Video Cards

[Somaz]

I think, that all people know, that DDR2 type cards won't run on DDR type motherboards (as well as DDR2 RAM).
Recently i have found that there are actualy no GDDR3 ram (or DDR3), and that there are only video cards with GDDR3. I though that ALL DDR2 type mother boards support DDR3 video cards. The selection between the DDR2 cards is kinda low, and i thought that i will need to buy some crappy card.

My question:
Even if your ram is DDR2 800 Mhz, you can have video cards of any GDDR3 memory?
By the way, the motherboard that i wan't to buy - is nForce 650i SLI. It's Ram memory type is DDR2 800 Mhz, and it has 4 Ram slots. It goes with a core 2 due 2Ghz processor.
I believe that the answer for my question is - yes, but i need to be sure!

P.S. The card that i wan't to buy is
XFX Geforce 7950GT, 256MB, 256bit, HDTV, HDCP, SLI
256 Mb, 570 MHz, GDDRIII-1450 MHz, 256 bit

It should run on the motherboard (i hope xD)

[[c]rono]

The RAM has nothing to do with a video card.

[bositman]

First,I can't see how this relates to PCSX2 so moved to hardware discussion.
Second,your graphics card memory (which is embedded in it) has nothing to do with your system RAM or what kind of RAM your motherboard supports.
So yes you can use a gfx card with GDDR3 memory with any motherboard,as long as it has the slot the gfx card goes in (PCI-express or AGP)

[rainbow]

RAM is not the same as graphic card RAM. Mobo support DDR2 as normal RAMs not the ones on the graphic. <they could mount even gDDR4 on cards (like on the strongest HD2900), and they will run on any mobo that have PCIe slot (or AGP for older ones)>.

And yes it will work.

[Somaz]

All your saing, that it will work on any motherboard, but i know, that DDR2-3 type cards won't work on old DDR-type motherboards. Or is that false? Can i use DDR3 memory type video cards on my intel celeron, and DDR type motherboard ?
P.S. Dear moderators, at LEAST please notice ME when you move a topic. I thought that you deleted it or smthing. Thank you...

[refraction]

All your saing, that it will work on any motherboard, but i know, that DDR2-3 type cards won't work on old DDR-type motherboards. Or is that false? Can i use DDR3 memory type video cards on my intel celeron, and DDR type motherboard ?
P.S. Dear moderators, at LEAST please notice ME when you move a topic. I thought that you deleted it or smthing. Thank you...


well you post in the correct section by using common sense, you wont have to be notified of movement.

anyway, graphics card memory ahs nothing to do with the motherboard. If a 486 motherboard had a PCIe socket, you could run a brand new graphics caed with GDDR4 and it would work.

Motherboard specifications are only for what main memory you put on the board, whatever comes on expansion cards is totally seperate and up to the graphics card or w/e to control.

[Somaz]

Omg so that means, i can actualy buy this on my old comp ?????
XFX GeForce 7900GS, 256MB, 256bit, HDTV, SLI
2xDVI-I, S-Video, GeForce 7900, 256 Mb, 600 MHz, GDDRIII-1600 MHz, 256 bit

Please say "yes" and nothing more! It will make me so happy :D

P.S. I THINK i have a pci-e socket. Dunno really, but i have a radeon 9550 card. That means i can really buy any card? Omg so many years spent... :D

[S.SubZero]

If your PC is "old" and "so many years spent" then you need to find out what slot it is. If it's AGP you need an AGP card. If it's PCIe you can use a PCIe card.

[Somaz]

How can i find, what slot do i have (PCI or AGP ?)

[bositman]

CPU-Z (http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php)

Note: For graphics cards it is AGP or PCI-Express,PCI slots are the slots used for sound cards etc so don't get confused with that.
Run this program,go to mainboard and check what it says in Graphics Interface

[Cid Highwind]

*bookmarked*

This one caused the LOL of the night :lol:

Anyway, no offense man, as for your GPU, I think you need to look at an AGP card because the 9550 is AGP only as well. You'd best go with either a 7600GT, or if your CPU and PSU can handle it, an ATi X1950 Pro.

[Somaz]

OK thank you people for ur support, i was thinking of CPU-Z, but i didn't think it will work. So i have an AGP slot (:( PCI-E would be better, as i wanted the XFX Geforce 7900GS, but i guess il go for the 7600 GT (i have found one :D ).

Just to compare, what are the differences:

XFX GeForce 7900GS, 256MB, 256bit, HDTV, SLI (PCI-E)
2xDVI-I, S-Video, GeForce 7900, 256 Mb, 600 MHz, GDDRIII-1600 MHz, 256 bit

Cost: Ls 86,84 (0.6 LS = 1 $)

Club3D GeForce 7600GT, 256MB, 128bit, HDTV (AGP)
DVI-I, S-Video, GeForce 7600, 256 Mb, 560 MHz, GDDRIII-1100 MHz, 128 bit

Cost: Ls 82,10 (0.6 LS = 1 $)

How you see, it WOULD be better to pay this 7 $ for a better card, but it's PCI-E :( Clock difference is only 40 (not that much), but the memory clock difference is kinda high (250/500 Mhz). The card is also only 128 bit.

Both cards have ps/vs 3.0 and use open gl 2.0 / Direct x 9.
I was thinking about Radeon, but i don't really like that one :D Most game are sayd to be best played on Nvidia, and i have found that to be true (through my own expiriense) in games like UT2004 or Hitman (Radeon 9550 was slower, or the same as Geforce 4 MX, and Radeon costs more, as also it has ps 2.0). So i won't go for the x1950 (NVIDIA FOR EVER).It is the same as 7900GS, but it costs another 20 LS. So i think that 7600GT is the best choise for me :rotflmao:

By the way: The only REAL differense, that i have found, is that 7600GT has a D-Sub (wounder what is it for, can someone tell me?).

[ViperXtreme]

its not just about the clock frequency of the cards, its also about how many pixel pipelines it has as well as how many pixel and vertex units it has, and many other factors (pixel shader domain clock frequency, memory bus width and many more).
The 7900GS IS faster than the 7600GT, but the AMD ATi Radeon X1950Pro demolishes them both :P
Most games are best played with nVidia cards? not always (remembers the time where the Radeon 9xxx series totally f**** up the GeForce FX series hehe), some game's coding sometimes a favor certain cards though.

[Somaz]

Thx, ill think about the x1950 ;) Guess il have to pay some 20 ls more :rotflmao: But the result will be great (i hope) :heh:

[ViperXtreme]

regarding that, what are your other system specifications? (CPU model and speed, ram type amount and frequency, as well as the power supply)

[StriderVM]

Somaz, just make sure when buying any video card you like that it uses the AGP slot. And not the PCI-E slot.

[Somaz]

What are the pc specifications for viperxtreme ? I have an intel celeron 2.6Ghz and 2x512 mb of DDR-400 Mhz RAM. As for the AGP, the x1950 that i wan't to buy is AGP, don't worry ;) If i had PCI-E i would haave bought the xtx 7900. So waht are the specs for ?

[Lovingika]

Sory to say this mate, but it's look like there's gona be a huge bottleneck caused by your proc.

[Somaz]

What ? :rotflmao:

[S.SubZero]

The CPU, or the "brains" of the computer, will be too slow to get any advantage from the video card.

[ViperXtreme]

@Somaz:Im asking for your system specifications because im curious on how it would match the hardware your trying to get. But like Lovingika and S. SubZero said, you won't be able to take full advantage of the card (or your system is "bottlenecked" with respect to the video card your want to buy), because your CPU wont be fast enough to fully unleash the true power of the X1950. ( Calling Mr. Killjoy, i know he's experiencing this now hehe).

and btw, how much power does your powersupply (PSU) have? (the box inside your PC that is cnonected to your board)

[Somaz]

how much power does your powersupply (PSU) have? (the box inside your PC that is cnonected to your board)

I know what's powersupply, and i know what numbers can there be, but then again, how can i find this ? :D

CPU won't be fast enough ? Can that even be ? :D

[Thanakil]

how much power does your powersupply (PSU) have? (the box inside your PC that is cnonected to your board)

I know what's powersupply, and i know what numbers can there be, but then again, how can i find this ? :D

CPU won't be fast enough ? Can that even be ? :D

I didnt know that before today too, here's how you can usually know :

Open your computer case, the power supply will usually have informations written on it (like mine got a big white 450 with ''power output'' beside it). Other informations will usually be written there too.

[c&cRenegadeFan]

Ya, confusing

[Cid Highwind]

CPU won't be fast enough ? Can that even be ? :D
Yes, you see, there's different aspects to games. Some games ask more from your graphicscard, so in those you will notice a good difference if you put a fast GPU in a computer with a slow GPU.

However, if you have games like Supreme Commander, you will notice that your CPU will have to do a lot of work, so it will still be slow. You can raise the graphics settings to the max, or lower them to minimum, but that will not make a difference because it is not the graphics that are too heavy, it is all the work the CPU needs to do that is too heavy, causing you low FPS.

I hope that explains it a bit why it is important to have a somewhat balanced system :)

[ViperXtreme]

The CPU and the GPU work together along with the other compnents in your PC. For example,tthe high end video card can execute 10million instructions max at a given time but when your slow CPU can only give 5million max at a given time for the video card to process, it wont show its true potential. And like what Cid Highwind stated there are also games that is more sensitive to the CPU specially when there's a lot of AI and Physics calculations along wit the game code goin on.
Here's a good example of "bottlenecking" benchmark from slow CPU with a fast cpu in the same card.
AGP Platform Analysis, Part 2: New Cards, Single-Core System | Tom's Hardware (http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/02/01/agp-platform-analysis/page4.html#gaming_benchmarks)

[Somaz]

Ok peoples :rotflmao: i have been searching for hardware, and made up my mind on this:
GA-946-S3
Socket 775, DDRII 800, PCI-EXPRESS, Intel i946
Core 2 Duo Support - Yes
Im buing this with GeForce 7900 600/Gddr3-1600 Mhz
+ 1 GB of DDR2-800Mhz RAM

Cost 35 (for motherboard) + 85 (Geforce) + 20 (1 GB RAM), and tgats 140 LS (200-220 $).

It will go with my old Intel Celeron 2.6Ghz, until i buy Core 2 Duo 2 Ghz or more (85 LS, 120-150 $).

By the way, i haven't found what is my PSU Woltage (400, or less ?). Is there a way to find it, without opening the PC (some program), and how much will i need to support Geforce/DDR2-800Mhz/Core 2 Due. Will 450 be enough, or what ?

[Somaz]

Close the topic, i have found everything i needed to :heh: I have 300W and i will buy 400W :rolleyes: