GeForce 8800 GT 256 vs 512

[alisbin]

heyya mates,
from what i've read the main positive of the 512 is that it runs better at extreme resolutions, so my question would be, where is the cut off point.
what i mean is, i have an essentially low res monitor (technically its highest resolution is 1280 x 1024 at 60 hz) and i really have no problem with that as a max resolution. so would i see any real benefit from getting a 512 over a 256 8800 gt? either way, at what resolution do you start to see an FPS change with modern games (say, bioshock, FEAR or COD:4. my computer isnt up to crysis standards anyway)

 

[Frostmonkey]

From my experience (I run an 8800GT 256mb) you would really only see a performance difference at 1680x1050 or above when you start cranking AA and AF. If you intend on gaming above 1680x1050 I would opt for the 512mb model, otherwise 256 should be fine. Hope that helps!

 

[alisbin]

i can't get my monitor to display more then 1280x1024, which is what i run everything at, but i usually run stuff with maxed AA and AF, heck i max everything if i can, does that make a difference?

 

[Grafficks]

If you start turning up AA and AF (these settings are intensive on texture-quality), then it will take more video memory in order to store all those hi-res textures. More memory helps with high resolution and high AA/AF.
You should be able to achieve respectable performance with the 256MB version, especially since you say you're not gonna take a tackle at running Crysis.

 

[alisbin]

well, i'd like to, but my cpu doesnt even match the minimum reqs for crysis (i have an intel 1.87 core 2 and it wants the 2.2 i think as a minimum)

 

[kpo6969]

well, i'd like to, but my cpu doesnt even match the minimum reqs for crysis (i have an intel 1.87 core 2 and it wants the 2.2 i think as a minimum)

Your cpu should be ok (especially with a 8800GT).
eVGA 8800GT 512mb $239
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130318

That's only $35 more than the 256 and you'll kick yourself later if you get the 256.

 

[alisbin]

you think my will really be able to handle it? well, then maybe when i get the money together i'll grab a 512

 

[grimesy69]

Only thing i can see here is that your cpu is going to bottleneck your Graphics card in games like crysis.

I run the 8800gts 320mb version on the same res as you, and i max every game i play. i even get a nice FPS on crysis (medium settings.)

 

[Frostmonkey]

I've been running Crysis on high (shadows at medium) at 1440x990 and get very playable rates, if that helps as a reference. Everything else I'm able to max out at 1680x1050.

 

[Bigfellla]

I've been running Crysis on high (shadows at medium) at 1440x990 and get very playable rates, if that helps as a reference. Everything else I'm able to max out at 1680x1050.

agreed with what frost has been saying, i have the same system

 

[Didou]

well, i'd like to, but my cpu doesnt even match the minimum reqs for crysis (i have an intel 1.87 core 2 and it wants the 2.2 i think as a minimum)

Maybe they meant a Pentium-4 (or Pentium-D) running at 2.2GHz as a minimum. To me your current CPU is powerful enough to provide proper framerates with your VGA card as Crysis probably taxes the VGA card more than the CPU (I could be wrong).

 

[Bigfellla]

Maybe they meant a Pentium-4 (or Pentium-D) running at 2.2GHz as a minimum. To me your current CPU is powerful enough to provide proper framerates with your VGA card as Crysis probably taxes the VGA card more than the CPU (I could be wrong).

I would expect better performance too, but modern games with high physics calcs use the CPU as much as ever. Crysis will take a quad core and make it tremble at its knees on maximum.

 

[alisbin]

well, seems like my best option is the 512 since it seems to leave me alot more room to upgrade. thanks for the input folks

 

[Frostmonkey]

I would opt for the 512 now, I went with 256 at the time I purchased because the lowest 512 price was inflated heavily and hard to get. Now that the 8800GT 512 is at a much more reasonable price, no reason to not pick it up Goodluck!

 

[Didou]

Crysis will take a quad core and make it tremble at its knees on maximum.

Taken from Crysis demo performance in-depth @ TechSpot:

When benchmarking Crysis the demo appeared to generate very little CPU utilization. Using a Core 2 Duo E6700, the processor utilization would hover between 20-30% at times. Both cores did appear to be active though neither seemed to do a great deal, especially at the same time.

The processor utilization never really got above 45% which would indicate that the game is really only using one core. However, based on the CPU Scaling results it could also just mean that Crysis is not that processor intensive when you consider that a 1GHz drop in frequency only accounted for 2-4fps.

Unfortunately we did not have a quad-core CPU at hand for testing, but given the clear outlook in our results, we were more than surprised with these statements supposedly made by Crytek regarding CPU core scaling.

 

[kpo6969]

Cheapest 8800GT 512 I've seen yet:

http://www.ncixus.com/products/27328/88YFF6HUFEXX/Galaxy Technology/