650m 1GB vs. 2GB?

Hi im buying a new HP Pavilion dv6t quad edition,
Intel I7 3610QM @ 2.3GHZ (Turbo 3.3GHZ)
8GB 1600MHZ RAM
1080P 15.6 inch display
750GB 7200RPM Hybrid HDD
Blu Ray DVD drive
Nvidia geforce gt 650m 1GB

I am wondering if I should go with what I have or upgrade the video card to 2GB. Would it make any difference since the speed is the same? I will be using it for college and moderate gaming. Games like Skyrim. Upgrade costs $50.

 

2GB will make zero difference in performance for ANY game with the GT 650m GPU.

See here: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/02/24/amd_radeon_hd_6950_1gb_performance_review/2

 

Ok, thats all I needed to know. Wasnt 100 percent sure. Thank you.

 

That article's over a year old. It's comparing the AMD 6950s to a 560ti. I suspect that there might be a performance difference between the different 650M GPUs because of the different type of RAM, but somebody more knowledgeable than I should comment about that.

 

That article is comparing desktop cards much more powerful than the 650m at much higher resolutions that what you'd use with the 650m. So the point is that if desktop cards at that resolution and bandwidth (256-bit 6950 vs 128-bit 650m) aren't hindered by 1GB then the 650m sure as heck won't be. The question isn't about RAM type but if the 2GB is worth it over the 1GB. Time and again, the answer has been NO.

GDDR5 vs DDR3 definitely has an effect, as much as 25% improvement, but depends on how the GPU is clocked too. The GDDR5 650m is clocked lower than the DDR3 version usually. And at 720p performance difference is minimal or not important considering both can throw out crazy framerates. At 1080p GDDR5 helps considerably, but it's still hindered by the 128-bit bus.

 

Well said htwingnut. it's crazy how often questions like these pop up...

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

I wonder if 1GB vs 2GB will have different max memory clocks...

 

For this core gddr5 makes a difference even at 720p.

 

Depends on RAM configuration, size and quality of RAM. It all depends.

Yes it can, but nothing that will make a difference to any game. I am going to do some benches with another user that has M14x R2 (GDDR5) vs my Clevo DDR3 version and share. So far can run BF3 at high (even ultra but don't see the point) at 60+ fps at 720p. IIRC M14x R2 would run maybe 4-5fps better on average.

 

I understand that going from 1gb to 2gb yields no results, but what about 512gb to 1gb? I'm curious because the new Macbook has the 650m with 512gb and didn't know how much its performance would suffer, if any.

 

I would say that it will matter in gaming, 1080p can gobble up a lot of memory. I don't know at what resolution 512MB won't be fully used though. As to the influence in performance, no idea.

 

To be honest, 512MB is probably adequate. Although the "sweet spot" is likely somewhere between 512MB and 1GB. It is curious that they would offer a 512MB card with a 1080p machine though. I can't imagine cost difference between 512MB and 1GB would be that substantial, considering many laptop makers throw in 2Gb or 3GB cards when it isn't even required.

 

Well, the retina display version has an even higher 1800p, right? It just seemed like the 512gb 650m was a little low for that.

 

The 650M can't hope to run any semi-modern game at the Retina's native 2880x1800 resolution, so the amount of VRAM is again pointless.