64MB vs. 128MB graphics cards, worth it?

[Gunnar]

I am considering upgrading the old Matrox G400Max, its served me well, but Warcraft III is definitely pushing its limits. So I was thinking of picking up an ATI Radeon 8500LE, but I wasnt sure if I should buy a 64MB or a 128MB version of either card. Is the extra 64MB boosting the card by a significant margin? The only game I play is warcraft, nothing else, maybe Ill download a demo of Doom3, but thats it.

I guess you could say I am a value gamer, $100 is my sweet spot, but I would rather spend now than regret later.

One other thing, are ATI OEM cards clocked lower than the retail parts? How do ATI cards do in overclocked environments (the G400 was awesome, it ran at EVERYTHING!)?

And I will never buy anything from Nvidia. If only the parhelia were cheaper.......

 

[kingbob]

The Radeon 8500 retail 64mb and 128mb are both clocked at 275/275. The Radeon 8500 LELE is clocked at 230/230 (I think), and the Radeon 8500 LE 64mb and 128mb are both clocked at 250/250. From what I hear the LELE and LE can both be succesfully flashed to retail speeds running fine. I have a retail 64mb card and have it running at 296/296, and with additional cooling I'm hoping to make it faser. Hope this helps.

 

[Gunnar]

From the ATI faq, it doesnt sound like the 8500LE and 8500 are clocked differently:

Q16: What are the differences between a RADEON? 8500 (128MB DDR) and a RADEON? 8500LE (128MB DDR)?

A16: The main differences between the RADEON? 8500 (128MB DDR) and the RADEON? 8500LE (128MB DDR) are following:
RADEON? 8500LE : VGA and video output Suggested Retail Price - $199.00 U.S.D.
RADEON? 8500: VGA, DVI-I and video output Suggested Retail Price - $299.00 U.S.D.

However, I am suspicious that the OEM boards sold outside of retail packages do have lower clocked frequencies.

 

[kingbob]

Did you read my post at all? They ARE clocked differently. You can buy a 8500 LE retail or a 8500 retail. Now why would they be clocked the same? Why would you spend another 100 dollars for a DVI output?

 

[Gunnar]

whoops your right, I guess the ATI faq is a little misleading.....

 

[lung]

In answer to your original question about 64MB vs 128MB, I would say that if you can afford it, go for the 128MB version. Games are only going to get more and more memory hungry as textures get bigger and more numerous. The 64MB would be fine for now, but in the future, you would probably see performance drop off as more and more textures are being shunted into the system ram as opposed to staying in the video ram where they should be.

My main credo in life is to buy the absolute best that I can afford at the time. That way it will more than likely have the longest lifespan. If you buy something that is only adequate now, it will be less than adequate alot sooner than if you were to buy something that is beyond what is required right now.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: lung
In answer to your original question about 64MB vs 128MB, I would say that if you can afford it, go for the 128MB version. Games are only going to get more and more memory hungry as textures get bigger and more numerous.

Agreed; Doom III will routinely require 80MB.

 

[Gunnar]

Hmm, its a difficult decision when the 64MB 8500 consistently bests the 8500LE 128MB, I was checking a review including the two.

I have a passing interest in Doom3 (I just want to see if it can actually scare me), but warcraft is the only game I have ever played on the PC.

 

[DrZone]

The 8500LE is an easy overclock to the stock speeds of the standard 8500. I've read that many people are getting even higher overclock speeds with the 8500LE.

If you are worried about o/c, u can always investigate the 8500 128MB OEM card.