Dumb question concerning video cards and their memory...

[iamaelephant]

Hey guys, I decided to get the 9800 pro rather than the 5900 xt, so thanks to the folks who helped me make that decision in this forum. I now have another question. Here are the two 9800 pro's I'm looking at: (prices on NZ dollars)
Powercolor
MSI

As you can see, they are both 128mb cards. Here is my question - the Powercolor has only 128 bit memory, but a much higher memory clock speed, where the MSI has 256 bit memory but the memory clock speed is significantly lower.

Can someone please explain to me the difference between 128 and 256 bit memory, and does anyone know which of these cards would be better for me? I'm looking at something to play next gen games on (duh) and I will be overclocking, so which one would be better?

Thanks! :smoking:

 

[Shuzer]

Get the 256 bit memory card. It'll perform much better than a higher clocked, but slower RAM version of the card.

I don't have a technical explanation for you.. I'll let someone else handle that for me

 

[SidewinderX]

Well, the MSI just doesn't do the math for you. to get DDR memory's effective clock rate, you just double it. on the power color one it says 680Mhz (2x340). The MSI one is 338. Double that and you get 676, which is what the rate it.

256bit memory means alot more data can be transfered at once, which is good. 256bit cards perform significantly better than 128bit cards.

 

[iamaelephant]

Cool cheers Sidewiner and Shuzer!

 

[bosox188]

Is that in Canadian dollars? It must be, nobody would sell them for that much. And I've never heard of a Powercolor 9800 pro that was 128-bit. Get the MSI, they have the R360 core and most people on the reviews said that just with the latest normal ATi drivers they are recognized as a 9800xt. Can't beat that.

 

[Shuzer]

Is that in Canadian dollars? It must be, nobody would sell them for that much.

(prices on NZ dollars)

my work here is done

 

[iamaelephant]

Yeah Kiwi dollars mate, I think if that was US dollars I would have had a stroke.