How do you tell how good a graphics card is?

Question

Like if it's a 256mb graphics card, is that the number I look at to compare them?

i've seen on a 256mb gpu's system requirements, it say to have at least 256mb of ram. Does this mean that it doesn't have it's own ram and has to use my system's?

Answer 1

ALL graphics cards have onboard memory. Some cheap ones just have 64 or 128mb then shares w/ system RAM (Turbocache or Hypermemory). The good ones have 256mb or more and does NOT share w/ system RAM. The best ones have ddr3 onboard videoram. Take note that 256mb ddr3 beats 512mb ddr2. Not all games are able to fully utilize 512mb.

PC w/ 256mb system RAM is slow and would further slow down when it runs out of available RAM and starts accessing virtual memory. 2x512mb is best for XP.

Answer 2

One of the most important requirements of the gpu is basically to take away the job of drawing what they call complex polygons from your CPU. High powered as your CPU might be, in a specialized application like this it cannot compare to even a mid-level GPU.
If your game requires a 256 Mb and you have lesser than that, it might still work but your game experience will be worse for it. There will be a baseline after which even that won't happen though. Even among 256MB cards, there may be different levels of it. The technology used for example if it is GDDR3, it is much better than a GDDR2. Usually, price is a good indicator within the same manufacturer.
If you want to find out how good your card and your system as a whole is I would recommend 3dmark. Just search for it.

Answer 3

Well, the graphics card has its own memory. This is graphics specific memory on your graphics card, not your regular RAM. more graphics memory allows you to pack more textures on screen as well as helping with anti-aliasing (getting rid of jaggy edges) and filterings.

Oh and memory doesn't mean the card is good (although ussually higher end cards have more memory) take this for example, the ati hd 2900 xt has 1 gd of gddr4 memory. On paper that is insane! But it still can't beat the 8800 gtx and ultra in almost all tests and the 8800's only have 768 mb of gddr3 memory. Anyways it's the gpu that counts.

Also the 8800 gts with 320mb of memory is better than the 8600 gts with 512 mb of memory because the 8800 gts is just a better card. Plain and simple, the 8600 only has a 1/4 of the 8800 gpu (the G80 core). So yes you should meet the requirements, but memory is not all in a graphics card. Everything contributes.

Answer 4

You need to run a benchmark test, just use any search engine and look for the phrase.