Video Cards

[CTS]

This may not be the proper forum for this question, but since i've always
gotten great advice here here goes...
I have a choice of two video card upgrades
Both nvidia chipsets
I currently have a 128MB geforce 5200

my upgade choices:
a 256MB 128bit card
or a 512MB 64bit card
any advice or recommendations would be great

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

What are the video cards? There's more to it than video ram and bitness.

 

[JS]

Depends on your intended use.
Check Tom's Hardware for benchmark results on the two cards.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html

JS

 

[CTS]

ZOGIS ZO68LE-DAGP GeForce 6800LE 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card -
Retail ...
Chipset Manufacturer NVIDIA
GPU GeForce 6800LE
PixelPipelines 8
Memory Size 256MB
Memory Interface 128-bit
Memory Type GDDR2
3D API
DirectX DirectX 9
OpenGL OpenGL 2.0
D-SUB 1
DVI 1
TV-Out S-Video / Composite Out
RAMDAC 400 MHz
Max Resolution 2048 x 1536
RoHS Compliant Yes
Cooler With Fan
Features
Features NVIDIA unified architecture with GigaThread technology
True 128-bit floating point high dynamic-range (HDR) lighting
NVIDIA Quantum Effects physics processing technology
One Single-link DVI outputs
NVIDIA PureVideo technology
XFX PVT44AYAJG GeForce 6200 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail
....

Interface AGP 4X/8X
Chipset Manufacturer NVIDIA
GPU GeForce 6200
Core clock 350MHz
PixelPipelines 4
Memory Clock 533MHz
Memory Size 512MB
Memory Interface 64-bit
Memory Type GDDR2
3D API
DirectX DirectX 9
OpenGL OpenGL 1.5
D-SUB 1
DVI 1
TV-Out S-Video Out
RAMDAC 400 MHz
Max Resolution 2048 x 1536
RoHS Compliant Yes
Cooler Fanless

 

[CTS]

ZOGIS ZO68LE-DAGP GeForce 6800LE 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card -
Retail ...
Chipset Manufacturer NVIDIA
GPU GeForce 6800LE
PixelPipelines 8
Memory Size 256MB
Memory Interface 128-bit
Memory Type GDDR2
3D API
DirectX DirectX 9
OpenGL OpenGL 2.0
D-SUB 1
DVI 1
TV-Out S-Video / Composite Out
RAMDAC 400 MHz
Max Resolution 2048 x 1536
RoHS Compliant Yes
Cooler With Fan
Features
Features NVIDIA unified architecture with GigaThread technology
True 128-bit floating point high dynamic-range (HDR) lighting
NVIDIA Quantum Effects physics processing technology
One Single-link DVI outputs
NVIDIA PureVideo technology
XFX PVT44AYAJG GeForce 6200 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail
....

Interface AGP 4X/8X
Chipset Manufacturer NVIDIA
GPU GeForce 6200
Core clock 350MHz
PixelPipelines 4
Memory Clock 533MHz
Memory Size 512MB
Memory Interface 64-bit
Memory Type GDDR2
3D API
DirectX DirectX 9
OpenGL OpenGL 1.5
D-SUB 1
DVI 1
TV-Out S-Video Out
RAMDAC 400 MHz
Max Resolution 2048 x 1536
RoHS Compliant Yes
Cooler Fanless

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

I generally go for the larger video ram. If you are buying for gaming I
suggest you ask this question on the forums for the games you like to play.
Most of the game companies host user forums.

ZOGIS ZO68LE-DAGP GeForce 6800LE 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video
Card -
Retail ...
Chipset Manufacturer NVIDIA
GPU GeForce 6800LE
PixelPipelines 8
Memory Size 256MB
Memory Interface 128-bit
Memory Type GDDR2
3D API
DirectX DirectX 9
OpenGL OpenGL 2.0
D-SUB 1
DVI 1
TV-Out S-Video / Composite Out
RAMDAC 400 MHz
Max Resolution 2048 x 1536
RoHS Compliant Yes
Cooler With Fan
Features
Features NVIDIA unified architecture with GigaThread technology
True 128-bit floating point high dynamic-range (HDR) lighting
NVIDIA Quantum Effects physics processing technology
One Single-link DVI outputs
NVIDIA PureVideo technology
XFX PVT44AYAJG GeForce 6200 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card -
Retail
...

Interface AGP 4X/8X
Chipset Manufacturer NVIDIA
GPU GeForce 6200
Core clock 350MHz
PixelPipelines 4
Memory Clock 533MHz
Memory Size 512MB
Memory Interface 64-bit
Memory Type GDDR2
3D API
DirectX DirectX 9
OpenGL OpenGL 1.5
D-SUB 1
DVI 1
TV-Out S-Video Out
RAMDAC 400 MHz
Max Resolution 2048 x 1536
RoHS Compliant Yes
Cooler Fanless

 

[Anna]

Depends on your intended use.
Check Tom's Hardware for benchmark results on the two cards.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html

JS

And while you're visiting Tom's, take a look here...
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/04/best_cards_february_2008/
Anna

 

[CTS]

I think it looks as if the 256MB card would be the better choice, and being
that i am also going to go from 2GB to 4GB system memory i may need to choose
the 256MB video card. Please tell me your thoughts.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

The amount of memory in the computer has no bearing on the amount of ram you
should choose on the video card.

 

[John John]

I does if you have 4GB RAM and if for whatever reason it might be you
want to have as much of it available as possible to Windows XP 32-bits.
Stick two SLI 750MB video cards in an XP 32-bit machine and see how
much of your 4GB of RAM remains available to the operating system!

John

 

[Tim Slattery]

I think it looks as if the 256MB card would be the better choice, and being
that i am also going to go from 2GB to 4GB system memory i may need to choose
the 256MB video card. Please tell me your thoughts.

The amount of RAM you have in your computer has no bearing on how
much video RAM you need. Also, bear in mind that your 32-bit computer
has a 32-bit (4GB) address space. That address space must be used to
access not only your system RAM, but also your BIOS, video RAM and a
few other things. The more video RAM you have, the more addresses must
be mapped to it, and the less address space is left over for system
RAM. See http://members.cox.net/slatteryt/RAM.html.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Sure. I know about mmio. But the OP is not talking about a pair of
supercards with a gig of video ram on each one. The diff is 128mb.