Graphics Cards: speed vs memory

[harrytewkesbury]

I was trawling through the vast swathes of jungle that is the graphics card listings, and was wondering whether it was preferabke to get a new card with more memory, or a higher model. To put it in to context, would i be better off with a less expensive card with 128MB memory, or a card similarly priced with 256MB but higher speeds? Im a budget gamer, but am looking at a potential (ie future) system with 2.5GHZ CPU with i think 384MB RAM.

 

[Elbatrop1]

It seems that getting a 'faster' card is better than a slower one with more memory. The ATi Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB for example benchmarks higher than the 9800 Pro 256MB.

 

[harrytewkesbury]

thats fair enough, but with certain games (ie HL2) which are increasingly moving away from any texture re-usage, would it not become necessary to have larger amounts of memory just to deal with all those textures?

 

[Elbatrop1]

You do have a point there. Have a look at www.tomshardware.com and see the VGA Charts for benchmarks.

 

[ShoobieRat]

There is no jungle.

There is one card.

It is the geforce 6800GT.

All hail the geforce 6800GT.

So sayeth the GT.

 

[beedubaya]

ALL HAIL THE GeForce 6800GT! I've never actually played with one of these cards. How much more awesome is it than a 9800 Pro or X800 Pro experience?

 

[harrytewkesbury]

screw the performance! Those things cost more than the budget of certain African republics!!!

 

[beedubaya]

screw the performance! Those things cost more than the budget of certain African republics!!!

If you have the money, its more than worth it. Imagine Doom 3 running as silky smooth as Quake 3 does on a GeForce FX card, plus being able to turn the AA and AF all the way up. I have to say, from what i've heard, a 6800GT is definately worth getting.

 

[Leonidas]

guy in the newegg review says his runs quake 2 at 2200 fps, now thats silky smooth now imagine in 4 years graphics cards will be running doom 3 at 1000+ fps...

 

[harrytewkesbury]

lol. i remember my absolute amazement when i transferred my copy of Unreal Tournament from a 500MHZ laptop to a new (then) 1GHZ desktop... i was in shock! if i can recreate that feeling when i upgrade next, i will feel i have made a good investment.