256 0r 128mb

[Arjun]

About to buy a 9600xt, although there are no 256 mb models available at the moment ATi says it supports 256 mb architecture and it will be the job of a 3rd party to bring it into production. I'm wondering whether to wait for a 256 mb model but i've heard rumours that as of now they offer no real advantages. What will the extra 128mb of memory mean in terms of performance.

[The__tweaker]

No point with 256Mb on a card with the 9600 gpu. The extra memory could give you a little better room and smoothnes for textures in super high res gaming. Like if you use 1600x1200 32Bit and all the details maxed.

But as I mentioned that won't do any good anyway in heavy games using a 9600 gpu as it's just to slow to accelerate modern games in sutch resolutions. A 9800Pro or FX 5900 is the bare minimum gpus that could benefit from this extra memory. And even with them it is questionable by many people. :2cents:

[Wiggo]

I remember when the first 128MB cards came out and there was no difference in performance over the 64MB ones at that time so it was labelled as a waste of $'s but software got more demandin' which eventually made it so that those 128MB versions came out on top. This will likely happen again as well. The main thing is that the card can hold more info onboard without havin' to keep accessin' system memory (which is a much slower process) and battlin' the CPU (and other DMA hardware) for that bandwidth. I wouldn't bother about waitin' for a 256MB version of it though as the 3rd parties just may not take on the task of buildin' them.

[Arjun]

I'm not interested in resolutions above 1024*768. But i'm aware that games like Doom3 and Halo will push my video card even in this resolution if everything is turned up. Just suppose someone comes up with a 256mb version (after all there are 256mb fx5600 ultras),will the extra 128 mb of memory help my framerates at 1024*768 in high quality.

[Soulburner]

Why would you not be interested in resolutions over 1024x768? I never use that resolution for ANY game. Only my desktop gets that, and all games are usually either 1280x960 w/AF or 1600x1200 w/AF because its so much better.

Also the memory won't do anything for low resolutions, its when you go into high res in demanding games that its needed sometimes. Well not "needed", as any overclocked 128mb card is faster than its 256mb counterpart, but it will change in the future.