is 256 MB better than 128 Mb on the ATI 9800 pro?

[KashGarinn]

Or to rephrase that question, as I didn't want the title too long:

Is it worth it to get the 256 MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro instead of the 128 MB version?

Can anyone either give me the details why the 256 MB is better, or links I could check?

Are there games today which use more than 128 MB memory? Are there games around the corner which use more than 128 meg memory?

How much of a difference will it make?

Any replies appreciated.

K.

 

[BoomAM]

The 256mb version is slightly faster, but thats becuase its clocked slightly higher.
In FSAA/AF at higher res`s, the 256mb version will be faster.
There are no forseeable games that`ll use 256mb for a while, Doom3 for example, only uses 80mb in a average scene.
If you have the money, then go for it, go and get the 256mb, in you have enough for the 128mb version, and arnt sure wether to save up for the 256mb version, then get the 128mb version.

Ive just looked at your system, and buying a card like the 9800 with a 1.4ghz athlon is a bit of a waste.
If i was you, i`d go for a new mobo/mem/cpu and a cheaper video card, such as a 9500pro.
If your set on buying a 9800 though, then, if i was you, i`d wait till you have enough money to buy a cpu/mobo/mem and then buy the video card then, as there will probably be a better on by then.

 

[Schadenfroh]

look under anands review of the nv35, he also has a review of the 256mb 9800 pro. the performance is the same pretty much the same thruought all the tests. in short, the 256mb is pointless becuase of the extremely high price. in the future when you need 256mb, you will be able to acquire them for much cheaper.

 

[1ManArmY]

True

 

[Dulanic]

Short Answer: No
Long Answer: No it's not worth it.

 

[squidman]

256 MIGHT be useful if:

That 9800 is runing at like 500x1000mhz. IF your pc is like p4 4 gigahertz with like 2000mhz FSB with memory running at 2-2-2-2?

THe extra memory cannot be filled with data

 

[BoomAM]

If you have the money, then go for it.
Cos ppl have said the same thing when we went to 8mb,16mb,32mb,64mb,128mb, ppl have just said that the extra memory will never be used, and then low and behold, a few months later, a game with huge textures comes out, and a sizeable performance difference occurs between the old and new memory sizes.
Bottom line, if you have the money, then buy it, if you dont, then get the 128mb version.

 

[squidman]

I dont think 9800 will have the power for a game that utilizes 256 mb of its memory. 9800 is just not powerfull enough.

 

[BoomAM]

Originally posted by: squidman
I dont think 9800 will have the power for a game that utilizes 256 mb of its memory. 9800 is just not powerfull enough.

And you know this how?
Either way, it`ll be more future proof than the 128mb version in future video memory hogging games, not to mention faster.

 

[Dulanic]

Originally posted by: BoomAM
If you have the money, then go for it.
Cos ppl have said the same thing when we went to 8mb,16mb,32mb,64mb,128mb, ppl have just said that the extra memory will never be used, and then low and behold, a few months later, a game with huge textures comes out, and a sizeable performance difference occurs between the old and new memory sizes.
Bottom line, if you have the money, then buy it, if you dont, then get the 128mb version.

It's not untrue, there are very few games that use over 64MB currently. Noone is saying we WON'T see games that use over 128MB video memory... we will. However it will not be for quite some time, and by the time we do see more then 2 or 3 games using it the 9800 will be well outdatted. If you plan on keeping it for 3+ years then maybe its worth it...... but even then in that amount of time the games that will be using 128+ MB will prob be DX10 games and itll run like crap anyways.

 

[whitetiger]

i think for now..128 mb is more than enough, but if u looking for like 6 month later..then u might need to be consider 256mb, but u can get 256mb after 6 month..that way..it will be much cheaper...

 

[HaloEighty8]

I just got one of the 256M versions, and to be honest with you I can't really tell the difference!. But then I really haven't messed around with it all to much. Maybe I should've got the 5900 Ultra?! Nah, but that's Nivida.. :disgust: j/k! I dont what to start a little war here!

 

[Vonkhan]

if u have the $$$z ---OR--- want bragging rights ---OR--- dont plan on upgrading for a while

go for a 9800pro w/ 256mb

else the 128mb will be fine! there's nothing even on the far horizon that'll be remotely able to bring the 128mb to its knees yet!

 

[BFG10K]

If you can afford a 256 MB version then go for it but don't be worried if you can't as 128 MB is still good. There are games today (eg Unreal 2, UT2003) that can easily exceed 128 MB VRAM, especially when you start cranking up FSAA. Also you can't use benchmarks as your sole indicator as they're only windows into the actual gameplay and depending on what you actually benchmark, they might not show you what you need to see.

It's not untrue, there are very few games that use over 64MB currently.

Most games made in the last two years will easily crush 64 MB cards, even at medium resolutions. This is evident even in benchmarks, which are usually quite poor at showing differences like this.

 

[Corporate Thug]

even doom3 showed no gain in performance w/ 256

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: shady06
even doom3 showed no gain in performance w/ 256

actually the 256mb showed a 1fps loss at doom3 when at 1600 X 1200 w/ 4xfsaa and 8x af. when compared to the 128mb

click me

 

[squidman]

just as i said, when there are games making use of 256 mb - 9800 would be ancient. Thats what i meant.
Its pure marketing: 5900 ultra has 256 mb, so Ati decided to slap 256 on its 9800 too. Its like people buying celery's for hardcore gaming..."well, its 3 ghz!!!" they say.

 

[HaloEighty8]

There are games today (eg Unreal 2, UT2003) that can easily exceed 128 MB VRAM, especially when you start cranking up FSAA. Also you can't use benchmarks as your sole indicator as they're only windows into the actual gameplay and depending on what you actually benchmark, they might not show you what you need to see.

Well I can tell you this from personal experience, I have noticed that in UT2003 and Unreal 2 do in fact run better with FSAA and everything cranked up on my 256M 9800 pro. I've played these 2 games a lot when I first got my 128M 9800 pro and I 'can' see a difference, now whether or not this warrants a purchase of the 256M card that's entirely up to you and your wallet!. I took a chance and did it, I'm a videocard fanatic so that's my excuse!

 

[Vonkhan]

o man ... dont do this to me. i just bought a 9800pro 128mb, now i'm thinking about a 9800pro 256mb :Q

 

[BoomAM]

Like ive said. If you have the money, get a 256mb, if not, then get a 128mb version.

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: whitetiger
i think for now..128 mb is more than enough, but if u looking for like 6 month later..then u might need to be consider 256mb, but u can get 256mb after 6 month..that way..it will be much cheaper...

6 months Doom 3 comes out, not Doom 5 .

 

[squidman]

6 months?!!! Lol, i already got the "BEST OF THE BEST" - Doom 3...its a 0.31 version, but its full, and has nothing special about it. I heard the music is gonna be cool, (like Q2) but this version doesnt have it.

 

[squidman]

Heck, Doom3 runs on my P3 rig with gts on lowesrt settings 1024x768x16 just fine. I dunno why every1 is so psyched bout it....

 

[BoomAM]

Originally posted by: squidman
Heck, Doom3 runs on my P3 rig with gts on lowesrt settings 1024x768x16 just fine. I dunno why every1 is so psyched bout it....

Probably cos doom3 uses bump mapping and the GF2GTS isnt fast enough to run it at the res that you claim to run at.
And the fact that i dont belive a word you say, since the thread where you claimed to have HL2 and Doom3. The alpha of doom3 was not v0.31. And If you claim to have a different leaked version, we`ll all know that your talking bollocks.

 

[Davegod]

anyway like practically all games now they scale up/down for faster/slower systems. what one person considers "just fine" is what another considers "pathetically slow, looks waay crappy compared to the screenshots, and it jerks a lot". supposably turning off shadows in doom3 will cut something like half the vid card load, at the expense of losing rather a lot of the graphical features - its in some carmack .plan somewhere, he was deciding wether or not to allow it to be disabled since its such a key element.

going back on topic, given the price difference i'd go for the 128mb and keep the extra cash towards later cpu/mobo/etc upgrade (iirc the difference isnt far off half way to a 2500+ barton plus nforce2 mobo!)