192 Bit Problems???

[Butch]

I've seen in a couple of posts that there is a problem with the 192 bit cards from NVIDIA. Could someone explain or point me to an article?

Thanks,
Butch

[Pehu]

The 'problem' is likely that those cards perform noticeably worse than their 256-bit counterparts. That does not automatically mean that the performance is crap. As an example the GTX 460 came first out as a 1GB version (with a 256-bit memory bus) and a 768MB version (with a 192-bit memory bus). Both were excellent cards when they came out, although (us?) technofreaks gave a hard time for the loser, which obviously was the 768MB version.

[Activate: AMD]

The 'problem' is likely that those cards perform noticeably worse than their 256-bit counterparts. That does not automatically mean that the performance is crap. As an example the GTX 460 came first out as a 1GB version (with a 256-bit memory bus) and a 768MB version (with a 192-bit memory bus). Both were excellent cards when they came out, although (us?) technofreaks gave a hard time for the loser, which obviously was the 768MB version.

Actually its more than this. It used to be easy.. the 1GB version was a noticeably better performer than the 768 version with its 256 vs 192bit bus, (though the 768 wasn't awful at launch) so you could say: get the 1GB version, its better. Now the partners are selling 1GB versions that only have the 192-bit bus. When you look at newegg now you see a whole bunch of GTX 460 1GB's but these are not the equals of the original 256-bit model and it would be fairly easy for a less tech-savvy person to make the mistake of buying a neutered card. Its the classic crap that both GPU makers pull towards the end of a product line's life... dump old stock by disabling features to lower cost and trick people into thinking they're buying yesterday's quality card at a low price, when really they're buying something entirely different.

Rules to live by: do extra homework when a product line is approaching EOL and always AVOID any GPU that ends in "SE" (aka SLOW EDITION)