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8600M GT 128mb vs Ati Radeon X1600 256mb

A

andreaseto

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 18, 2007
26
0
Hello guys, I'm glad to join you! :)

Ok, obviously 8600M GT 256mb is better than 8600M GT 128mb when it comes especially to gaming. The same definately applies with the comparison of 8600M GT 256mb vs Radeon X1600 256mb. However how much of an improvement is 8600M GT 128mb when it is compared to Ati Radeon X1600 256mb? Is it still better despite the lack of the extra VRAM?
 
I'm curious as well... even though I read the benchmarks on barefeats or whatever.
 
Thats going to depend on the game. If the game is graphically intense and loads huge textures, then having more vram is going to allow better performance as it becomes a tradeoff for FPS / graphics detail when you have smaller vram available. 256MB seems to be the ideal point for most games (despite nVidia's craze for sticking near 1GB vram on their high end card) however this will tend to be for the higher end games. e.g. Battlefield 2142, Far Cry, COD2, etc. You can run these games with some graphics options turned down that relate to texturing to achieve a better fps while still retaining a decent level of graphic allure.
Despite having half the available vram, if you look at the gpu itself, it will outperform the older x1600, discounting texturing issues.
 
djinn said:
http://www.barefeats.com/rosa03.html

There you go.. It doesn't have the x1600 but I assure you that it performs better. I'll do some more research.

Update: http://www.barefeats.com/santarosa.html

Another thing to keep in mind are the drivers that are currently written for OpenGL under OS X with the nvidia cards aren't very good. I am sure Apple will be releasing some new ones here very soon.
Click to expand...

The OpenGL drivers have improved a lot since the early days with the 6800 Ultra DDL I used to run, but they could be so much better. I wish nVidia would put as much time into OS X OpenGL drivers as they do with Windows and Linux.
 
WildPalms said:
The OpenGL drivers have improved a lot since the early days with the 6800 Ultra DDL I used to run, but they could be so much better. I wish nVidia would put as much time into OS X OpenGL drivers as they do with Windows and Linux.
Click to expand...

I'm sure that I read somewhere that Apple insist on writing these drivers themselves. Could be wrong. Anyone know?
 
I could see Nvidia giving them Dev drivers and apple completing them. As anal as they are wouldn't surprise me.
 
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