GeForce GT 440 - 3GB probably cheap

[GUIGuy]

Don't know if anyone saw this but:
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=26984

why are Nvidia offering low/mid end cards with large amounts of RAM while the higher end cards stick with lower amounts? The GPU in this isn't very powerful relative to high end cards so what use could it make of 3GB? Still 3 or 4 of these might be the way to go if you have a large scene and it won't fit on a GTX480/580

[matej]

So, you'll be able to load all the textures in hi-res for your latest shoot 'em up, but the game will run at 10 fps on that card.... This is so dumb.

[GR1F1TH]

that seems really pointless. at 144 cores even a 7 slot pcie mobo wouldn't equate to squat and the mobo probably couldn't support the power to all seven cards.... 1008 cores total.

[thwak]

Well on paper at least, it sounds perfect for Octane. Lots of overhead for high-res textures/HDRI.

VRAM > Rendering Speed

But then again, that is easier for me to say than most of the youngsters on this forum as I have been using CPU-based renderers for the past 20 years.

[Meta]

Well as I have seen on one or two quick reviews, I agree saying the cards Nvidia launches and does not advertise or announce are dedicated to those who actually do not know what they buy...

If you don't quite know the difference between Mhz and Mb then this card may sound great to you... Also the price of memory chips permits them to do so, adding loads of memory without actually increasing the price of the card !

[thwak]

For anyone interested, there is a 3GB version of this card up on eBay right now:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0667695685

Might be a cheap way to get a 3GB card for Octane...

[roeland]

With only 96 CUDA cores rendering will probably be quite slow, I would definitely recommend a faster card.

--
Roeland

[thwak]

With only 96 CUDA cores rendering will probably be quite slow, I would definitely recommend a faster card.

Actually, according to NVIDIA the card has 144 cores:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product-ge ... em-us.html

But, yes, this card would be for those with a little patience (which seems quite lacking around here - everyone has to have their renders done in ten seconds or less or they aren't happy) and who favor getting more textures and complex geometry into a scene than outright rendering speed.

[roeland]

Actually, according to NVIDIA the card has 144 cores:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product-ge ... em-us.html

I think the version you can buy separately is this one (you referred to a version for OEM manufacturers):
http://www.nvidia.com/object/product-ge ... 40-us.html

[thwak]

I think the version you can buy separately is this one (you referred to a version for OEM manufacturers):
http://www.nvidia.com/object/product-ge ... 40-us.html

I see where the confusion is.

The one you referenced above only comes with a max of 1GB. Not worth whatever price they would charge for it. Not good for Octane at any level.

The OEM ones come in either 1.5GB or 3GB. Those are the ones the OP was referring to.