Thanks for the link, I'll check it out.
I wasn't speaking of the value of the 4870 1GB being the best deal, since 'best' depends on criteria.
I just was suggesting that for the long term of the lifetime of the card, paying top dollar for a high end or XF set of GPUs with 512MB each would probably be short sighted since we are running up to the limits of quality & AA & resolution @ 19x12 in various of today's most detailed high quality games. If he wasn't stating he was interested in 19x12 specifically I wouldn't think VRAM would be an issue. But at 19x12 it is a factor to consider, plus if he's at 19x12 today it isn't unlikely he might upgrade further later on within the life of the card. 512MB certainly doesn't always cut it for high IQ + AA games at more than 19x12.
If you're paying a $100+ premium for the 4870 you probably want maximum headroom & capabilities, so to spend a lot more on the faster card only to be RAM / resolution / AA limited is questionable since you've spent most of the high end money for some limitations that you may regret.
Whether it is worth top dollars for top end is a value judgement.
If he wanted to play in 16x12 or 19x12 without AA then obviously saving the money and getting a single 4850 would be a good choice, so one must assume that he not only wants 19x12 but also wants to do it without much IQ compromise if he's looking at something 2x the cost of a single 4850 as a desirable solution.
This thread has good info:
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2226115&enterthread=y
Also this one although it is dated and mostly for low resolutions it already shows how easy it is to nearly exceed 512MB RAM in even many older games + lower resolutions.
http://www.yougamers.com/artic...ch_do_you_really_need/
I can only assume that shortly the price premium between 512 and 1GB on the higher end cards will be relatively small compared to the card's cost, e.g. 40$, 50$ in which case it seems like a valuable choice to enure no compromise IQ + AA & the best texture quality in the best "eye candy" games.
IMHO for 512MB @ 19x12 you might as well just run a single 4850 and turn down the AA / quality a bit rather than spending 2x or 3x the money and still having IQ limitations if you're doing 512 MB on much higher cost cards or an XF or X2 or whatever.
Personally I decided a single 4850-512 will be OK for gaming at 19x12 w/ some compromises or 16x12 if needed for further performance compromises and in another year then I can always get better performance and 1GB or 2GB VRAM with whatever is out then. It wasn't worth it to get a 4870 to me, but if I was going to lay out the cash for something much better than a 4850 it would be 1GB not due to speed so much as ensuring max IQ at high resolution and at a tolerable / playable speed.
Originally posted by: error8
I really don't see why is 4870 1gb so much more, at 19x12 resolution, over the 4870 512 mb. Tests show only a marginal speed bump, but nothing spectacular that can justify the big price difference.
http://www.hardwarezone.com/ar...php?id=2684&cid=3&pg=8
The 1gb version is simply not worth it.