Which is more important in a GPU; More memory, or faster processor?

[rtchal]

I am going to be building my PC soon, but I cannot decide on which GPU I want. I am currently debating on either 2 660 ti's with 3GB GDDR5 each, or 2 760's with 2GB GDDR5 each.
Any suggestions?

[Zένø™ 👌]

faster speed is the most important,you can have a 5gb card but its useless if its slow.Oh and about that comparison,if you would post detailed specs,yea,that would be great,unless the only difference between them is the amount of memory.

[Rove]

You can share system memory (RAM) to the GPU so within reason the GPU speed is more important than the amount of memory. For example a 4GB HD 6570 is MUCH worse than a 3GB HD 7970.

For example I have a HD 6950 2GB + 16GB of system RAM. At least I did but my RAM is out for replacement so I will again when the new stuff arrives.

Having the more powerful GPU is more important as long as your machine has enough RAM. If you do not have enough RAM to share to it then you should either upgrade RAM or get a GPU with more RAM built on rather than less.

[roguekiller23231]

this will depend on what resolution and what games your going to be playing.

Games use the graphics card ram for the textures and other graphical things ingame, if you have 1 monitor or a small monitor, you wont use much video RAM because you dont need that much detailed textures to be preloaded into the memory.

if your going for a few monitors or 1 large high resolution monitor, and your wanting to play new games on the highest graphics settings you will need more video ram to load up all the higher resolution textures.

i haven't come accross any games that require more than 2GB of graphics memory on the highest settings, but maybe with games like GTA V coming out they might need the huge amounts of graphics ram for the higher resolutions.

[T3CHSK4T3R]

but if you use mods, downsampling, sgssaa, multi display setup, ... it might be more...i used 3,3 gb of ram sometimes ^^ at last 2gb is fine in the most "normal" cases and if you got more like 3, 4 or 6gb it must be an very fast card because all other is just marketing to räääpe your wallet...

[rtchal]

I use 2 1920x1200 monitors.
Here are the two cards:
ASUS 660 ti:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121767
ASUS 760:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121775

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Originally posted by rtchal:

I use 2 1920x1200 monitors.
Here are the two cards:
ASUS 660 ti:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121767
ASUS 760:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121775

Why mess with SLI.
Get one 4 GB GTX 770, plenty for 2 monitors or even 3.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130945

[PowerHaus930]

Also remember that while using SLI it only uses the maximum amount of VRAM of one card not the total of both. So if you had two 3GB cards your effective VRAM would still be 3GB. At least this is what I have read in numerous other posts.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by Rumpelcrutchskin:

Originally posted by rtchal:

I use 2 1920x1200 monitors.
Here are the two cards:
ASUS 660 ti:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121767
ASUS 760:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121775

Why mess with SLI.
Get one 4 GB GTX 770, plenty for 2 monitors or even 3.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130945

^This

You can easily run up to 4 displays on a single GTX 770 4GB (3 screens in surround gaming + a 4th for Windows Desktop)

Plenty of power and VRAM to run games across 3 displays without the need for SLI. Sure you could do SLI, but again if u do, that is also another reason why you would want to use GPUs with higher VRAM amounts, due it being shared under SLI mode.

[{AMI}SirMisAlot]

Originally posted by MA☝Omgwtfbbqstfu™:

Originally posted by Rove:

You can share system memory (RAM) to the GPU so within reason the GPU speed is more important than the amount of memory. For example a 4GB HD 6570 is MUCH worse than a 3GB HD 7970.

For example I have a HD 6950 2GB + 16GB of system RAM. At least I did but my RAM is out for replacement so I will again when the new stuff arrives.

Having the more powerful GPU is more important as long as your machine has enough RAM. If you do not have enough RAM to share to it then you should either upgrade RAM or get a GPU with more RAM built on rather than less.

Err, desktop gpu's don't use system ram for textures or buffer.

Ram has little to do with what gpu you need to get.The cpu simply needs to be fast enough to feed the gpu adequately or theres no point. Of course you need enough ram to run a game but a budget system with 8gb ram and a high end one with 8gb aren't going to run a game any different, the extra rams for multitasking and desktop apps.

Anyways go to a site like pcper.com and just look at reviews.

Many cheap cards have a ton of ram on them for the box numbers. You will see this all the time on the cheapest cards with 1-2gb of ddr2-3, doesn't matter if the card can only run games at 15fps, the rams just there for show.

someone in the know.if it is not intergrated video.The Ram Mem has no Real Value except as stated above

[100% Recycled Awesome]

Originally posted by SirMisAlot@:

^This

You can easily run up to 4 displays on a single GTX 770 4GB (3 screens in surround gaming + a 4th for Windows Desktop)

Plenty of power and VRAM to run games across 3 displays without the need for SLI. Sure you could do SLI, but again if u do, that is also another reason why you would want to use GPUs with higher VRAM amounts, due it being shared under SLI mode.

Why would you get two 192 bit cards over a single 256 bit card when that single card has a higher clock speed and has 4 gigs of accessible ram vs 2 gigs in SLI? I don't see a single reason (outside of saving a little bit of money) to get dual 660s over a single 770.

he might see some minor performance gains on the dual 760s vs the 770s, but it is worth the extra $100 and power consumption of a second card? And let's not forget that SLI has been causing all sorts of problems in new games recently.

[Gianni]

I say go with a nice gtx 770 from evga with the acx cooling or from msi i recomend those or you can choose what manufcter u like better and i would get one powerfull card over two weaker ones