1GB vs. 2GB

[ccowan2126]

When it comes to onboard memory, is there a big difference between a graphics card with 1GB vs. 2GB of memory? Provided it is the same model card (GTX 650). Which would be better: GTX 650 with 2GB or GTX 660 with 1GB? Very slight price difference from what I find.

Thanks.

 

[johnwhelan]

It depends on the textures used by the models you use. The newer items tend to use bigger textures so I suggest going 2 gigs, if you go 1 gig and its not quite enough in a year's time it's usually not possible to upgrade the memory on a GPU.

Cheerio John

 

[ccowan2126]

Thanks, John.

 

[pdkoester]

Get a 3GB and be done for a few years.

 

[ccowan2126]

Will you help me pay for it?

 

[pdkoester]

Will you help me pay for it?

How much do you have saved in your piggy bank?

 

[CattyPatty]

is upgrading to 8gb good.

 

[pdkoester]

is upgrading to 8gb good.

if you are talking about RAM on motherboard, yeah, you can have it do more stuff, and run trainz, but above 8GB is all just free programming running power, it will use more C:\ drive space for the "swap file", also. If you are talking GPU with 8GB, that would be way more than enough for a LONG time.

 

[johnwhelan]

is upgrading to 8gb good.

You probably don't need 8 gigs of memory on the video card for the foreseeable future. On the motherboard, TS12 uses a max of 4 gigs of memory, Windows uses about .5 gigs but can use a little more to cache the hard drive so if you have a dual channel system 8 gigs is the sweet spot, with a triple channel system you can get away with 6 gigs.

Cheerio John

 

[kamran]

well with the increasing quality of games more memory is better and as you compared the 650 2gb with 660 1 gb then its a totally wrong comparison if you want to compare gpu on basis of memory then comparison comapre 650 1 gb v/s 650 2gb 660 is a high end card where as 650 is mid range card i am also using 650 and if we talked about your comparison then even 650 4g cant match performence of 660 1 gb

 

[H222]

Will you help me pay for it?

Are you for real?

 

[pdkoester]

Are you for real?

Couldn't be, never answered my question. Probably a forums troll, at best.

 

[JCitron]

If we're talking about video cards, then the more RAM the better for the most part. In part the reason is the better cards tend to have more memory then what is placed on the lesser expensive ones. Right now I'm running a 2 GB video card which actually handles Trainz quite well. With an optimized number of objects, especially Speed Treez, I'm seeing about 34 fps in most places with some higher bursts and some lower speeds with lots of objects. You never notice anything above the 30fps mark, but definitely see the difference when the speed drops below 24 fps.

John

 

[ccowan2126]

Hey, H222, that was a joke, dude.

 

[lewisner]

Heres a useful comparison http://www.hwcompare.com/13789/geforce-gtx-650-ti-2gb-vs-geforce-gtx-660/ Sounds like it is the 660 by a long chalk.