Quote from: calico on January 03, 2008, 09:54:11 AM
Since the card and the RAM probably share some manner of the same work during processing, I'd think there might be some help with a good video card. Please let us know what's true, Oshyan.
I don't really understand what you mean. The graphics card and RAM (assuming you mean main system RAM) do very different tasks. A graphics card computes and processes graphical effects to create visual output - it is fairly specific in its function. RAM is a much more general storage system for high-speed access. It differs from the hard drive, your primary storage, really in only 2 ways, one of which is just a byproduct of current technology. First, RAM is much faster than a hard drive - this is the main reason it even exists separate from primary storage. Second it is volatile, meaning you must constantly supply power to it or the data will disappear. If we could create higher-speed non-volatile storage we probably would. In an ideal world all storage could be unified, but our current technology doesn't allow that.
Some graphics cards *use* main system RAM as part of their operation, but this takes *away* available memory from the system. So they're not at all performing similar functions.
TG2 uses RAM like any other program to store its working data. Because TG2 works on very complex graphics tasks its memory usage can be quite high. TG2 does not use graphics card functions for rendering and so a faster graphics card doesn't have any impact on render time. Other areas of TG2, basically the User Interface, do use *basic* graphics card functions and so they may be faster with a better graphics card, but in most cases you're unlikely to notice. The 3D preview depends on the same rendering system as the main renderer so it will *not* be made faster with a better graphics card.
- Oshyan