Well what it really comes down to is how long you're gonna stay with
card.
You are correct that there is not much of a difference in the tests,
and it is still 100 bucks more. But what I do when i buy a video
card is stay with it for a period of 1-3 years. So if you ask me, i would
buy the 256mb version, so when max payne 2 comes out, half life 2, doom 3, deus ex 2, and what not, you'll still be fine.

Then again, if you will upgrade again soon (which i would find a stupid idea, cuz i mean, why keep upgrading your whole life man!) then go for the 128mb version.

Hope that helped out a bit

Laterzz

Yngwie II

I go with YngwieII.

Games keep getting better and bigger! Also we endusers get more demanding on imagequality. This requires more and more memory for storing textures and stuff. When videomemory gets full system memory is used (or even disk in worse case scenarios). System memory is cheaper then videomemory but videomemory is faster and has a much higher memorybandwidth (even with todays AGP 8x for system memory bandwidth). So textures and stuff are better stored in videomemory then in system memory. You can't just upgrade your videomemory so you better be sure to buy a videocard with enough memory.

When you are a demanding gameplayer and you want to get the most out of your card over its lifespan then I highly recommend the 256 MB card. Certainly now DoomIII and stuff are hitting the markets soon!!!

No current game uses more than 64mb for textures. Doom 3 and HL 2 will use 128mb at max. 256MB is a waste for current and upcoming games for next year. 256MB is good for CAD and 3D studio max stuff etc. Surely useless for actual games.

agreed with above, you have your choice in:

budget (do i have the dough for it?)
usage (am i really gonna use this much power?)
upgrades (do i want something that will last me long?)

basically if you have the money to dish out go for 256, even though you wont be using it for a long time, the MBs extra only helps in FSAA (max resolutions/playing games maxed out) other than that there isnt really much of a difference

or you can keep yourself 100$ and still have one of the best performing cards of the future

also when 256mb type games come out, there will be higher-end cards that will come out that will be even faster, so really 256 as Zorro said are only good for texturing/imaging/modeling programs

other than that 128 (save cash? :roll: ) 256 (all to brag )

if it was me .. i would go for 128 Mb ram Card and get some nice $ 100 upgrade for my *sweet* Rig .

The 256MB version is too expensive for nearly no improvements
The 256Mb version uses DDR-2 memory and this memory gets really hot - for OC-experiments additional cooling might be required

No current game uses more than 64mb for textures. Doom 3 and HL 2 will use 128mb at max. 256MB is a waste for current and upcoming games for next year. 256MB is good for CAD and 3D studio max stuff etc. Surely useless for actual games.

The amount of memory textures take up varies massively, depending on how many textures are actually needed at once, and what resolution they are, and what colour depth they are (they don't have to have the same bit depth as the final display), and whether they're compressed or not in the card's memory. Features such as environment maps, light maps, bump maps, and detail textures can all raise memory requirements significantly. With games becoming more life-like, pumping more polygons and using richer textures which all need to be stored in memory, there definitely is a need for a lot of video memory.

(Nice cut and paste job isn't it? (Several articles combined))

In other words the the amount of memory used by basic textures might be 64/128 MB but all detail and quality settings you enable have to be applied over the 64/128 MB textures and require a lot of memory also.

But to be honest... I think a 128Mb card will do the job fine also! :)

Saving the 100 bucks for future computer upgrades will be a better option IMHO.

NO Game is gonna USe it so NO, it is a SALES pitch !! Do NOT get a 256MB :|

Dont get 256Mb, games already have trouble using 128Mb :P