128 bit or 256 bit video card

[captininsano]

Im useing a nvidia geforce 8800 256 bit and i was wondering whats the diffrence between the 128 bit and 256 bit cause i see some nice cards id like to upgrade to and they are all 128 bit with 2 6pin power connectors

[NavyChief]

I found the following article online:

128-bit Versus 256-bit PC Video Card Memory Interface
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1730266/128bit_versus_256bit_pc_video_card.html

This explains it fairly well.

[Schlup]

Anything you can find that is 128 bit is going to be much slower than your 8800.  You'll have to get a 9800 or better, GTX 260 or better, GTX 400 series card to get better performance than your 8800.  Your best bet if you want an increase in performance right now is to get another 8800 and put them in SLI.  That's your best bang for the buck right now.  Since I know how much your budget is on this, it's the ONLY way to get better performance than what you have now.

[FALLEN]

like i told you 128 is no go 256 is better all the way 128 transfer data half as fast as 256 there for lower fps and or poor performance under a big load

[captininsano]

Thanks Navychief that helped out alot...

[captininsano]

How come i see all these expensive gcards and they r all 128bit 2 full pages and no 256 bit? or is newegg just messing up... idk can anyone help me find a nice g card i want Ati 5000 series ddr5 and crossfire... around 150 bucks is my max budget

[captininsano]

Or should i just forget about ati sell my mobo buy a nvid mobo and a invidia gcard 2 sli?

[captininsano]

Like this mother board XFX nForce 750i SLI Extreme Edition Motherboard   only $79 off tiger direct  .... if it was amd of course

[tehfunk101]

How come i see all these expensive gcards and they r all 128bit 2 full pages and no 256 bit? or is newegg just messing up... idk can anyone help me find a nice g card i want Ati 5000 series ddr5 and crossfire... around 150 bucks is my max budget

Memory interface size shouldnt be the only thing you consider when buying a GPU, as its just one of many things that contribute to the overall performance.  For example, a 256-bit 8800gt has gddr3 memory and a total memory bandwidth of 57 GB/sec.  The ATI 5770 only has a 128-bit interface, but it uses gddr5 memory and a total memory bandwidth of 77 GB/sec.  My best advice is to not shop for graphics cards based on their newegg specs, but to go and look and benchmark charts and see which cards outperform which, and then make a decision from there.

As for buying a new motherboard to go SLI, it wouldnt make too much sense to drop money on an almost outdated mobo and gpu, when you can just save the trouble and get an ATI 5xxx or nvidia 4xx.  imo

[tehfunk101]

You can probably pick up a 5770 for $150, but it wont be a very sizable performance bump from what you have now.  Your best bet is to save a bit more and snag a gtx260 or ati 4890.

[captininsano]

Ok and where can i find these benchmark scores u talk about? ... and isent a Ati 4890 a down grade from a 8800 nvidia?

[tehfunk101]

Ok and where can i find these benchmark scores u talk about? ... and isent a Ati 4890 a down grade from a 8800 nvidia?

guru3d, bit-tech, firingsquad, tomshardware, anandtech, the list goes on.  There are hundreds of tech sites out there that test and compare hardware.  for example:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/vga-charts-december-2009/1    

And no, the 4890 demolishes an 8800 in every way, shape, or form

[captininsano]

oooo ok .... and 1 question what is the point of bench marking?

[captininsano]

Im sorta leaning near the    XFX HD577AZNFC Radeon HD 5770 Video Card - 1GB GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0, CrossFireX Ready, Dual DVI, Display Port, HDMI     its 20 bucks more than i budget  but it got good scores i think on that website i wont be able to get a new card for a while anyway im 14 and getting that kind of cash is hard... if i do get it i would buy 2 so i can crossfire

[captininsano]

but.... its 128 bit will i tell a diffrence between the 8800 256 and this 128bit?

[tehfunk101]

but.... its 128 bit will i tell a diffrence between the 8800 256 and this 128bit?

Yes you will be able to tell a difference; the 5770 will be faster all around.

[tehfunk101]

oooo ok .... and 1 question what is the point of bench marking?

Benchmarking is for determining the performance of something.  For instance, this graph shows of GPUs' average fps shows that the 5770 performs on par with a gtx260 on modern warfare 2. http://guru3d.com/article/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-vga-graphics-performance-review/9

Its like buying a car.  You would never want to go out and buy a car with out reading reviews about it or test driving it, same should go for computer parts!

[captininsano]

O ok and do you think trying 2 go for the 5770 is a bad choice or a good choice and when would i have 2 upgrade it in like 1yr?...

[tehfunk101]

O ok and do you think trying 2 go for the 5770 is a bad choice or a good choice and when would i have 2 upgrade it in like 1yr?...

The 5770 is still a pretty new card, so in 1 year it will still be pretty decent and cheap.  The 5770's perform in crossfire really well and that would be a pretty sensible upgrade.

[captininsano]

Ok man thanks for the help you tha man

[captininsano]

Ok im thinking now about the 4890 like you said would pwn... but also thinking about the 4870 its that good?

[tehfunk101]

Ok im thinking now about the 4890 like you said would pwn... but also thinking about the 4870 its that good?

the 4870 is good, probably similar performance to a 5770, but no DX11.

[captininsano]

o ok.... I dont know if i want to do crossfire or buy 1 big card? i only have 150 dollars to spend... it will still take me months 2 get that much...

[Schlup]

Having done the SLI thing, I recommend getting 1 big card, you don't get double the power from doing SLI...you only get 15-20% of the second card's power.  Plus you are then generating a lot of heat and sucking down twice as much power and that's never any good.  Get the best single card you can...you can always get another one later if you want more power and usually the card will be discontinued by then and you can get them for cheap anyways.  Just my two cents.

[captininsano]

ok got any sugestions for a ati card i like ati and want to stick with them.

[tehfunk101]

whats your budget?

[captininsano]

200 max and it has 2 run off my psu i got a 450watt did a psu test from the forums and its pulling 350 psu with all my stuff running so only got about 100watts 2spare

[tehfunk101]

200 max and it has 2 run off my psu i got a 450watt did a psu test from the forums and its pulling 350 psu with all my stuff running so only got about 100watts 2spare

theres not really a good choice for 200$, unless you want to get a discontinued card like a gtx 260 or 4870.  The 5770 is $150 and the 5830 is ~$240, and getting a 5xxx card would make better sense in case you wanted to go crossfire in the future, as well as the 5xxx's being DX11. 
As far as power consumption is concerned, no card you are thinking of buying will take up another 100W of power, but if you plan on going crossfire or upgrading some of your other components, you might need to get a better psu.

[captininsano]

ok.... Thanks

[Schlup]

So long as you don't start overclocking...

[captininsano]

LOL.... is it bad to be useing every power connector off your psu and its only a 450 w water cooling lol?

[tehfunk101]

LOL.... is it bad to be useing every power connector off your psu and its only a 450 w water cooling lol?

either your nearing your it's max or your psu doesnt have very many connectors.  I dont think your near 450W so its probably the latter.
If your psu is just barely able to power your components, chances are your parts wont be running as fast as they can when under load.  If your psu is really too weak, your computer will shut down under load.
A bigger psu might want to be your next upgrade though!

[captininsano]

I used the psu thing you posted on the forums and my psu consumption was about 380