Is 128 mb Vram on Nvidia 8600GT enough?

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Is 128 mb Vram on Nvidia 8600GT enough?

Hello, I want to buy a used macbook pro but it has only 128 mb of memory on the Nvidia 8600GT.

I'm wondering if that will be enough?

I work in video editing, with fcp and HDV. Sometimes some graphical stuff with photoshop. Nothing with 3D animation or something like that.

Right now I work on an Imac with a ati x1600 with 256 mb vram.

Can someone give some advice?

Cheers,
Karel.

imac 4,1, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Jan 10, 2009 6:37 AM

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Answer 1

AMMOCAN

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Jan 10, 2009 3:47 PM in response to kareldc2

Good afternoon kareldc2,

What is your intent use of this MacBook Pro? If you think you will be using it enough to consider it as your primary video editing machine then no 128 MB of VRAM is not enough, but if you will just be using it occasionally then you should be fine. The reason I say this is because VRAM is just as important to the graphic card, as is memory RAM to the CPU. The amount of VRAM you have is a determining factor in the quality of resolution and color depth you will have on your display. The more VRAM you have means that you will be able to hold more graphics-specific information such as 3-D geometry data and texture maps. Also, the more VRAM you have the faster you will be able to produce graphic related work and applications.
You will definitely see a difference in productivity between your IMac graphics card and the MacBook Pro graphics card, which you are thinking of purchasing. The bottom line is, you must be able to justify your purchase with your current needs and your future needs, as you don't want to purchase something that your software or current usage will out grow. I hope the information I gave you helped you out.

AMMOCAN

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Answer 2

kareldc2 Author

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Jan 11, 2009 2:19 AM in response to AMMOCAN

Hello Ammocan,

I will use it as my primary editing machine, maybe put a 7200 rpm drive in there. The idea is that when I'm editing I will attach a large 22"-24" display to use for FCP and turn the laptop monitor into a video monitor.

I've heard about people using G4 powerbooks to do the same with only 32 mb Vram. I've also read some stuff on the net that states that the amount of memory on the current video boards is ridiculously high if you are only into 2D graphics. And that in theory 256 mb of Vram is enough to drive 5 30" displays...

There's still a Nvidia quadro4 sitting in my old pc that back in the day cost me 350$. And I'm pretty sure I've never used the full potential of that card.

Thanks for the advice!

I'll put down some references:

http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/imaccoreduo/topic3870.html
http://www.ehmac.ca/anything-mac/46457-video-editors-128mb-video-ram-enough.html

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Answer 3

AMMOCAN

Level 1

140 points

Jan 11, 2009 10:12 AM in response to kareldc2

Good morning Karel,

I appreciate you replying back even if it was a little sarcastic. I mean if you already knew the answer to your question or just wanted someone to reassure you on the answer you were wanting, then you shouldn't have asked the question to begin with. I feel I gave you a very helpful and unbiased answer to your question, and then you come back and reply with something that I felt was sarcastic. I will be the first to admit that I'm no computer expert, but I make it a habit to not talk about something that I don't know anything about. In your case, I felt I knew enough from my experience with working with graphic design applications, animation, video, and gaming to give you some helpful advice. I would like you to go to this link ( http://www.yougamers.com/articles/13801video_ram_-_how_much_do_you_reallyneed/) and read this article, which has very useful information that I hope will give you a different perspective to the VRAM information you had linked to your previous reply. Thank you.

AMMOCAN

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