256 bit VRAM looks to be the way of the future and it looks like all video cards will enjoy a tremendous jump in performance, much like we saw when we went from SDR to DDR.
With such a strong memory bandwidth I'd expect the R300 to do incredibly well even if ATi's initial drivers turn out to be rather lackluster. Of course the NV30 is likely to have 256 bit memory too so we might see the same situation as the Ti500 vs the 8500 - the 8500 being the more powerful unit on paper but taking half a year for its drivers to mature and release more of the card's potential.
In any case I think that ATi have learned from both the initial Radeon and initial 8500 driver releases and will put on a better show for us this time around.
This year will be very interesting indeed for video card connoisseurs like us because we'll be spoilt for choice (Parhelia, NV30, R300 and P10) plus all of those cards will likely offer monstrous performance levels. 🙂
