SAPPHIRE RADEON x700Pro 128MB or x700Pro 256 MB ?

[starkman]

Heya all 🙂

I have finally ordered this system :

Athlon 64 3200+ sock 939 Box
Asus A8N-E - sock 939
2x 512MB - 400Mhz Ram
Sapphire x700Pro 128MB DDR3 PCIX - VO+DVI
WD 1600JD - 160GB SATA 8MB HD
NEC 3540 DVDRW
QTEK Power Supply 500w
...and some less important parts...


Now what's eating me.. is the video card.
Is 128 MB enough? I mean, according to this review ( http://www.rage3d.com/reviews/video/sapphirex700pt/index.php?p=9 ) 256MB is a must, but according to other opinions I have read and heard, there are no games (and there won't be anytime soon) that really need that extra 128 MB... to run smoothly. (Actually I was told that when games that need 256MB will be released, the x700pro will not be itself strong enough to handle them - regardless the (256MB) memory).

Now I need your opinion.
I'm not really a fanatic player. I do not play many games but when I do I'm in the likes of Doom 3, Unreal 2, Far Cry, etc genre.

My concern is to be able to have a system that will be strong for a few years to come and will not be useless after 2 years or so.
This is mainly why I insisted on the 939 socket - so that I will be able to upgrade to the Athlon FX in a year or so.

Same goes for the VGA card. I need a card that will be able to handle good games for the years to come.

The difference at the price between the Sapphire 128 and the 256 seems to be only 25-35 euros, but considering that my initial choice was the x600xt, it is not easy for me to give more extra money to go to a x700pro 256, when I have already chosen to give some more for the x700pro 128 already....

Any opinion and input would be appreciated as I have to choose soon and see If I can change the order.

thanx in advance

 

[Creig]

Originally posted by: starkman
when games that need 256MB will be released, the x700pro will not be itself strong enough to handle them

That's the way I see it.

 

[CMC79]

For just a little more (probably around the price of the 256mb x700pro) you could get a 6600GT and get better performance and a better feature set. A regular 6600 might not be a bad idea, but I'm not sure how it stacks up to the x700pro.

 

[ddogg]

Originally posted by: CMC79
For just a little more (probably around the price of the 256mb x700pro) you could get a 6600GT and get better performance and a better feature set. A regular 6600 might not be a bad idea, but I'm not sure how it stacks up to the x700pro.

the X700Pro beats the regular 6600 bad....get a 6600GT instead of the 256mb X700Pro...it beats it in practically all games and the 256mb of the X700Pro is pretty much useless at this time and 2 years from now it would still barely make a small difference.
if ur looking at the $200 price range u could get the X800 Vanilla which easily beats the 6600GT as well or u could get the 6800 Vanilla which could be unlocked to 16 Pipes to get a good performance boost.