8600gt vs HD4650

[Ropster]

I recently swapped a 8600gt 256 ddr3 for an HD4650 xxx 512mb ddr2

on paper the new card should be much faster than the old one, but it is benchmarking slower ?????

can anyone see why this should be ?

i upgraded because GTA IV didnt like the lack of memory and wouldn't realy run

[El Wayneo]

I would say they are about par with each other to be honest mate.

DDR2 memory is a lot slower than DDR3, but the core on the 4650 is probably a smidge faster than the 8600.

A HD4670 would be the minimum really for gaming as is about the same as a HD3870 from the previous series, but uses less power.

[wonderlust]

A HD4670 would be the minimum really for gaming as is about the same as a HD3870 from the previous series, but uses less power.

but only in the ddr3 or higher versions!

[Ropster]

well there is a lesson learned for me. i didn't think the speed of memory would make that much difference compared with the quantity. I also have the issue of the SFF box which will only take a single slot card

[El Wayneo]

You could get a single slot 9800gt or maybe a HD4850 but they tend to run pretty hot as a single slot.

[Ropster]

is the 4850 much quicker than the 4650? these modern graphics card names confuce me a lot

[mac124]

well there is a lesson learned for me. i didn't think the speed of memory would make that much difference compared with the quantity.

You're not the first inexperienced person to fall into that trap and you won't be the last. Both Ati and nvidia make pointless low end cards with lots of slow memory on to fool people, such as yourself, into thinking they are "better" than other cards with less memory on.

[El Wayneo]

is the 4850 much quicker than the 4650? these modern graphics card names confuce me a lot

It will easily double the frames in games. Probably more so.

[Ropster]

just to see what difference it made (speed of memory) i used overdrive to push the memory speed from the stock 400 up to 525 and it gave me about 30% increase in 3D marks whereas pushing the gpu core up made very little difference. looks like ill be looking around for another card when i get a bit of cash as this one isnt realy doing it for me :(

[marsey99]

if you post your budget im sure somebody will point you in the right direction :)

macs right, they do it all the time, slap more cheap ram on a card just to charge more as people think more ram will be better but it depends if the gpu core can use more thru the limited bandwidth and also if the ram is fast enough to feed the core.

tbh with you tho, with gta 4 a quad is what you need as that game is very cpu intensive :(

[shoudy]

Lol iv been using a 4670 for years, and it still runs all games fine, great budget card.
Next time you upgrade try to go for something alot better, because your not really upgrading, your just swapping.