GPU: 6770M? 6970M? with ext. monitor

[jdavtz]

I'm thinking of upgrading my 2008 iMac C2D.

Searching online for 6770m 6790m gives me nothing that I can make sense of about these GPUs. Anyone have a link with relative performances?

The thing is, I'm NOT really looking at gaming -- that's way down my list of importance.

I primarily use Aperture (21MP RAW files). Now I know that Aperture heavily uses the GPU, but I wonder just how much difference there is between the GPU models (and memory amounts - 512MB vs. 1GB vs. 2GB)

I was thinking of 27" i7 3.4GHz with the 2GB card, but then wondered, "would I be okay with the 21.5" i7 2.8 with the 6770M GPU (with only 512 MB VRAM)".

If I bought the 21.5" it would be much easier to afford a nice 27" NEC PA271W monitor (£1000-ish) (2560x1440) -- BUT would the 6770M/512MB GPU really be good for running moderately intensive Aperture work over the two screens (21.5" + 27")?

Cross-posting in photography forum - hope that's not a problem.

 

[Badger^2]

Cross posting is fine. Not searching is not.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1149458/

 

[jdavtz]

I had read that thread, but as far as I can see there's no mention at all of Aperture's performance regarding different GPUs, nor how well a 512MB card will perform running a second fairly high-resolution display as well as doing however much processing Aperture does offload to the GPU.

 

[Badger^2]

From the barefeats test:

As for the GPU, according to Hardware Monitor, none of the four tests put more than a 4% load on it.

 

[jdavtz]

Thanks. I have to admit I didn't read that linked test.

So all the stuff about Aperture utilising GPU is nonsense?