VRAM

[Vectraat]

So I talked to a computer store employee the other day and he mentioned that VRAM is very important to video card performance. He stated that his GTX 9xx series card performs just as well if not better than a GTX 1060 in some games. And he said this was due differences in VRAM. 

He said--if I remember correctly--that there are 2 people making VRAM. Samsung and some other company called Micron? He said you want to try and do a lot of research to get a card with the Samsung VRAM because It's a lot better, but It's difficult to know which card has what VRAM. 

Is this true and if so, is it worth going through this much trouble and how would you go about finding a card with the Samsung VRAM? Thoughts? 

[KarathKasun]

Not really.  Overclocking headroom may be different, but its not going to be a huge difference.

 

GTX 970/980 have very similar performance to the GTX 1060 regardless of what memory they use.

[Mick Naughty]

Doesn't really matter. Architecture matters more, then ram. Normally a faster ram comes with a new gen. Too much trouble to get a certain card because of that. Just buy quality cards. 

[Vectraat]

3 minutes ago, KarathKasun said:

Not really.  Overclocking headroom may be different, but its not going to be a huge difference.

 

GTX 970/980 have very similar performance to the GTX 1060 regardless of what memory they use.

So there's not a substantial difference in performance between the Samsung and Micron VRAM? There is a difference, but not enough of a difference to try and find a card with Samsung VRAM? 

[r2724r16]

None of this really matters. My GTX 970 3.5GB performs as well as a GTX 1060 6GB because of the memory speed and core clock. 

[RoyalGamer1]

its all circumstantial on the game/program being used. because a 980 vs a 1070+ the 980 will lose no matter what. even if it was the highest Vram 980 vs the lowest Vram 1070/1080.

 

its the architecture and drivers that will impact performance that will notice before you notive a diffrence in Vram

 

most cards now have 4GB  of VRAM so you don't have to worry about the old 2015 days of having to pick a cheap card with 2gb of Vram or a more epxsionce card with 1GB of vram.

 

[KarathKasun]

Just now, Vectraat said:

So there's not a substantial difference in performance between the Samsung and Micron VRAM? There is a difference, but not enough of a difference to try and find a card with Samsung VRAM? 

The only difference is if you plan on hardcore overclocking.  For a 24/7 rig it does not really matter, you are looking at 0% difference for stock cards and MAYBE a 10% difference with overclocking.

[RoyalGamer1]

you should probably get the employee fired he is uneducated. 

[RoyalGamer1]

1 hour ago, KarathKasun said:

The only difference is if you plan on hardcore overclocking.  For a 24/7 rig it does not really matter, you are looking at 0% difference for stock cards and MAYBE a 10% difference with overclocking.

lol this is not true. from what im reading your saying a card with Vram made by samsung will OC 10% more? or what are you saying? unless you can link your source or im misunderstanding this is 100% BS, hes talking from his ass

[ZcanKal]

3 minutes ago, RoyalGamer1 said:

you should probably get the employee fired he is uneducated. 

Or he's got some good business tactics.

[RoyalGamer1]

1 hour ago, ZcanKal said:

Or he's got some good business tactics.

it sucks that you can spread false or dumb information but if your good at making money its totally fine. it sounds to me he was just trying to 1up a person and seem like he knew more about what hes talking about what what hes saying really does't matter at all.. there is a reason you don't see videos and huge topics over what Vram to get. as what matters is what amount you need for fulfill your tasks you will need the rig for.

[Vectraat]

5 minutes ago, RoyalGamer1 said:

you should probably get the employee fired he is uneducated. 

When listening to electronics/computer employees I tend to take what they say with a grain of salt. 

The store I visited prior to - I asked how many GeForce monitors they carried - (I had just entered the store and didn't get a chance to look around before being approached) The guy tells me they don't carry GeForce monitors even though I'm standing directly in front of one and I point it out to him. Embarrassing...

Well, I dunno then I guess I should just stop listening to these people and try my best to do my own research. What are good / trustworthy computer sources you guys would recommend?  

[Vectraat]

7 minutes ago, ZcanKal said:

Or he's got some good business tactics.

He was advocating that I buy a 1070 over a 1070 Ti +
Citing price to performance differences. Personally, I was not looking to go any lower than a 1070 Ti because for the extra bit of $ and performance gain I felt that 1070 Ti was worth it. Having said that, it depends on the store you're buying from and what kinda price you can get the card for. Their 1070's (EVGA) were going for $599 / $579 CAD and they were sold out/out of stock - There must be a reason for that.. All the other cards are in stock because they're a lot more expensive. 

[RoyalGamer1]

1 hour ago, Vectraat said:

When listening to electronics/computer employees I tend to take what they say with a grain of salt. 

The store I visited prior to - I asked how many GeForce monitors they carried - (I had just entered the store and didn't get a chance to look around before being approached) The guy tells me they don't carry GeForce monitors even though I'm standing directly in front of one and I point it out to him. Embarrassing...

Well, I dunno then I guess I should just stop listening to these people and try my best to do my own research. What are good / trustworthy computer sources you guys would recommend?  

he probably said they have no Geforce monitors because its called G-Sync lol

 

and its not hard to learn about computers. the best is is to find books as they have the least in accurate information compared to the INTERNET where any random can say, but your on LTT so id assume you would have watched some LTT videos where they pretty much cover all you need to know for basics and intermediates on computers. tech quicky is good for quick to the point stuff but then it wont be as educations as you get words thrown at you they don't tell you what they mean just because its not a in depth video. 

[Vectraat]

1 minute ago, RoyalGamer1 said:

he probably said they have no Geforce monitors because its called G-Sync lol

 

Typo on my part. Clearly said G-Sync. 

[RoyalGamer1]

1 hour ago, Vectraat said:

He was advocating that I buy a 1070 over a 1070 Ti +
Citing price to performance differences. Personally, I was not looking to go any lower than a 1070 Ti because for the extra bit of $ and performance gain I felt that 1070 Ti was worth it. Having said that, it depends on the store you're buying from and what kinda price you can get the card for. Their 1070's (EVGA) were going for $599 / $579 CAD and they were sold out/out of stock - There must be a reason for that.. All the other cards are in stock because they're a lot more expensive. 

hes not wrong the 1070TI is garbage and should not have been made IMHO. but I guess if you don't already have a 1070 or AMD equivalent then its fine to pick up but I wouldnt. but if you bought a pascal card before the 1070 TI came out then the 1070 TI is just a dumb thing. 

 

 

[Vectraat]

1 minute ago, RoyalGamer1 said:

hes not wrong the 1070TI is garbage and should not have been made IMHO. but I guess if you don't already have a 1070 or AMD equivalent then its fine to pick up. but if you bought a pascal card before the 1070 TI came out then the 1070 TI is just a dumb thing. 

Ok, price to performance. You'd recommend what?

1070
1070 Ti
1080 

1080 Ti

Personally, I wasn't looking to spend over $800 CAD after taxes.  $600-700 CAD before taxes is the ideal price range for me. I would only go a bit higher if that price difference was significantly worth it. 

Everyone seems to have a different opinion on this topic. 

[RoyalGamer1]

1 hour ago, Vectraat said:

Ok, price to performance. You'd recommend what?

1070
1070 Ti
1080 

1080 Ti

Personally, I wasn't looking to spend over $800 CAD after taxes.  $600-700 CAD before taxes is the ideal price range for me. I would only go a bit higher if that price difference was significantly worth it. 

Everyone seems to have a different opinion on this topic. 

if you have a current rig what card do you have?

 

im not sure on the CAD to USD ratio or what the inflated prices are. 

 

id get an 1080 or 1080 TI personally but thats because I have a 1060

[KarathKasun]

29 minutes ago, RoyalGamer1 said:

lol this is not true. from what im reading your saying a card with Vram made by samsung will OC 10% more? or what are you saying? unless you can link your source or im misunderstanding this is 100% BS, hes talking from his ass

Coming from extreme OC circles, there is a difference in the overclocking potential of different brands or models of memory chips.  Just like memory modules for your CPU.  At one point the difference was something like 5-10% OC on one brand vs 25% on the other.

 

The employee is just someone who dabbles in tech forums and heard something about one brand overclocking better and he built up an assumption based on that.

 

At the same clocks and latencies performance between brands is identical.

[KarathKasun]

26 minutes ago, Vectraat said:

When listening to electronics/computer employees I tend to take what they say with a grain of salt. 

The store I visited prior to - I asked how many GeForce monitors they carried - (I had just entered the store and didn't get a chance to look around before being approached) The guy tells me they don't carry GeForce monitors even though I'm standing directly in front of one and I point it out to him. Embarrassing...

Well, I dunno then I guess I should just stop listening to these people and try my best to do my own research. What are good / trustworthy computer sources you guys would recommend?  

Going to second that there is no GeForce monitor, the sales rep was correct and you were wrong.

[RoyalGamer1]

1 hour ago, KarathKasun said:

Coming from extreme OC circles, there is a difference in the overclocking potential of different brands or models of memory chips.  Just like memory modules for your CPU.  At one point the difference was something like 5-10% OC on one brand vs 25% on the other.

 

The employee is just someone who dabbles in tech forums and heard something about one brand overclocking better and he built up an assumption based on that.

 

At the same clocks and latencies performance between brands is identical.

please link a source to your claims? i see people talk out of their ass 24.7 and can never back it up. it sounds like it could be plausible  but I wont go with it until you can prove it

 

 

and he didn't even say anything about overclocking your the one who brought that up. so i don't think the employee is a overclock aficionado 

all the employee said was that the 980 is the same or better then the 1060 just based off the Vram.

[KarathKasun]

20 minutes ago, RoyalGamer1 said:

please link a source to your claims? i see people talk out of their ass 24.7 and can never back it up. it sounds like it could be plausible  but I wont go with it until you can prove it

 

 

and he didn't even say anything about overclocking your the one who brought that up. so i don't think the employee is a overclock aficionado 

all the employee said was that the 980 is the same or better then the 1060 just based off the Vram.

I didn't say he was an OC aficionado, I said he likely read it on the internet somewhere.  I also said on a stock card the difference is 0% and that the only difference would be in overclocking.

 

Which brand is better for what memory tends to change over time as well.  Back in the mid 2000's, with GDDR3, Hynix was where it was at.  The only constant is that Elpida tends to OC horribly.

 

If you want hard stats for yourself go buy about 10 GPU's with different RAM vendors and test them with voltage mods for the memory.  With the amount of testing I have done on countless GPU's over the years and the total time I have invested into computer performance analysis, I qualify as a source.  If you don't think so I frankly don't care.

[Vectraat]

1 hour ago, RoyalGamer1 said:

if you have a current rig what card do you have?

 

im not sure on the CAD to USD ratio or what the inflated prices are. 

 

id get an 1080 or 1080 TI personally but thats because I have a 1060

GTX 770