Does video memory matter?

[ZombieDeity]

Here's a question I have not seen addressed in the forums (though I'll admit to not having done an exhaustive search).  The video cards I want generally come in two flavors:  1 GB of video memory or 2 GB.  I have seen many posts recommending underclocking video memory to save power, so I assume memory throughput is not a consideration in mining.  But does size matter?   

[Yanz]

Are you talking about the 6950? If it is, I would get the 2GB (reference) so you can unlock shaders. If not, and the card is purely for mining (e.g. no gaming) I would save the cash and get the 1GB. More details will help.

[grue]

no

[ZombieDeity]

Are you talking about the 6950? If it is, I would get the 2GB (reference) so you can unlock shaders. If not, and the card is purely for mining (e.g. no gaming) I would save the cash and get the 1GB. More details will help.

I suppose something like unlocking shaders might be worth the extra $10-15 it costs to go with a 2 GB card, if it would help resale value (in case this whole mining thing doesn't work out).  But when used purely for mining I guess the answer is that it makes no difference, eh?

I was thinking either 6990's (best performance) or 6950's (much better performance per dollar).  Thoughts on this?

[error]

The memory doesn't really matter; the data that Bitcoin miners work on is extremely tiny.

[ZombieDeity]

The memory doesn't really matter; the data that Bitcoin miners work on is extremely tiny.

Thank you, error, for the concise answer.

[Yanz]

Are you talking about the 6950? If it is, I would get the 2GB (reference) so you can unlock shaders. If not, and the card is purely for mining (e.g. no gaming) I would save the cash and get the 1GB. More details will help.

I suppose something like unlocking shaders might be worth the extra $10-15 it costs to go with a 2 GB card, if it would help resale value (in case this whole mining thing doesn't work out).  But when used purely for mining I guess the answer is that it makes no difference, eh?

I was thinking either 6990's (best performance) or 6950's (much better performance per dollar).  Thoughts on this?

Well unlocking shaders gives you more cores (1536 vs 1408) more cores = more hashes
I have a MSI 6950 unlocked shader and overclocked to 960 and get's about 410 MH/s. Now only if I could get it to run with my 5970 instead of sitting on my desk...

Be sure to get a reference card if you want to unlock.

[ZombieDeity]

Excellent, Yanz!  Thanks for the info!  For the time being, I think I've decided to wait for some 6990s to come in stock.  I hope I'm not waiting too long.

[bcpokey]

Just a note, 6990s have terrible MHash/$ ratio, and the more time passes the higher the difficulty gets, making time to ROI get longer and longer.

[error]

Just a note, 6990s have terrible MHash/$ ratio, and the more time passes the higher the difficulty gets, making time to ROI get longer and longer.

Yes, but they have a great MHash/watt ratio. Which is important if you plan to be mining long-term and you pay for your own electricity.

[BitCheddar]

FYI - depending on the card, some 6950 1GB can have their shaders unlocked.