Graphic Card selecting problem

[harmonSmith]

hey guys sorry for the beginners question. I am planing to buy some good Graphic card but I am confused with the choices. The typical graphic card look like this GeForce PCX 9500GT 1GB (128-BITS) DDRII. I think 1GB is the memory. What is the role of Bits and DDR's in graphic cards.

[alexander]

DDR rating is the speed of ram and the bits refer to it as well

 

DDR stands for Double Data Rate, its the type of ram where data is transfered on both the rise and the fall of the signal, they called this technique double pumping and it increases the speed of memory, vs say SDRAM by 2 times.

 

the bit value represents how many bits can be transferred at one time, remember byte is 8 bits

and next comes the speed, frequency, the higher the frequency the more of those bit values can be transferred in a second

and dont forget that its dual rate

 

so for example a card that claims to be 64 bit ddr-100 (100mhz), maximum data transfer speed is

 

(64/8)*100*2 = 1600Mb/sec

 

ddr2-1066 is 533mhz at 128 bits, this comes to

2*128/8*533 = 8533Mb/sec

 

for graphics you want the best you can get, i would actually sacrifice the amount of ram for speed, if its a choice between ddr2-1066 at 1 gb or ddr3-1600 at 512 meg, i would go with the 512, simply because its 12.8Gb/s transfer speed...

 

but ultimate card riught now is AMD's 4870X2 512bit gddr5

 

its a dual core card, it supports dx 10.1, has more stream processors then any nvidia to date, and has a 1600mhz memory bus, meaning maximum transfer at nearly 200Gb/s it is unmatched at the current time... even gddr5 256 bit is at 100 Gb/s transfer is simply outstanding.

 

Btw Graphic ddr is simply a simplified version of DDR, its lower power, lower heat mem made and streamlined for graphics.

 

from there its your choice, graphics cards are rated by other characteristics as well, stream processors, clock speeds of the GPU, etc, ask if you need more info ;)

[harmonSmith]

 

ddr2-1066 is 533mhz at 128 bits, this comes to

8*128/8*533 = 8533Mb/sec

 

 

Thank you Alexander so nice of you.pretty concise and detailed information I have understand almost all the stuff expect for the quoted calculation. Why did you multiply DDR2 calculation with 8 where as you multiply DDR with 2. I think you will understand my point. Also what is the impotence of memory size in Graphic card.

[alexander]

cuz its a typo answer is right, but equation is typoed... i corrected it

[harmonSmith]

Thanks alexander

[GAHD]

I'll note here that if your graphics card is too fast, your base computer won't be able to "feed" it enough data per second, which translates into a waste of money and cycles.

 

Also make sure your POWER SUPPLY has enough wattage to run the card or you will stress and blow it and then there's not much you can do.

[alexander]

yes, i was going to go into that if he asked about GPU's :)

 

yes POWER SUPPLY is important, you can easily cook it, like my friend who threw in his 4870 into a system with a 500 peak watt PSU... it started smoking lol, luckily the people that make most PSU's are smart engineers that put in fail safes, if it wasnt for those, the PSU can burst into flames, and if you re really unlucky it will melt and short... and if you've ever shorted house electrical systems (i did for demo purposes and in a safe environment) it goes up in flames faster then you can imagine, its faster then a wick...

 

Oh, i had my friend get a 1000w continuous output PSU... he's really happy with it now...

[harmonSmith]

Thank guys. I will take care of it. I do not want to waste my hard earn money.:)

[TIC]

for graphics you want the best you can get, i would actually sacrifice the amount of ram for speed, if its a choice between ddr2-1066 at 1 gb or ddr3-1600 at 512 meg, i would go with the 512, simply because its 12.8Gb/s transfer speed...

 

Tahnks. I've been pondering a new adapter myself. . .

[Harpmen]

DDR rating is the speed of ram and the bits refer to it as well..........

.... :)

 

Thanks for info!:hyper:

[alexander]

no prob

[gregdevid]

DDR rating is the speed of ram and the bits refer to it as well

 

DDR stands for Double Data Rate, its the type of ram where data is transfered on both the rise and the fall of the signal, they called this technique double pumping and it increases the speed of memory, vs say SDRAM by 2 times.

 

the bit value represents how many bits can be transferred at one time, remember byte is 8 bits

and next comes the speed, frequency, the higher the frequency the more of those bit values can be transferred in a second

and dont forget that its dual rate

 

so for example a card that claims to be 64 bit ddr-100 (100mhz), maximum data transfer speed is

 

(64/8)*100*2 = 1600Mb/sec

 

ddr2-1066 is 533mhz at 128 bits, this comes to

2*128/8*533 = 8533Mb/sec

 

for graphics you want the best you can get, i would actually sacrifice the amount of ram for speed, if its a choice between ddr2-1066 at 1 gb or ddr3-1600 at 512 meg, i would go with the 512, simply because its 12.8Gb/s transfer speed...

 

but ultimate card riught now is AMD's 4870X2 512bit gddr5

 

its a dual core card, it supports dx 10.1, has more stream processors then any nvidia to date, and has a 1600mhz memory bus, meaning maximum transfer at nearly 200Gb/s it is unmatched at the current time... even gddr5 256 bit is at 100 Gb/s transfer is simply outstanding.

 

Btw Graphic ddr is simply a simplified version of DDR, its lower power, lower heat mem made and streamlined for graphics.

 

from there its your choice, graphics cards are rated by other characteristics as well, stream processors, clock speeds of the GPU, etc, ask if you need more info :)

 

Thanks for sharing helpful information about DDR and graphics.