GT 330M with 256 MB vs GT 330M with 512 MB

[tdream]

Using AA will increase texture memory required too.

 

[barefeats]

Using AA will increase texture memory required too.

Got that right. I'm in the process of testing the 15" Core i5 with 256M VRAM using an external 30" Cinema (with the lid closed). Everything was cranking along until I set AA to 4X in Halo UB. At that point it went into molasses mode. Dropped from 59 fps to 4 fps.

Full report tomorrow compared to the 15" Core i7 and 17" Core i5 -- both with 512M VRAM.

 

[furious]

Full report tomorrow compared to the 15" Core i7 and 17" Core i5 -- both with 512M VRAM.

Awesome news-thank you

 

[iTootyFrooty]

so you talking about old games... from 2007 like COD4 , what about the new upcoming games ??? like diablo 3, starcraft 2... im not worried to run GTA4
i want to be able to run good games in the future.. nobody buy a new laptop every 6 months.

Thats the same with most laptops mate. If you take gaming that seriously you shouldn't be buying a laptop..

 

[barefeats]

I've been running timedemos with Portal on Steam beta.

Anything higher than 1440x900 on the MacBook Pro Core i5 with 256M VRAM and the avg FPS drop to unplayable (10-12 fps). That's at "recommended" medium quality settings.

The MacBook Pro Core i7 with 512M VRAM kept cranking along at 30+ FPS even at 1920x1200, max settings, 4X multisampling, and 8X Aniso.

 

[matryska]

I've been running timedemos with Portal on Steam beta.

Anything higher than 1440x900 on the MacBook Pro Core i5 with 256M VRAM and the avg FPS drop to unplayable (10-12 fps). That's at "recommended" medium quality settings.

The MacBook Pro Core i7 with 512M VRAM kept cranking along at 30+ FPS even at 1920x1200, max settings, 4X multisampling, and 8X Aniso.

In this case, is it the AA that breaks the 256MB version (even when on medium settings)? Would gamers who play without AA not experience this slowdown? Thank you for your interesting investigations, I look forward to reading the report.

 

[diamond.g]

In this case, is it the AA that breaks the 256MB version (even when on medium settings)? Would gamers who play without AA not experience this slowdown? Thank you for your interesting investigations, I look forward to reading the report.

A more interesting question is if OpenGL supports any of the other AA modes (not just MSAA and FSAA) as a means of seeing which modes require the most VRAM.

AA requires more RAM for the frame-buffer. The smaller the frame-buffer the more textures you can load in VRAM. Which means the slowdowns should be minimized, but not necessarily eliminated.