Solved Is a 4 GB DDR3 graphics card better than a 1 GB DDR5 card?

[ajd112]

Hi guys.
I am planning to buy a new graphics card. The two cards that are within my budget are ZOTAC NVIDIA GeForce GT 630 Synergy Edition 4 GB DDR3 and Zotac NVIDIA GeForce GT 630 1GB DDR5 Graphics Card. Which one will be better? Or should I go for Sapphire AMD/ATI Radeon HD 6670 1GB DDR5?
Thanks in advance.

 

[bobkn]

The GT630 is a rebranded 440.

Speaking as someone who prefers NVidia's drivers, I think that the 6670 would be superior.

If you could find an HD 7750 at a reasonable price (seems to fall within the 6670 range), it would be better still.

 

[M1GU31]

Unles your going to have multiple monitors or a bunch of virutal machines. No not really, I would go with a card with more horse power instead of a tone of ram.

 

[ajd112]

Thanks guys. So I should go for AMD/ATI Radeon HD 6670 1GB DDR5? (7750 is beyond my budget) I am getting this mainly for gaming. I don't need full HD. 1024x760 is good enough for me. But other settings should at least be High if not more. Will this card be able to handle that? I am currently using Nvidia card so have no idea about how Radeon will perform. Some of the google results are suggesting GT 630 is better. Is there any benchmark review?

 

[bobkn]

Thanks guys. So I should go for AMD/ATI Radeon HD 6670 1GB DDR5? (7750 is beyond my budget) I am getting this mainly for gaming. I don't need full HD. 1024x760 is good enough for me. But other settings should at least be High if not more. Will this card be able to handle that? I am currently using Nvidia card so have no idea about how Radeon will perform. Some of the google results are suggesting GT 630 is better. Is there any benchmark review?

Assuming that the 630 is the same as a GT440 as the reviews claim,

AnandTech | Bench - GPU12

The 6670 is much better than a 440.

 

[stormy13]

Is a 4 GB DDR3 graphics card better than a 1 GB DDR5 card?

Only if the card is fast enough to take advantage of it. In the case of the GT 630, anything over 1 GB is pretty much pure marketing designed to sell more of the cards to those that are a little less than tech savvy.

As far as which of the cards is faster, the 6670 falls in between the GT630 and the GT 640,

ZOTAC GeForce GT 640 2 GB Review | techPowerUp

with the GT 630 being the slowest.

All things considering if you can stretch the budget, you would be better off looking at something from the 6750/6770/7750/7770 or something like the GTX 560/660.

 

[M1GU31]

Thanks guys. So I should go for AMD/ATI Radeon HD 6670 1GB DDR5? (7750 is beyond my budget) I am getting this mainly for gaming. I don't need full HD. 1024x760 is good enough for me. But other settings should at least be High if not more. Will this card be able to handle that? I am currently using Nvidia card so have no idea about how Radeon will perform. Some of the google results are suggesting GT 630 is better. Is there any benchmark review?

Yea 1204x768 should be fine, this card should do fine up to 1336X768.

 

[kbrady1979]

At that resolution, try to find an Nvidia 600 series card, or an AMD Radeon 7000 series card with 1GB of GDDR5 memory. Anymore than 1GB is a waste of money in your situation.

 

[ajd112]

Hey guys. I searched on the net and found that Radeon HD 6670 has no Physx support. Will that have a negative impact on games?

 

[stormy13]

Better question is, are you playing any games that support GPU Physx?

PhysXInfo.com - Projects using PhysX SDK

And to answer your question, no it won't. The only thing you won't get for the most is some extra debris/rippling cloth, none of which has any affect on the gameplay.

 

[ajd112]

I more or less play all the games that I can get my hands on. Currently playing hitman absolution and tomb raider. Not sure whether they support GPU physx. I got a bit confused after reading that Radeon 6670 doesn't support physx. Most of the games that I play shows nvidia physx during startup. So was wondering if lack of physx will hamper gameplay.

 

[stormy13]

Not in the slightest. Physx is still nothing more than some fancy effects that have zero affect on gameplay. Also a GT630 won't be powerful enough to enable Physx, not unless you put all other setting to low.

 

[ajd112]

Thanks Stormy13. Definitely going for Radeon 6670 then. :-D

 

[M1GU31]

Hey guys. I searched on the net and found that Radeon HD 6670 has no Physx support. Will that have a negative impact on games?

No, and most games don't use PhysX, unless you want those features for say borderlands 2 which supports it. It won't matter unless you're into that. If you don't care about PhysX which not a lot games use then go amd which is a bit cheaper or if you do care then just get a nvdia equivalent of the Radeon card you were thinking of buying. I suggest going with the Radeon card, PhysX is not really worth it and a Nvdia card at the budget would be kind of weak to make it work.

 

[ajd112]

Thank you all, guys. It has been a great help.