Today ATI's board vendors release a new board configuration: Radeon X800 XL 512MB. Beyond3D takes a look at Sapphire's version of the board, the Hybrid Radeon X800 XL 512MB, and we test to see where, if any, the extra 512MB of RAM can be of benefit.
Beyond3D also asked a few developers on their opinions of the inclusion of 512MB of RAM on the graphics board, whether it will be of any use to them and whether newer forms of texture compression might be beneficial instead of just increasing the quantity of RAM on the board.
Tim Sweeney, Epic Games: "Obviously, more memory is good! Memory and raw performance bring different benefits to games. More memory enables us to use higher-resolution content in games. More raw performance (mainly, ALU throughput) enables us to render high-res scenes with more lights, shadows, and translucency. We'll be happy to take both!" Sapphire Hybrid Radeon X800 XL 512MB Review
Beyond3D also asked a few developers on their opinions of the inclusion of 512MB of RAM on the graphics board, whether it will be of any use to them and whether newer forms of texture compression might be beneficial instead of just increasing the quantity of RAM on the board.
Tim Sweeney, Epic Games: "Obviously, more memory is good! Memory and raw performance bring different benefits to games. More memory enables us to use higher-resolution content in games. More raw performance (mainly, ALU throughput) enables us to render high-res scenes with more lights, shadows, and translucency. We'll be happy to take both!" Sapphire Hybrid Radeon X800 XL 512MB Review
