video card pixel pipeline

[epod69]

Hi, everyone.
I manage a computer store and custom build pc's.
We are developing a site where you can custom build
a pc online, and I just have some questions reguarding
video cards.
Back in the day, you usually looked at how much MB a video
card had, and seeing now that most the 6 and 7 thousand series GeForce video cards are all 256 MBs, there has to be something to compare one card from another. I am wanting to keep the
comparisons as simple as possible. I was thinking about
listing the memory bandwidth of each card for a simple way to compare each card. When talking to a distributor of mine, he
said that pixel pipeline is what most people look for, and from doing some research, I am getting confused on the difference between pixel pipeline and memory bandwidth.

Is there a difference between the two? (pixel pipeline and memory bandwidth). If so, could someone explain?

Thanks everyone for the help!

 

[paparazi]

It's a lot more complicated than that, pixel pipelines are just one statistic amongst many that go towards a cards overal performance.

The most comprehensive selling tool that I know of is Toms Hardwares VGA charts.
These charts not only list each cards feature list (pixel pipelines being one of them) but more importantly than that they give many a varied bar and graph chart showing just where each card is in comparrison.

It just doesn't get any more comprehensive than this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/12/02/vga_charts_viii/

I have a feeling it won't be long before spring update is released.
Martin



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[epod69]

Thanks for the post paparazi.
I was looking for something basic to compare between the
cards, I didnt want to point out the core and memory clock and the whole nine yards, I didnt want to confuse people and get a whole bunch of calls about what everything means, thats why I thought if I just put what type of memory the card uses and what the pixel pipeline is, then that should be a basic understanding of how the card compares to others.
Sorry for asking this again, but I am still wondering what the difference between pipeline and memory bandwidth is.

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[paparazi]

Like I say, if only it were that simple.

OK, my recommendation: although not foolproof, would be to print off the 3D Benchmark Chart only, at least this gives a reasonably accurate compilation of a graphics cards in game performance.

Charts showing just memory type and pixle pipelines would not necessarily be that accurate.

Just think about the Athlon64 versa's Intel P4 debarckle.
For instance:
On paper a high end Intel 660 3.6Ghz CPU with 2meg of L2 Cache clearly looks more impressive than an AMD FX57 that only runs at 2.8Ghz and has a measly 1meg L2 Cache.

Personally I think you would be misleading your customers and selling them short if you based choice on such inadiquate information.
Martin




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[epod69]

Thanks for the input again.
I do understand where you are coming from. One thing to add though, I am not going to be measuring the stats against other companys like ATI, I will only be doing NVIDIA cards, because of the SLI board and personal opinion and reviews. So I guess I could say I am not exactly comparing apples to oranges like the AMD 3200+ to the Intel 3.2 GHz processor, more like the 3200+ to the 3500+. Thats why I wasnt looking at it of being much of a problem because how are you going to argue that the GF 6600 is better then the 6800, although just because the 6800GT has double the memory bandwidth then the 6600GT, that doesnt mean double the frame rate!

Here is an example a machine a customer can order online and here would be the available video card options:
6200TC
6600GT
6800GT
7800GTX
The card options would be in something like a combobox, and I wanted a quick description of each card option they can choose. In the media pc, you can stay with the onboard gf 6150, I cant find any bench tests of that card along the side of the other cards.

Now being all just GF cards, what would be the few stats someone would look at?

 

[paparazi]

GPU type and clock
Number of Pixle pipelines
Model shader version
Direct X version
Memory type, clock speed and amount attached
Video In Video Out
HDD ready
Type of connections, VGA, DVI, SVideo, ViVo
SLI compatible
Active or passive fan (for silent PC) useful in media centre
etc Martin




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