what is the ram for regarding a video card?

Question

what will be the difference from a 256mb card or a 512mb card? should i get a slower gpu with more ram or a faster gpu with less ram?
i was looking at the nvidia 8600 with 256mb ddr3 ram. will be installed into a system with 2gb ddr2 ram and an athlon 64 x2 5000+
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3041060&CatId=1560
what do you think?
its SLI ready, can i install it into my system alone, without a companion card?

Answer 1

Generally speaking, the more memory on a video card the more textures which can be loaded into memory, which will speed up performance. However, the type of video memory is more important than the amount. For cards of the same design or model, a 256mb ddr3 video card is better than a 512mb ddr2 card.

As long as you're dealing with at least a 256mb card, the faster GPU is the way to go. SLI-capable cards can be used alone just fine...

Answer 2

Gaming performance is a lot more dependent on the video card than on the cpu:
1. GPU architecture - more shaders or stream processors, the better.
2. Core clock speed - higher is better
3. Onboard memory clock speed - higher is better. 256Mb ddr3 beats 512Mb ddr2.

A single Nvidia card would work on an SLI-ready mobo.

Answer 3

I forget the exact equation, it's been several years since I got my A+ certification and had to know it for the test. Something about number of colors multiplied by number of pixels equals how much video memory you need to render it on the monitor. I think color bit depth and desired refresh rate come into play as well. Your best bet is to go with fastest vpu you can and stick with minimum of 256MB.

Answer 4

you need to V-card the same series two 8600, and a motherboard that is SLI ready....