# Geforce GTX 295. Finally I'll be able to play GTA IV! (Or will I?) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 21, 2009, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geforce-gtx-295-finally-ill-be-able-to-play-gta-iv-or-will-i/497241 "2009-05-21T21:49:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geforce-gtx-295-finally-ill-be-able-to-play-gta-iv-or-will-i/497241/21 "2009-05-23T16:54:39Z")
> [@YamatoTwinkie](#): > > The amount of Video RAM has just about as much to do with the overall performance of the videocard as “GHz” has to do with the performance of a CPU (read: not _that_ much). Videocard manufactures routinely take advantage of this misconception and release crappy cards advertised with “1 GB RAM!”, because your typical consumer is just looking for the biggest number on the box. > > The number of Stream Processors, Texture Units, Raster Operations Pipelines, and Memory _bandwidth_ on a videocard are equally or more important than the total amount of memory. > > A hypothetical 8800ultra with a full 2GB of memory would still run like an absolute piece of shit compared to a GTX 295, \*even if the latter was crippled to only have 512MB of total RAM. \* Thanks for the education, although I’ll have to research the meaning and function of a few of the above terms. [QUOTE=YamatoTwinkie] Videocard manufactures routinely take advantage of this misconception and release crappy cards advertised with “1 GB RAM!”, because your typical consumer is just looking for the biggest number on the box. [/QUOTE] With almost any aspect of a GPU, it’s pretty much “a number on a box” and, generally, the bigger the number the better the performance. It’s not just the manufacturers of crappy GPU’s that promote RAM above all other aspects, the big corps (ATI and nVidia) also do it (at least in their packaging—which is pretty much the only thing most consumers will see). Why then, do the manufacturers of quality GPUs choose to promote an inferior, less important aspect of performance? It seems to me they would generate more sales by marketing the more important aspects such as the ones you list above. ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geforce-gtx-295-finally-ill-be-able-to-play-gta-iv-or-will-i/497241/22 "2009-05-26T18:09:25Z")
> [@Mince](#): > > Thanks for the education, although I’ll have to research the meaning and function of a few of the above terms. To tell you the truth, I don’t know what half that stuff does either 😉 > [@Mince](#): > > It’s not just the manufacturers of crappy GPU’s that promote RAM above all other aspects, the big corps (ATI and nVidia) also do it (at least in their packaging—which is pretty much the only thing most consumers will see). Why then, do the manufacturers of quality GPUs choose to promote an inferior, less important aspect of performance? It seems to me they would generate more sales by marketing the more important aspects such as the ones you list above. I may be wrong, but I believe the main reasons why GPU RAM is so heavily advertised are that: A) The general public is already familar with the importance of system RAM on their main computer. Who the heck knows what a Texture unit is, when general GPU architecture completely changes every few years or so? B)it’s one of the easiest thing to change from the GPU reference design (after a factory overclock). It’s really hard to add additional stream processors or ROPs to a card without a complete redesign, but slap another 512MB of memory on there? Easy. So the higher-end versions of the same cards start getting more memory (with good reason, as there **is** a performance difference between the two, especially as you go into higher resolutions), and advertising it on the box. The general public latches onto this, and starts associating more RAM with more performance. It doesn’t take long before the GPU marketers catch wind of this, so the manufacturers start releasing $50 cards with “1GB RAM!” and “EXTREME GRAPHICS!” because people who don’t know any better continue to buy them. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geforce-gtx-295-finally-ill-be-able-to-play-gta-iv-or-will-i/497241/23 "2009-05-26T18:42:34Z")
And people who do, don’t. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geforce-gtx-295-finally-ill-be-able-to-play-gta-iv-or-will-i/497241.md?page=1)