DDR3 vs. GDDR5 on a laptop

[Leicht]

Just a simple question though, which one is better for a laptop and why?
(Both of them are 2 different laptops)

NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M with 2GB/4GB DDR3 VRAM​

vs.

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5​

Thank you

 

[djinline]

The GDDR5 version has much more memory bandwidth = more performance and there's not too much difference between texture and pixel rates so I would choose it for gaming.

Also 1GB of VRAM is fairly enough for most laptops with a screen resolution of 1366x768 or 1600x900. 4GB of VRAM in a GT650M is a marketing trick for sure.

 

[Leicht]

The GDDR5 version has much more memory bandwidth = more performance and there's not too much difference between texture and pixel rates so I would choose it for gaming.

Also 1GB of VRAM is fairly enough for most laptops with a screen resolution of 1366x768 or 1600x900. 4GB of VRAM in a GT650M is a marketing trick for sure.

What if the laptop with the 1GB GDDR5 has to support 2880x1800 >15.4-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology< while the 2GB/4GB DDR3 only has to support >15.6" HD (1366x768)/Full HD (1920x1080)/Wide View Angle LED Backlight<.

Which one would you choose for gaming?
Why did you say 4GB VRAM is a marketing trick?

 

[djinline]

What if the laptop with the 1GB GDDR5 has to support 2880x1800 >15.4-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology< while the 2GB/4GB DDR3 only has to support >15.6" HD (1366x768)/Full HD (1920x1080)/Wide View Angle LED Backlight<.

Which one would you choose for gaming?
Why did you say 4GB VRAM is a marketing trick?

I would still choose the 1GB GDDR5, it can do some gaming @ 2880x1800, here's a review. Of course if you want more eye candy and acceptable FPS on some heavier games, you may need to drop the resolution down a bit.

It's a marketing trick because the GT 650M doesn't have enough actual raw power to take advantage of the extra VRAM, but some people only look at which GPU has the most gigabytes and think it's the best.

 

[Leicht]

I would still choose the 1GB GDDR5, it can do some gaming @ 2880x1800, here's a review. Of course if you want more eye candy and acceptable FPS on some heavier games, you may need to drop the resolution down a bit.

It's a marketing trick because the GT 650M doesn't have enough actual raw power to take advantage of the extra VRAM, but some people only look at which GPU has the most gigabytes and think it's the best.

Thank you for explaining it to me. At least now I can just show this answer to my friend who bought an new ASUS laptop and annoyingly keep on talking down on my laptop.

 

[F1GTR]

Thank you for explaining it to me. At least now I can just show this answer to my friend who bought an new ASUS laptop and annoyingly keep on talking down on my laptop.

Just ask him how he's getting on with the crappy trackpad on his ASUS while you show off a few cool gestures on the Mac.