- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Well, I'll give you a short lesson with graphics cards (this goes for anyone else who has trouble with them).
Basically, it's not about the memory a graphics card has. See, you could slap 512 MB of GDDR3 RAM, which is super fast, onto an old, say, 9250 chipset, and it wouldn't run crap. Why?
Chipset: This is the integral part of a graphics card. If you think of your graphics card as a mini motherboard, think of the chipset as the CPU. It performs all of the 'thinking' that your card does. In essence, this is the most important part of a graphics card. The newest chipsets on the market, the Radeon x850, Radeon x800XT Platinum, and the nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra, all use an awesome chipset. That way they can process information super fast. A chipset that is about 3 years old, such as the 9250, may have lots of RAM, but its processor just can't handle demanding apps. The chipset's speed is determined in MHz. Anything 350 or above will perform very well, but you can get by with about 200 or 250.
RAM: RAM stores information for the chipset to perform later - just like on your computer. RAM is important, but only as much as your processor can handle. An old 9250 is really no good with 256MB, you might as well get the 128MB version, because that's about how much it will process anyway. However, in uber-powerful cards that cost over 1000, up to 512MB and beyond of memory is used, and not only is that memory expansive, but it's also super fast. The other thing that is important with memory is it's data transfer, also mesured in MHz. If you have a new card, the RAM is dual channel, so the speed is measured by multiplying the speed by two. In the case of the Radeon x800XT, the speed is 1000MHz (2x500 MHz). Also notice that its core clock speed is 500 MHz. You never want the clock speed to be much more or much less than half of the memory speed. There shouldn't be a gap of more than 150 MHz in either direction - otherwise the RAM is too fast, and the speed won't do the card any good, or the processor is too fast and won't be able to get data as fast. We call these no-no cards :)
Interface: AGP, PCI, or PCI Express? That is the question. Old PCI cards use a PCI slot, common on most computers. The data transfer between the motherboard and the card is minimal - I highly disapprove this type of graphics card. AGP slots nowadays are all 8x, although they do support 4x for older boards. This is a good transfer rate, and has been the standard. PCI Express is about a year old. It allows fast data transfer, however, as of now, AGP vs. PCIe board tests show that both have the exact same performance. That is to say, the Radeon x800XT AGP version and PCIe version are both equally awesome. That will change as boards become more demanding, but motherboards with PCIe slots cost about $100 more than those with AGP, and the PCIe cards cost about $30 more than AGP cards. MY suggestion is to stick with AGP for right now - if you plan to build or buy a computer, get the AGP slot and hook it up with a top of the line card, because it'll last you till your next comp.
Basically, the 9250 shouldn't run above 800x600. Set it to that, and you won't lag so much.
[Edited on 1/8/2005 8:45:15 PM]