saberj

Is there a big difference with the 64-bit and the 128-bit edition?
i can't seem to find any article comparing these 2 together..

is the 9550 64-bit better than the FX5500 128-bit?

The_Neon_Cowboy

yes, always 64 bit = 1/2 the bandwith of 128bit @ the same clock rate
it adversly affects performance

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saberj

ah ok thx..
btw when they say 64-bit..
which part is 64-bit?

the gpu or the ram?

Sargentwhitey

The ram on the card is 64bit.

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jasonbourne

i believe the ati 9550 64 bits is better than the geforce5500 128bits even though it's got only 64 bits,in my opinion geforce5200,5500,5700le does sucks.

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saberj

on what basis do u think that the 9550 64 bits is faster than the 5500 128bits?
i'm not sure myself coz i have been unable to find any reviews between these two itself...
i have tried comparing the results obtained between the tests but when i find the two matching cards, the specs of the test computer is different hence, i can't really deduce which is the faster card.

but if i look at it based on the bus size, i think the 128bits should be faster than the 64bits one...
but then again there are many other factors that can affect the speed...

i have tried both cards and i didn't feel any difference from the games that i used to test on.

the specs of the comp is:
athlon xp 1500+
256mb geil 400mhz 6-3-3-3 @ geil 266 6-3-3-3 or was it 5-2-2-2 i can't really remember..
NForce2 chipset gigabyte motherboard
INNO3d 5500 128mb 128bits/Gecube 9550 low-profile 64bits 128mb

the games i played were UT2k4,morrowind,CS and DOD @ 1024x768

besides this i have another question,
how does the amount of ram your video card has affect gameplay? or does it only affect game loading?

Geminiwave

more ram=more space to load textures and I THINK better AA(but im not sure about the AA part. maybe its just the ram speed that affects AA. anyway...) And if theres more space for the textures, theres less swapping between the HDD, system RAM, and Video RAM. The GPU just fetches textures from the video ram and then processes them... much faster process.

generally though theres a set ammount of RAM that a game is going to use(CS for instance probably doesnt even need 128mb. whereas doom3 could benefit from 512mb)

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The_Neon_Cowboy

Card ... GPU ...Core/mem
9550SE RV350 250/400 4pipes x 1tu and a 2vp 64mb/128mb/256mb 64bit
DirectX 9 with PS2.0 and VS2.0 Support

GFFX 5500 NV34 270/400 4pipes x 1tu and a 1vp 128mb/256mb 128bit
DirectX 9 (w/DX8 fallbacks) with PS2.0 and VS2.0 Support, Poor PS2.0 speed,

While the 128 bit "5500" does have a memory bandwith advantage. It's flawed becouse the card is based on the 5200. Many call it a higher clocked 5200. Wich in some cases "acts" as if it only has 2 pixel pipes... This card has only one vertex pipe....

The ATI card has 4 pipes (uses them in all cases they are needed). It also Has 2 vertex pipes... The card would be better in shader intesive games and in direct X... Games like ut2004 for example.... Also the ATI card is extremely overclockable as it a 9600 pro/XT core under clocked or one that didn't make the correct Mhz @ factory. Either way many people are getting faster then 400mhz core speeds and memory varries by mfg.

It would be a hard compair but the ATI card sticks out to me....

I'd argue most games only need 128 and 256 is the next norm....512mb is a bit insane and i think the card makers realised that hince they didn't deliver on thier promise of 512mb cards last year.

How ever importent the system can use you ram for limited texture storage should it be nessarcy and cards by delut swap out textures to agp apiture.
It normally isn't as nessarry for many gamers. If you play high AA/AF and in high resoultions then memory is verry important....

But going from a 128mb to a 256mb the diffence in performance in tests has been about 5% though I'm sure that will change as the year and games progress....

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saberj

thx for the details..

i think i gotta read up more on these...

Geminiwave

I realize that most games dont need 512. I just said that doom3 for instance can benefit from it. Most games, you are right, probably wont benefit much.

128 is definately a good number to shoot for. 256 is awesome but if its on a weak card(such as the 9600XT) then its pretty much useless, since its for AA\AF. Sure you have the memory SPACE...but not the mem speed or the core to keep up with it.

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sceecee

http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/955055005200/index.htm

tjeck that review on the same topic

someone happens to agree with me

sceecee

saberj

hmm...
the 5500 they are using is a 64bit one..
but nonetheless, it proves that the 9550 owns it...
but oh well, i've already taken the 5500 coz the 9550 refused to run on my gf's mobo...

anyway, where did u guys know how much ram do games need? is there any program out there to read how much ram is being used from your vid card?..

Athlon64user

I wouldnt bother with any 64 bit card unless you can get em for 2/3 or less of a 128 bit card. I recall seeing one review where a 9600se 64 bits won some, lost some benchmarks vs. a 128 bit fx5200 but that was in dx8, in dx9 the 9600se crushes any fx5200