Gigabyte confuses me!

[Kimmaz]

Hi I was just looking up graphics cards and coolers and brands and what not, trying to make sense of what I should potentially get when I can afford a graphics card upgrade. I liked what i saw about the "windforce" cooler from gigabyte and narrowed the seach down. I found something wierd! Why does these cards have different amount of ram? and why is it not so that the more expensive card have more ram? like the 780 has less ram then the 760, I dont understand,, is there a good reason for this? please help me understand!

 

[Aniallation]

@Kimmaz

 

There's a 2GB and a 4GB version of the 760, as well as 3GB and 6GB versions of the 780. The higher VRAM models were meant for people who need the extra VRAM for things like rendering, or want to run two/three/four cards in SLI.

[79wjd]

Hi I was just looking up graphics cards and coolers and brands and what not, trying to make sense of what I should potentially get when I can afford a graphics card upgrade. I liked what i saw about the "windforce" cooler from gigabyte and narrowed the seach down. I found something wierd! Why does these cards have different amount of ram? and why is it not so that the more expensive card have more ram? like the 780 has less ram then the 760, I dont understand,, is there a good reason for this? please help me understand!

 

 

Because there are different versions of each card. Theres also a 6gb version of the 780, although I don't know of Gigabyte has the 6gb version or not. 

 

There are 2 and 4gb version of both the 760 and the 770 as 2gb isnt usually enough for SLI/heavy editing/higher resolutions. 

[alby800]

RAM does not directly impact performance as long as it is not a bottleneck, for example, a gtx 780 with 3gbs of ram vs a gtx780 with 6gbs of ram at 1080p there will not be a significant performance gain. There are other factors like clock speed that will impact performance more

[xNeon]

These aren't the only variants of these cards. All of these can have 2, 3, and 4 gigs.

[79wjd]

These aren't the only variants of these cards. All of these can have 2, 3, and 4 gigs.

Theres no 3gb 760 or 770, nor is there a 4gb 780. 

[JAKEBAB]

@Kimmaz

 

 The higher VRAM models were meant for people who need the extra VRAM for things like rendering, or want to run two cards in SLI.

 

 

 

There are 2 and 4gb version of both the 760 and the 770 as 2gb isnt usually enough for SLI/heavy editing/higher resolutions. 

Will you guys please explain to me how vram has anything to do with sli? lol and who the hell told you that?

[79wjd]

Will you guys please explain to me how vram has anything to do with sli? lol and who the hell told you that?

In gaming the added power of SLI is kind of pointless if you don't have the VRAM to utilize that power -- i.e. 2gb for surround 1080 is not gonna work very nicely. 

[ForsakenLive]

The GTX 780 has a 3GB and 6 GB version, both the 770 and 760 have a 2GB and 4GB version.

The extra vram versions are for people who actually need it or don't fully understand how it works and think more vram is better (marketing).

The truth is, for games the memory speed and memory bus are what impact the most on performance, as memory gets read and written constantly during a gaming session. The rule of thumb is 128 bit bus per GB of GDDR5 memory, the extra vram versions can help you out a little bit on a very high resolution scenario and for workstation uses. But even if you are  gaming on 4K the double vram versions only perform 1-4 frames better, and there is a very large amount of benchmarks that prove this, however people keep recommending those large memory cards without knowing the bus and GPU bottlenecks it.

[Aniallation]

Will you guys please explain to me how vram has anything to do with sli? lol and who the hell told you that?

VRAM doesn't combine in CF/SLI.

 

Two 2GB cards in CF/SLI will only be able to let you use 2GB of VRAM. Not 4.

 

2GB of VRAM isn't enough for the power of two 760s. That'd be like a 2GB Titan

[Kimmaz]

@Kimmaz

 

There's a 2GB and a 4GB version of the 760, as well as 3GB and 6GB versions of the 780. The higher VRAM models were meant for people who need the extra VRAM for things like rendering, or want to run two/three/four cards in SLI.

I also noticed that most amd cards had 3gb ram as upposed to 2gb/4gb,, its all different =P How much ram should I need then? ill play games on the pc, ill not overclock or anything,, 

 

I plan on having my "next" card atleast 3 years so i dont wanna buy something with to little ram, you never know what the future brings... like My current HD6970 has 2gb of ram ffs,, I would think ppl used 32gb ram on the gpu nowadays,, its 3 years old,, just like on hdd's we have moved from 1tb to 8tb disks in that period of time---

[79wjd]

The GTX 780 has a 3GB and 6 GB version, both the 770 and 760 have a 2GB and 4GB version.

The extra vram versions are for people who actually need it or don't fully understand how it works and think more vram is better (marketing).

The truth is, for games the memory speed and memory bus are what impact the most on performance, as memory gets read and written constantly during a gaming session. The rule of thumb is 128 bit bus per GB of GDDR5 memory, the extra vram versions can help you out a little bit on a very high resolution scenario and for workstation uses. But even if you are  gaming on 4K the double vram versions only perform 1-4 frames better, and there is a very large amount of benchmarks that prove this, however people keep recommending those large memory cards without knowing the bus and GPU bottlenecks it.

SLI 770s shouldnt bottleneck 4gb of VRAM at high resolutions. 

[Str_Mape]

I also noticed that most amd cards had 3gb ram as upposed to 2gb/4gb,, its all different =P How much ram should I need then? ill play games on the pc, ill not overclock or anything,, 

 

I plan on having my "next" card atleast 3 years so i dont wanna buy something with to little ram, you never know what the future brings... like My current HD6970 has 2gb of ram ffs,, I would think ppl used 32gb ram on the gpu nowadays,, its 3 years old,, just like on hdd's we have moved from 1tb to 8tb disks in that period of time---

well 3TB drives came out in 2010 yes we did have 1TB drive back then but we also have them now.

[Aniallation]

I also noticed that most amd cards had 3gb ram as upposed to 2gb/4gb,, its all different =P How much ram should I need then? ill play games on the pc, ill not overclock or anything,, 

 

I plan on having my "next" card atleast 3 years so i dont wanna buy something with to little ram, you never know what the future brings... like My current HD6970 has 2gb of ram ffs,, I would think ppl used 32gb ram on the gpu nowadays,, its 3 years old,, just like on hdd's we have moved from 1tb to 8tb disks in that period of time---

VRAM on AMD cards is more easy to tell. They pretty much only have one VRAM model. There's a 6GB 280X and an 8GB 290X, but these are rare and pointless unless you're running three of them.

 

If you want to keep a single card 3 years into the future then recommended is 3GB for 1080p, 4GB for 1440p. This may sound like a lot for now (2GB is fine for 1080p currently) but in the future games are using up more and more VRAM as textures become more detailed

[Kimmaz]

lets say I wanna buy a 1440p monitor in a year or so,, upgrade from my 1080p,, I would most likely need 4gb ram then? but not now i assume,, ? idk got to plan ahead you know? what ram amount do you recomend?

 

 didnt update before writing,, thx for answer above this post!

[79wjd]

lets say I wanna buy a 1440p monitor in a year or so,, upgrade from my 1080p,, I would most likely need 4gb ram then? but not now i assume,, ? idk got to plan ahead you know? what ram amount do you recomend?

Get an R9 290 and be done. Dont worry about vram. 

[JAKEBAB]

In gaming the added power of SLI is kind of pointless if you don't have the VRAM to utilize that power -- i.e. 2gb for surround 1080 is not gonna work very nicely. 

 

 

VRAM doesn't combine in CF/SLI.

 

Two 2GB cards in CF/SLI will only be able to let you use 2GB of VRAM. Not 4.

 

2GB of VRAM isn't enough for the power of two 760s. That'd be like a 2GB Titan

nvm i took what u guys said to literal my bad.

[ForsakenLive]

SLI 770s shouldnt bottleneck 4gb of VRAM at high resolutions. 

The 770 is the only one that performs slightly better on the double Vram versions, but still buying it is pretty pointless.

 

mind you the 4GB version of this card on the Hardwarecanucks benchmark has slightly higher clockspeeds (OC version)

[helping]

if you buy the 4GB 770, you buy it if you're going to SLI and you need to overclock the memory on it to make better use of the bus.

 

Buying a 4GB 770 and not even using anywhere near 2GB can actually incur a small performance penalty versus a plain 2GB.

1080p? no SLI? 2GB 770.

[flibberdipper]

RAM does not directly impact performance

Take a 780 with 512MB of VRAM and tell me that it doesn't impact performance. Directly or not, it will suck.

 

But the 4GB 760 is probably for SLI setups where people need more VRAM and stuff like that.

[79wjd]

The 770 is the only one that performs slightly better on the double Vram versions, but still buying it is pretty pointless.

 

 

mind you the 4GB version of this card on the Hardwarecanucks benchmark has slightly higher clockspeeds (OC version)

 Well, more VRAM doesnt mean more fps or even better performance. Just that the card can support higher resolutions as they require more vram...so in something like a triple 1080p setup or something like that--4gb 770 SLI should be quite a bit better than 2gb. no?  

Buying a 4GB 770 and not even using anywhere near 2GB can actually incur a small performance penalty versus a plain 2GB.

1080p? no SLI? 2GB 770.

why would there be a performance penalty? 

[Kimmaz]

if you buy the 4GB 770, you buy it if you're going to SLI and you need to overclock the memory on it to make better use of the bus.

 

Buying a 4GB 770 and not even using anywhere near 2GB can actually incur a small performance penalty versus a plain 2GB.

1080p? no SLI? 2GB 770.

I plan on owning it for 3 years, who knows, I might want a 1440p screen in a year for all i know. I cant afford more than one component at the time. in that time span i might have swapped out every other component in the pc, just like i have in the past 3 years, just happens that my current graphics card is the oldest piece of hardware in my system, so it is "its" turn to be upgraded. I think ill get a 4gb version just to be on the safe side.

 

BTW Ive decided to wait a month or 2 and save up for one of these,, witch one would you ppl suggest i get?

[79wjd]

I plan on owning it for 3 years, who knows, I might want a 1440p screen in a year for all i know. I cant afford more than one component at the time. in that time span i might have swapped out every other component in the pc, just like i have in the past 3 years, just happens that my current graphics card is the oldest piece of hardware in my system, so it is "its" turn to be upgraded. I think ill get a 4gb version just to be on the safe side.

 

BTW Ive decided to wait a month or 2 and save up for one of these,, witch one would you ppl suggest i get?

 

A 290, no question. A 290 is similar in performance to a 780. And iirc I've heard issues with the Asus card...so gigabyte. 

[alby800]

Take a 780 with 512MB of VRAM and tell me that it doesn't impact performance. Directly or not, it will suck.

 

But the 4GB 760 is probably for SLI setups where people need more VRAM and stuff like that.

You make a good point.

But as long as it is not a bottleneck then it won't be as important as more of other stuff (e.g. clockspeed, other things.)

I will edit my post.

[flibberdipper]

You make a good point.

But as long as it is not a bottleneck then it won't be as important as more of other stuff (e.g. clockspeed, other things.)

I will edit my post.

Knew you would see the flaw in it.