What's Overclocked Graphics Card?

Question

I am trying to buy new Graphics card for my computer, for vista. which graphics crad would be better GeForce 7800 GS OC Overclocked with 256MB or GeForce 7600 with 512 MB?

Sales person recommened 7800 b/c it is overclocked, but the other one's 512 MB. does it make the difference?

Answer 1

okay this is a common question between newbiews who shop for a graphic card.....

here is how it goes, the chip that you're looking at are from Nvidia line up and they both are 7 series ( 7 600 and 7 800 GS OC ) .......

what you should know when you purchase a graphic card ...
1. know how many pixel pipelines that the board itself has,
-from a Nvidia 7800 features a 16pipe architecture and a 7600 features 12pipes.

2. how many Mhz is the core clock ! At this point, May of 2007, you should look for Core Clock of at least 500Mhz and even more if its an ATI. obviously since you didnt mention any ATI names, just 500Mhz is fine, but anything more will help you play more smoother games and places where intensive grahics come into action. -Nvidia 7600 has a 400Mhz of core clock and Nvidia 7800gs has 400as well in this case, or sometimes 430Mhz.

3. and always Memory clock helps also, at this moment we're in DDR3 line for GPU's..... any DDR3is fine, but if the number goes higher, the more times you smile throughout the game would be. You should expect somewhat more tan 1400Mhz.

Tip* - though both cards that u've chosen might have the same amount of Core clock, or processing speed, the Nvidia 7800 GS OC will give you more image quality and much smoother graphics comparing to the 7600.......... think of the pixel pipelines as cars and Mhz as the speed of the car ....... and since Nvidia 7800has more cars than the 7600has, so that it would be able to transport more people at the same time at the same speed, since more vehicles are involved in carrying people in spot A to spot B. In our case we would see it as more data getting transported between the motherboard and the GPU ( graphics processing unit ) as well. Much of the graphic detail could be carried back and forth ..... hope you're getting the idea of my little story here ....

in the other hand the memory of 512mb or 256mb is used rendering images temp access, and a much intensive graphical game would have more memory requirements... at this point we dont need that much... eventhough we are facing DX10 which surely would need more memory but hey the cards you've considered in buying wont support it anyway ..so as a DX9 gamer or just a multimedia pro its just fine for you...

IMPORTANT - since the cars that you look for are, 7800 is a higher end card and 7600 is a med end card ..... so since the 8 series of graphic card is just been released now for weeks, why not look for a 8600GT, which is much faster than both your graphic cards and itz fully DirectX 10 capable, meaning future proof gaming for a while, eventhough not the high end, it should do the everday middle game trick ....... it also features more Mhz core, of 540Mhz and 32Stream processors, which is a new technology replacing and equaling 32pipelines.

hope my answer helped, good luck bro.

Answer 2

Gaming performance is a lot dependent on graphics processor architecture, core clock speed and memory clock speed. The 7800GS is better in terms of more pixel pipelines (16 vs 12), higher (than reference card) core clock (overclocked) and higher memory clock. 512Mb ddr2 is not fast. 256Mb ddr3 will always beat it. Besides, 512Mb is not always fully utilized in games.

Answer 3

It sounds such as you overclocked it too a techniques, or the temperature on the pix card went up too severe. improve the clocks little via little - 5Mhz each and every time, and take a verify out it out..rigidity try?- regulate the fan velocity to maintain temperatures down. once you overclock, the cardboard's temperature is going up! while you're new to overclocking, i could advise which you employ ATi's Catalyst administration midsection. you should use the sliders to improve the clocks and take a verify out it out with the "try custom Clocks" button. The button checks if the overclock is robust and rigidity the cardboard to approximately 80 5-ninety 5%, then it is going to inform you if it has exceeded or no longer. in case you overclock too lots at as quickly as too many circumstances, you will easily harm the cardboard via over-heating,and so on. additionally, you won't be waiting to overclock your 5770 to what others have been waiting to clock it to; each and each card is distinctive - like someone; no person is strictly an identical. Many motives might reason this: minor imperfections, motherboard modifications, distinctive cooling innovations (water cooling? extra case followers?) Overclocking shouldn't harm the relatively card - in case you overclock it to a secure, solid quantity, however the bearings on the fan will positioned on out slightly speedier (velocity will must be bigger to maintain the cardboard cool)...it i will get replaced (via changing the entire heatsink/cooler).