on high graphics....but teeny weeny jumpy..and i dont want to play it on medium....thats depriving myself of the full experience...
 
Currently :

Mobo : GIGABYTE® EP45-UD3LR
CPU : Pendtium D 3.4ghz (collecting a E8200 2.66 Core2Duo next week)
Ram : 4gb DDR2 Transcend axe ram 800mhz
Graphics : Nvidia 9500gt (and i didnt but it...was given to me)
HDD : Running out of space...lol..but have free space
Monitor : Samsung 26" T260
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower 460W
OS : Win 7 Ultimate 32bit
 
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