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Watabou

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Feb 10, 2008
3,425
755
United States
Hi, I have a quick question about the current Macbook pro. Does the 256 MB graphics card really make a huge difference? I will be doing graphic-editing often and some video editing. Will 256 MB really make a difference than the 128 one?
 

squeeks

macrumors 68040
Jun 19, 2007
3,393
15
Florida
not for what you're doing, unless you're going to be running it on a high resolution monitor, thats where the extra graphics ram helps
 

jbg232

macrumors 65816
Oct 15, 2007
1,148
10
10% increase in performance in programs that rely heavily on video card performance.
 

Watabou

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Feb 10, 2008
3,425
755
United States
Oh ok. So not a lot huh. Well I'll still be hoping that they turn that into 256MB for the baseline when they update the mbp though :(

I think I will be using an external display anyways.
 

aiterum

macrumors 6502
Nov 17, 2007
499
0
United States
You should be able to use higher textures and stuff during gaming from a 256, but overall performance isn't going to see too much of a difference overall. However, since most games are moving towards 256mb being the minimum requirement for video cards, it might be an investment to either get the higher video card, or wait to see if the update coming soon includes a video card bump
 

KingYaba

macrumors 68040
Aug 7, 2005
3,414
12
Up the irons
my 64MB videocard runs Doom just as well as any 256MB card......
I bet my 8mb card on the G3 would do well.

doom1.jpg
 

TheMonarch

macrumors 65816
May 6, 2005
1,467
1
Bay Area
GPU memory does NOT equal speed. Unless you're using more than 128MB at any given time, 256MB will not give you any speed increase. Its all other factors combined, such as core speed/memory speed that contribute to higher frame rates.


GPU memory allows the storage of more textures, on-screen objects, resolution, etc.
 

prism

macrumors 65816
Dec 6, 2006
1,060
389
you might wanna check out this comparison: http://www.barefeats.com/rosa03.html

Totally obsolete and misleading information in here. All the games are ancient and the test is done on the OSX platform (not really optimized for games). Just running 3DMark 06 that focuses textures will show you something like a 1000 point + difference between the two vram sizes.
It is also misleading to suggest that performance depends mainly on GPU. To play today's games, vram size and bandwidth are as important!
 

soccerjoe5

macrumors regular
Feb 3, 2008
125
0
Totally obsolete and misleading information in here. All the games are ancient and the test is done on the OSX platform (not really optimized for games). Just running 3DMark 06 that focuses textures will show you something like a 1000 point + difference between the two vram sizes.
It is also misleading to suggest that performance depends mainly on GPU. To play today's games, vram size and bandwidth are as important!


know where i can find the newer games comparisons of the 2 systems? i'd like to see them :)


edit: i see that you've got the 2.2 system. how do you like it so far in playing games?
 

prism

macrumors 65816
Dec 6, 2006
1,060
389
know where i can find the newer games comparisons of the 2 systems? i'd like to see them :)


edit: i see that you've got the 2.2 system. how do you like it so far in playing games?

They had a whole section on this in "insidemacgames" a while ago, I am not sure if it is still there.
As for my setup, I notice that 128mb vram is limiting in modern games such as COD4, already at medium settings you feel maxed out!
 

soccerjoe5

macrumors regular
Feb 3, 2008
125
0
They had a whole section on this in "insidemacgames" a while ago, I am not sure if it is still there.
As for my setup, I notice that 128mb vram is limiting in modern games such as COD4, already at medium settings you feel maxed out!


thanks i'll look it up :)

edit: how much ram do you have in your MBP? i'm guessing 4GB of ram will help?
 

prism

macrumors 65816
Dec 6, 2006
1,060
389
thanks i'll look it up :)

edit: how much ram do you have in your MBP? i'm guessing 4GB of ram will help?

More RAM will speed things up by reducing disk access, it will not make much of a difference in fps!
I have the default 2gb for the time being. Games like HL2 run amazingly well all maxed out. For more modern games, medium settings pushes my setup to its limits!
 
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