2gb 6770 vs. 1 gb 6770

When does the need for 2gb of Vram kick in? I keep hearing that 1 gb is enough. Is 2gb a little more future proof? Or just needed for specialized applications?

I plan on purchasing a DV6 and doing some gaming. Primarily SC2 and Diablo 3, with some COD 3 thrown in once in a while. I'd also like to get the 1080p screen.

I would appreciate any comments, facts, and/or opinions on the matter.

 

Never. .

 

You'll probably never (for the lifetime of the computer anyways) need more than 1GB of VRAM.

 

Thanks. Sounds like 2 gb doesn't provide any type of advantage. Can anyone help my non-techie brain understand why?

Is it that software is not written to utilize it? Is it that the real bottleneck lies somewhere else? I mean, it seems over the eons of computer history, the amount of ram on video cards keeps increasing. Why is it not increasing today?

I know I'm letting my noob light shine, but I would really love to understand this. Thanks!

 

There are two factors that will bottleneck you before the VRAM does: the memory bandwidth and processing power of the 6770M. The memory bandwidth is how quickly the GPU can access all that VRAM. The 6770M is not bad for a laptop card, but it only has 57.6GB/s of bandwidth. For comparison, the desktop 6970 also comes with 2GB of memory, but it has 176GB/s of bandwidth which is more than three times as much. 2GB doesn't make sense with the 6770M -- it's like having an Olympic-sized pool which you can only get water in or out of through tiny pipes.

Processing power is important because of how GPUs use memory. With system RAM, more can help you even if you have a slow processor if you use a program that stores a lot of stuff in memory. Gaming doesn't really work that way -- the VRAM is used mainly as a frame buffer the contents of which are destined to be drawn on the display in rapid succession. If you can't process the information quickly enough, there is no real point in having a larger buffer. Again, for comparison, the processing power of the 2GB 6970 is 2703 GFLOPS, whereas the 6770M can only manage 696.

So basically, you don't have the bandwidth to fill the 2GB at playable frame rates and even if you did, the card would not be able to do so. 1GB is more than enough, although I'm glad HP is offering the 2GB version because it subsidizes the 1GB variety (no way does a 6770M cost only $25 more than a 6490M).

 

I'm going to object mainly because everyone in this forum has been saying it without any real facts to back it up.

I have heard 2 things, 1) GTA IV requires more than 1 GB at 1080p, and 2) Crysis 2 hi res requires more than 1 GB at 1080p.

The 6770m can play (albeit at non-optimal framerates) both games at 1080p so shouldn't the 2 GB come into play?

 

Althernai just did that by comparing the memory bandwdith and GFLOPS totals of the 6770M versus desktop cards with identical memory configurations.

 

HD6770M isn't fast enough to USE 2GB of VRAM.

And whether GTAIV can use 2GB RAM doesn't matter. You won't be able to play it at those settings either way.

Even the HD6950 doesn't benefit much from 2GB VRAM and that is many times more powerful than HD6770M.

 

Yeah but that wasn't evidence that 2gb will never be used. However I think there are some tests that were done comparing the same gpus with differing amounts of vram but I don't feel like digging that up right now.

edit:

I'm sure the 6770m is capable of playing GTA at 1080p with medium settings/Crysis 2 with high res textures at 1080p on high.

 

the less you post, doubt is still kept in the balance... dave needs a friend

 

It's actually capable to play it even on High. I played it last night and I have 1Gb 6770. I didn't look at fps though.

 

I just posted that yes, the 6770m IS fast enough to play at those settings.

Crysis 2 with hi resolution texture pack requires minimum 1 GB. The 6770m can play it at that resolution.

This is more anecdotal evidence. It's not that I don't trust you guys but hearing that certain games do require more than 1 GB at particular resolutions, resolutions that the 6770m can run at, then that would seem to contradict the claim that you only need 1 GB.

 

Yes, GTA IV would want a bit more than 1GB at the highest texture qualities, but that's because the PC port isn't very good. Just Cause 2, another sandbox game and one that was ported better, definitely doesn't need the full 1GB. The same with Crysis 2; it's not a very good port to PC.

If running at max texture detail is really important for you, then maybe the 2GB would help, but for most games you will not hit that limit and for the remainder, it can be solved by dropping the texture settings from very high to high.

 

GTA IV Benchmark
settings used

 

Wow. It still performs pretty well at 1200p. Thanks for the benches, repped.