Riva TNT Onboard Ram

[Jeremy_N]

What advantage would a 16 meg Riva TNT chipset board have over an 8 meg apart from the screen res? I just need something fast to go with my 400 Celery.

The TNT board I am looking at is the Diamond Viper V550. The 16 meg version is nearly twice as expensive as the 8 meg. But is the price really worth it? My Philips 105S monitor only handles up to 1024x768 anyway. Perfect image though.



[This message has been edited by Jeremy_N (edited 03-03-99).]

[parker32]

In a word; speed. Not unlike motherboard, increased ram equals increased performance. I have not ever seen a TNT based card with 8 meg. Where is such an animal available?

[MadCat]

You can get the 8 meg ones only through OEMs.
I think I know why youre seeing this price incosistency: The 16mb v550 comes with a TV-out...the 8mb doesnt. They charge you through the nose for that.

I dont know where you get your prices, but you ought to shop back around once more at pricewatch. You can get a 16mb Creative Labs ot STB card w/o TV-out for less then $90. If you dont need TV-out dont insist on Diamond, many people do for no good reason. The CL is just as good, perhaps better because they make excellent drivers.

[Jeremy_N]

Yes the 8 meg is an OEM. Isn't it possible that the 8 meg TNT may have extra spaces for SDRAM upgrades? If this is true then I could get more ram when it gets cheaper. That is if they still make video cards with upgrade slots. If you are aware of any features like this on the Viper V550 I would be very greatful for some feedback.

About the TV out, I don't really need it and from all the reveiws I've seen the TV out performs like s#!t anyway. That is if your lucky enough to get it to work.

Since I'm in New Zealand the prices are most probably different. Sorry I'm not sure of the exchange rates at the moment but this is from the price list in NZ Currency:

Viper V550 8 meg: $207.00 (tax inclusive)
Viper V550 16 meg: $347.00 (tax inclusive)

Please note these are both OEM's. Parker32 is probably right about the extra performance with more ram. Any objections?

[Avatar]

Depending on the OEM and how cheap they wanted to make it, they may be spaces for the "extra" 8MB. However, they will be spaces for the chips, not for a DIMM. So, if you don't know how to solder and/or have no idea where you can get raw SDRAM chips, you're kind of stuck with the 8MB. Chances are, the local computer shop will thing you're insane if you ask them to do it.