Is 512MB Enough For 1920x1200?

[DaveK]

Planning on getting graphics card soon, but not sure whether to get a 512MB or 1GB. I've decided to go with the 4830, but the 1GB is a bit out of my price range. Cos I was planning on getting a 4830 and a 1TB Samsung F1.

In the future I will be getting a bigger monitor and want to know is 512MB enough for that resolution? I also might be getting a 512MB 4850 in a few months, though not sure. Which is better for performance, a 512MB 4830 + 512MB 4850 or a 1GB 4830? I really want a 1TB HDD but if it's best I get the 1GB I guess I could buy the HDD another time.

 

[AlienIsGOD]

A 1gb Card would be better as the higher the resolution the more memory needed to push the high res. I was told b4 a 4850 512 is good for a 22" monitor with 1680 x 1050 anymore than that i should get a 1 gb card for a bigger monitor or higher resolutions.

 

[TRIPTEX_CAN]

It depends on the GPU, games you play, and how much filtering you plan to use.

 

[JrRacinFan]

1GB would help but 512MB would be fine.

The way pricing is going, soon a 4850 would be in no doubt worth the little extra to get over a 4830. Then again if you liek to budget buy like myself, $15 or greater difference can sway me towards the less expensive.

Oh and as far your crossfire question, the 4830+4850.

 

[PCpraiser100]

1GB always,

You need all the memory you can get for your video card. Because not only there is a lot of pixels that your card has to deal with but also with large maps and numbers of shaders as well.

 

[Nick89]

I just got a 1920x1200 Monitor and love it! But I cant Max out GTA 4 anymore because I only have 512mb of video memory on my graphics card. Thats one reason I really want to get a new card with 1GB. Just my experience so far.

 

[Icewind31]

The thing with getting the 4830 in 1GB is that the horsepower of the GPU isn't that great beyond 1680x1050. Also if you crossfire the 4830 + 4850, the 4850 will drop to 4830 speeds to balance the load (waste of the 4850). So the best bet if you want to keep costs low is to go 4830 + 4830. Or since the prices just dropped on the 4850, get one 4850 now, and another later.

Remember the 4830 has 640 shaders vs the 800 on the 4850. So if it's only a 10-20 dollar difference, get the 4850.

I've ran a 4850 at 1920x1080 on my TV before, and the speeds are fine as long as you keep AA/AF not ridiculously high. (well... if you're trying to run Crysis that's another story...)

(edit)
here's a performance look at 512MB vs 1GB (and this is on a 4850, not 4830), it'll show a picture of the lack of difference 1GB makes in reality, there are plenty others around the web, but this one addresses it specifically

http://www.overclock.net/ati/407342-my-hd-4850-512mb-vs-1gb.html

(/edit)

 

[EastCoasthandle]

Planning on getting graphics card soon, but not sure whether to get a 512MB or 1GB. I've decided to go with the 4830, but the 1GB is a bit out of my price range. Cos I was planning on getting a 4830 and a 1TB Samsung F1.

In the future I will be getting a bigger monitor and want to know is 512MB enough for that resolution? I also might be getting a 512MB 4850 in a few months, though not sure. Which is better for performance, a 512MB 4830 + 512MB 4850 or a 1GB 4830? I really want a 1TB HDD but if it's best I get the 1GB I guess I could buy the HDD another time.

More memory will not offset a GPU's ability to run at 1920x1200 using 4xAA. What you want to do is make sure you have a balance of a high end GPU using enough memory. Therefore, if you want to run most games at 1920x1200 using 4xAA/16xAF get a 4850 using 512 megs. If you want to get the best frame rate at 1920x1200 using 4xAA/16xAF then get a 4870 using 512megs. If you want that level of AA/AF and you play FC2 (for example) get a 4850 or 4870 using 1Gig. There isn't really a big shift from game developers were 1Gig of ram is need yet IMO.

 

[Blacklash]

I'd agree with what East said.

There are rare games where 1Gb helps to make them run more smoothly. [H]ardOcp noted this with FC2 using AA @ 1920x, and not at lower resolutions. They noted less hitching with the 1Gb cards in the case I mentioned.

As far as Crossfire goes, most 512Mb cards don't get crushed until 2560x with AA, and that's only the rare title.

There are some interesting benches below.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3517&p=6

I wouldn't bother with 1Gb ram on anything weaker than a 4850, and then only if you play 1920x or greater with AA. 99% of the time a 4870 512Mb will out perform a HD 4850 1Gb.

I own my overclocked HD 4850 1Gb cards because they are passively cooled and thus perfectly silent. They do fine in Crossfire @ 1920x. I've essentially got what amounts to an overclocked HD 4850 X2 2Gb.

 

[Tatty_Two]

As some have indicated, the card will handle the res but keep AA low or off, in many cases with lower end cards, an increase in 2x AA will use more memory than an increase in res from 16xx to 19xx. IMO you need less AA at higher res anyways from what my old eyes have seen. Just dont expect to play Fallout 3 at 19xx with everything on Ultra settings.

Ohhh yeah, and get that card overclocked!

 

[DaveK]

So a 512MB card will be fine at 1920 just as long as I stay away from AA. What about AF?

The Sapphire 512MB 4830 is €100, the MSI 1GB 4830 is €135 and the Sapphire 512MB 4850 is €135.

So I'll be getting the 512MB 4830. I don't game too much on PC anyway so I won't need to have everything maxed with all AA/AF up.

2 More things. Which is better, a 1GB 4830 or 2x512MB 4830s? and what is better out of a 1GB 4830 and a 512MB 4850?

 

[OnBoard]

You'll love the HDD, do get it. The speed pump you get compared to your old drives will be freaky

Won't comment on GPUs, others said enough already.

 

[DaveK]

You'll love the HDD, do get it. The speed pump you get compared to your old drives will be freaky

Won't comment on GPUs, others said enough already.

Yeah, my main 160GB drive has been full for the past 9 months or so I just never got around to getting a new one, was a pain having to keep deleting stuff for space. Recently got an 80GB IDE drive (lol 2MB cache) which was a nice relief but it's time to get a new HDD since everything else has been upgraded.

 

[niko084]

512mb will cut it, but you would see a good difference going to a 1gb card.

 

[Icewind31]

So a 512MB card will be fine at 1920 just as long as I stay away from AA. What about AF?

The Sapphire 512MB 4830 is €100, the MSI 1GB 4830 is €135 and the Sapphire 512MB 4850 is €135.

So I'll be getting the 512MB 4830. I don't game too much on PC anyway so I won't need to have everything maxed with all AA/AF up.

2 More things. Which is better, a 1GB 4830 or 2x512MB 4830s? and what is better out of a 1GB 4830 and a 512MB 4850?

2x 512MB 4830 will always be faster than a standard 4830. Don't look at the size of the memory as the only gauge of performance (that's what the companies want you to do). If you run crossfire w/ 2 4830 (that's 640shaders x 2 = 1280) while a single 4830 1GB will only have 640shaders + 1GB buffer.

I dont' recommend more than 512MB on any low->mid range

And a 4850 512MB is definitely faster than the 4830 1GB.

 

[EastCoasthandle]

So a 512MB card will be fine at 1920 just as long as I stay away from AA. What about AF?

The Sapphire 512MB 4830 is €100, the MSI 1GB 4830 is €135 and the Sapphire 512MB 4850 is €135.

So I'll be getting the 512MB 4830. I don't game too much on PC anyway so I won't need to have everything maxed with all AA/AF up.

2 More things. Which is better, a 1GB 4830 or 2x512MB 4830s? and what is better out of a 1GB 4830 and a 512MB 4850?

If you are getting a 4830 you need to be more concerned with overclocking the GPU then the amount of memory it has. From what I've seen a 4830 512 vs 4830 1Gig should yield you the exact same gaming experience at at 1920x1200 using 4xA/16xAF even if the frame rates are different (for example). You want to know why? Because your bottlenecks will be the CPU and GPU. Having more memory on the video card will not alleviate or compensate for a bottleneck from the GPU/CPU. In which both GPU and CPU will need to be overclocked in order to gain a better gaming experience.

You really haven't mentioned what games you will be playing (or did I miss that post?). Therefore, I suggest you get a 4830 512M and overclock both GPU and CPU to remove any potential bottleneck when gaming at 1920x1200. If you plan on playing games that specifically require more vram (memory on the GPU) then get the 1Gig.

Lets make something clear, it appears to me you are making an attempt to future proof yourself on this decision. Let me clear that up for you, you can't! With new video cards on the horizon you won't be able to do that at this time. With the advancement of GPUs (soon we will see cpu/gpu combos) you really cannot future proof yourself right now. What you can do is just buy a video card that is overclockable (google reviews about it) and is affordable to you. Knowing that one day in the future (maybe a year from now) you may want another video card.

 

[DaveK]

If you are getting a 4830 you need to be more concerned with overclocking the GPU then the amount of memory it has. From what I've seen a 4830 512 vs 4830 1Gig should yield you the exact same gaming experience at at 1920x1200 using 4xA/16xAF even if the frame rates are different (for example). You want to know why? Because your bottlenecks will be the CPU and GPU. In which both GPU and CPU will need to be overclocked in order to gain a smooth gaming experience.

You really haven't mentioned what games you will be playing (or did I miss that post?). Therefore, I suggest you get a 4830 512M and overclock both GPU and CPU to remove any potential bottleneck when gaming at 1920x1200. If you plan on playing games that specifically require more vram (memory on the GPU) then get the 1Gig.

Lets make something clear, it appears to me you are making an attempt to future proof yourself on this decision. Let me clear that up for you, you can't! With new video cards on the horizon you won't be able to do that at this time. With the advancement of GPUs (soon we will see cpu/gpu combos) you really cannot future proof yourself right now. What you can do is just buy a video card that is overclockable (google reviews about it) and is affordable to you. Knowing that one day in the future (maybe a year from now) you may want another video card.

I don't game that much on PC, the most intensive games I have are probably FEAR and STALKER. A 512MB 4830 is probably enough, I don't have to max it out, I'll be happy with medium if it's a smooth framerate. I have a 360 so I do most of my gaming on that, the 4830 will be for some light PC gaming but mainly for BluRay playback. It's also so I can use my Asus mobo and get more RAM into my system.

 

[JrRacinFan]

Well if its for casual light gaming, see how much you can get a 3870 or 4670 for.

 

[n-ster]

I would say to go 4830 512mb... and as a casual gamer like you are, I would still recommend it over 3870 or 4670, because if you decide to play games that are more graphic demanding 2-3years from now, then you'll be happy you got the 4830... also, performance/$ is so high for the 4830

 

[Zinic]

Get the 1gb if your plan on gaming hard. Any lower, and it might result the screen to flicker while you play those demanding graphic games.

Also, more the better.

 

[niko084]

Get the 1gb if your plan on gaming hard. Any lower, and it might result the screen to flicker while you play those demanding graphic games.

Also, more the better.

Less ram will not cause "flicker" it will result in lower frame rates.

And more is not always better...

For instance, a 128bit memory bus card with 512mb of ram..

 

[ShadowFold]

The game I'm having problems with at 1920x1080 and my 4830 512mb is Crysis and Oblivion. If you're just playing Left 4 Dead(which runs BRILLIANTLY for me) and other source games then you're fine!

 

[Zinic]

Less ram will not cause "flicker" it will result in lower frame rates.

And more is not always better...

For instance, a 128bit memory bus card with 512mb of ram..

Aren't we talking about Video Cards? Not ram?

 

[JrRacinFan]

Less ram will not cause "flicker" it will result in lower frame rates.

And more is not always better...

For instance, a 128bit memory bus card with 512mb of ram..

Aren't we talking about Video Cards? Not ram?

You are correct Zinic but he was speaking of the video card's framebuffer.

 

[r9]

From what I have read 512MB is matching speed of 1GB versions at 1920x1200 resolution w/o AA with AA enabled 1GB should be noticeable faster.