Korean Job Discussion Forums

DCJames · Joined: 27 Jul 2006

Any recommendations for decently priced and good quality 512MB cards?

Also, anyone see any laptops with 512 MB cards on them?

chevro1et · Joined: 01 Feb 2007 Location: Busan, ROK

I used to have a gaming rig with an ATI x1800xt 512mb vid card, and it was a beast in its time... consistantly beat the nVidia 7900gt in benchmarks. Dunno about availability any more though, especially if you are looking to purchase in Korea :shrug:

DCJames · Joined: 27 Jul 2006

chevro1et · Joined: 01 Feb 2007 Location: Busan, ROK

The x1800 series of cards can be difficult to come by, mainly because they are no longer manufactured... ATi has produced the x1900 series and now the HD2x00 series since. I believe that there were some cards in the x1900 series that also were available w. 512 mb of RAM.

Why is it so essential that you have a 512mb card? There have been many benchmarks produced that indicate that unless you are pushing high resolutions (>1440x900) that having the extra RAM has negligable benefits.

There are cards in the nVidia 8800 series that have 320mb/ 640mb/ 768mb of RAM, but these cards are fairly expensive right now. Additionally, the ATi HD2900 series has 512mb/ 1024mb of RAM as well, but again, newest tech and the price reflects this.

KOREAN_MAN · Joined: 01 Oct 2006

The bit-rate is more important than RAM when it comes to speed. If you want a 512MB card, you'd have to go with a 256-bit card which is fairly expensive. I believe 8800 series and HD 2900 series fit this category. Go to danawa.com and you can select video cards according to your needs. However, I doubt that you'd need a 512MB card.

chevro1et · Joined: 01 Feb 2007 Location: Busan, ROK

Demophobe · Joined: 17 May 2004

512MB cards have a 512bit memory bus...at least they should. The HD2900XT does. Nvidia seems to be going lame in this regard...320/384bit on a 512/640/768MB cards. Remember the days of 256MB cards with a 128bit bus? Ugh...same thing again.

128bit...useless these days.

256bit...standard, though getting pretty long in the tooth.

320/384bit...the new standard...minimum, IMO.

512bit...now we're talking. w00t ATI.

As RAM capacities go up and clock speeds increase on GPUs, the memory bus has to open to accommodate the data flow. This is classic Nvidia marketing....cripple a card by the bit rate...open it up, clock the core up a tad and call it "high end". Rolling Eyes

ATI have opened the bus up to 512MB to compete with Nvidia (ATIs product is clearly not as 'fast' as Nvidias, but by opening up the bus, it gives the card a big boost), and have done a pretty good job overall. If Nvidia opened the bus to equal the amount of RAM, that would be great for us, but leave them little headroom to milk the high-end crowd.

eamo · Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.

I've become disillusioned with high-end graphics cards. Not worth the money.

I've ordered an 8600GTS. MSI. 189,000 from Danawa. Expensive compared to the states. If you order from newegg.com in the states and send in your rebate coupon that card would be about 140 dollars. Should arrive today hopefully. I decided my gaming needs don't require a high-end card.

Demophobe · Joined: 17 May 2004

Thunndarr · Joined: 30 Sep 2003

God I can't wait until I'm allowed to upgrade my PC again.

eamo · Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.

eamo · Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.

Thunndarr · Joined: 30 Sep 2003

Demophobe · Joined: 17 May 2004

logan2003 · Joined: 20 May 2003

I am the luckiest guy in all of the ROK my wife not only agrees she does the same stuff that I do. Gaming, upgrading our pc's, going to 전자 란드 is so much fun.......ahhhh.

I got a duo core cpu....she told me.....I want one too! It does not get better than that!