performance diff btwn 256 and 512 cards

[techgamer]

I'm looking at current middle range cards... gforce 8600/7900 or an ati equivalent. I dont know which to go for and how much performance difference is there between 256 and 512. thanks.

 

[JPB]

Originally posted by: techgamer
I'm looking at current middle range cards... gforce 8600/7900 or an ati equivalent. I dont know which to go for and how much performance difference is there between 256 and 512. thanks.

256 vs. 512

256 vs. 512

Some games will see a nice benefit at a certain resolution. I would go for 512 anyway. Imo 256 in these days is just inadequate.

How much are you looking to spend ? What resolution do you play at ? And what is your power supply ?

 

[techgamer]

Would rather not spend more than $200-$300. I dont know much about resolution, I have 2 brand new DVI Hanns-G monitors that are 700:1 2ms so I'm sure they can handle top resolution. I havent bought a power supply yet, i'm sort of building new. see here ... http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=27&threadid=2098239

 

[betasub]

You've bought two LCD monitors, but you didn't check what their (native) resolution is? 😕

You definintely need to find out the LCD screen res, so that posters in your build thread can offer suitable advice re: gaming graphics card. The answer to your video RAM question depends on texture detail and gaming resolution: games with large textures on a hi-res LCD will benefit from extra vRAM.

 

[techgamer]

ok their native resolution is 1280x1024

 

[KAZANI]

I have the same question. I have a 17" CRT at 1024x768 85Hz. I am trying to figure if it would be better to get an ATI HD2600PRO 512MB or an HD2600XT 256MB.

 

[Laminator]

For mid-range cards (8600, 2600), get the 256MB versions. Those cards are too slow to take advantage of the increased memory buffer. 512MB on a mid-range card is somewhat of a gimmick.

 

[techgamer]

so would an 8800GTS 320mb be too much if i'm just running 1280x1024?

 

[Rage3kMoiz]

If you're going to play games, the 8600\HD2600 series are garbage. The 8800GTS 320MB will be perfect, since it suffers above 1280x1024 with AA and AF. For an HTPC though, the 8600 series offers hardware decoding of HD, which is not supported in current drivers by the 8800GTS, AFAIK.