8800GTS 640mb or 320mb

[madantt]

i been looking around at the 8800GTS cards for weeks now and i jsut dont know what one to buy with the prices the way they are a xfx xxx 8800GTS 320mb is only a bit off a stock 640mb msi or POV so i been looking around at a lot of prices but not to sure how big of a difference there is i was thinking maybe of getting a 320mb stock and overclocking it or jsut buying a stock 640mb i do think that the xfx xxx is over prices but i im confused about specs and what would be the best value for money and info or help would be great

 

[madantt]

also i been looking at these PALIT 8800GTS 320MB does anyone know if there a good brand or not i never heard of them and i could get one or them cards for $400 AUD 322.559 USD

 

[KutterMax]

It depends on what resolutions you are running. At higher resolutions such as 1600x1200 and above, the 640MB starts to show its advantage. At lower resolutions you are probably fine with the 320MB card.

 

[madantt]

well im only going to be running a 19inch Widescreen LCD its its not going to be really high resolutions

 

[happy medium]

get the 320mb version for a 19 inch monitor.

 

[userman]

What games are you going to be playing?

 

[sep]

madantt, sorry to add to your thread, but it's a good topic. What about games at 1600x only?

 

[Job]

Im looking in to the same thing - I'll be at 1600x1050 but my main two games at the moment are oblivion and stalker, and I have to drop the res down to below 1280x720 to get playable rates outdoors - at 1650x1080 will the extra 320MB of GDDR allow me to add in AA? Or is the extra MB ONLY useful for higher resolutions?

 

[butch84]

I think you might mean 1680x1050? I'm in the same boat - I'd like a card that can handle that res with the all the eye candy enabled, but the 640mb gts is a little pricey. I'm hoping something like the 8600 Ultra will fit the bill.

 

[swtethan]

the extra 320 is for aa+af and textures


i went with the 640

 

[PingSpike]

I went with the 640mb myself.

Head on over to firingsquad, they have a performance comparison for stalker...they didn't show the 640mb in this article (apparently its coming for part 2) but the 8800gts 320mb pretty much blew away all other cards in the comparison.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Originally posted by: madantt
well im only going to be running a 19inch Widescreen LCD its its not going to be really high resolutions

That may be the case this year, but what about the life-time that you plan on keeping this video card? Remember that we have also yet to see what a DX10 game will really use in terms of memory, so try and keep that in mind. For DX9, you will be fine at your current resolution with a 320mb, but in 4-6 months when the first DX10 games start popping up, we really don't know what their memory usage will be.

 

[KutterMax]

At 1600x and above I would recommend going with the 640MB.

There are some pretty good deals on the 8800GTS 640MB. Newegg has the Leadtek on for $334.99 after a $35.00 rebate and the EVGA version is only $10 more.

 

[5150Joker]

Originally posted by: Fallen Kell

Originally posted by: madantt
well im only going to be running a 19inch Widescreen LCD its its not going to be really high resolutions

That may be the case this year, but what about the life-time that you plan on keeping this video card? Remember that we have also yet to see what a DX10 game will really use in terms of memory, so try and keep that in mind. For DX9, you will be fine at your current resolution with a 320mb, but in 4-6 months when the first DX10 games start popping up, we really don't know what their memory usage will be.

Yep definitely go for the 640MB version. I was originally going to order the 320 MB version since it's about $50 cheaper but after reading some reviews online, I noticed that it would absolutely choke at higher resolutions with AA enabled. This was particularly evident in games like BF2 and BF2142.

 

[sep]

Yeah, the 320mb version just isn't worth it. I'll save for the 640mb. ; )

 

[BFG10K]

Get the 640 MB version as it'll do better with AA and also with future games.

 

[TanisHalfElven]

at 1280x1028 i have oblivion maxed out. even the large textures. and with 8xCSAA my memory usage remains below 308 most of the time. only time i've had trouble with memory is when i've enabled supersampling transparency AA.

ps. i use a lot of mods. that put even more graphical burden on the card.

 

[Zardnok]

I had to make the choice and spent the extra $90 for the 640. The difference is in eye-candy.

As for which brand, try to get an EVGA or BFG card if possible.