The needing of 256mb for games

[faye]

Hi,

For 6800 and 850 series and beyond, do u really need 256mb for games in 6 months?

I heard that PCI-express is not faster than AGP. at lesat not much..
so i will stick with agp for the future 6 months.. but what about rams in videocard?

Do i need 256mb for games in 6 months.. I play mostly fps games, but I didn't hear any interesting games that be anounced in 6 months, or am i missing something.?

FOr now, i am very interesting in 6800 128mb agp(winfast or msi)
Companies seem to work with nvidia more than ati, many games seem running faster with nvidia, don't know about 6 months later.

 

[AristoV300]

The memory on the VC doesn't make a huge difference, just the better cards usually now come in the 256mb. I would say the 6800GT is the best AGP card to go with for price to performance and can handle any game currently out there.

 

[Appledrop]

welll.... if you take the asus 128mb 6800gt for example, you will find it is not a proper GT - it has 16 pipes and lower mem speed. I don't know about the msi or winfast, but you should check the other spec. A 128mb card vs a 256mb card of the same specification should not have too much of a performance difference in most games, but in games that use a lot of high res textures like D3, i am pretty sure there would be a large enough performance gap. And if you are buying a high end card, why comprimise? Nay i say!

Save up for the 256 model imo.

Oh, and also, i would not upgrade a 9800XT to a normal 6800; not much between them at all really. The 6800GT on the other hand would be a nice step up if you could afford it!

Alternatively, take a look for the X800XL, it is i feel a better deal than the 6800GT at the moment and they perform very similarly indeed.

 

[Pete]

The higher the resolution you want to use AA with, the faster memory becomes a limiting factor. Some newer games are also shipping with art assets that can exceed 128MB (witness Doom 3's max IQ mode, with uncompressed textures and maps as far as they GPU can see).

But I imagine you can make do without a combination of lots of AA and very high resolutions for six months. If not, consider upping your budget from a $200 6800 128MB to a $300 6800GT 256MB.

 

[McArra]

Yep, 6800GT is the way to go for you. Also if you buy Asus, and is a 256mb version, it is one of the best 6800GTs out there

 

[Appledrop]

Yes asus are good (i like my x800) but i have to admit it's overpriced, and manufacturers such as eVga and BFG do just as fine a job if not better.

 

[McArra]

The price is a bit higher (30? where I live) but the Ultra PCB and the cooler are worth it IMO

 

[BFG10K]

do u really need 256mb for games in 6 months?

6 months? 2002's UT2003 already kills 128 MB cards and that game is three years old.

 

[R3MF]

Originally posted by: Azzy64

Alternatively, take a look for the X800XL, it is i feel a better deal than the 6800GT at the moment and they perform very similarly indeed.

agreed, if i wasn't running linux as well as XP i would buy an X800XL.

 

[apoppin]

Painkiller's expansion pack - Battle Out of Hell - requires 256MB vRAM to run with everything 'on'.

i have a 9800xt (256MB) also . . . . i would not go to a 128MB card (the 6600gt isn't faster . . . the 6800 is a "little" faster) . . . the 6800gt is the minimium card i would consider to be a significant upgrade.

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

do u really need 256mb for games in 6 months?

6 months? 2002's UT2003 already kills 128 MB cards and that game is three years old.

WTF you talking about? Unless you play at 1600*1200 + AA/AF, ut2003 runs smooth as glass on my 128mb card.

 

[PrayForDeath]

Originally posted by: munky

Originally posted by: BFG10K

do u really need 256mb for games in 6 months?

6 months? 2002's UT2003 already kills 128 MB cards and that game is three years old.

WTF you talking about? Unless you play at 1600*1200 + AA/AF, ut2003 runs smooth as glass on my 128mb card.

Ditto

Originally posted by: Azzy64
Oh, and also, i would not upgrade a 9800XT to a normal 6800; not much between them at all really. The 6800GT on the other hand would be a nice step up if you could afford it!

Come on! A 6800 is atleast 50% faster than the 9800XT due to 12pipes/faster memory.

As for the OP, yes, 256Mb makes a difference these days, but only with high-end cards, and when running on high resolutions and AA/AF settings. So I'd recommend getting something better than a 6800NU (6800GT or an X800XL for example). No shooters coming in the next 6 months? Let's see, Prey, HL2 EX, FEAR, STALKER, Q4, Serious Sam 2, etc... That's what I can think of ATM. And as for your PCI-e comment, it actually offers no performance increase over AGP. It's just a future-proof thingy along with more power support.

 

[imported_DaveA]

whats hl2 ex?

 

[JBT]

Originally posted by: DaveA
whats hl2 ex?

Expansion I think its called Aftermath. But anyways yes 256MB makes a difference with high resolutiosn and AA/AF

 

[Kalessian]

Isn't the expansion called "Lost Coast"?

 

[JBT]

Originally posted by: Kalessian
Isn't the expansion called "Lost Coast"?

I don't think so? I think that was a just a trailer. I of course could be wrong.
Heres a link that says its called Aftermath link

 

[Auric]

I would love to see a comparison of Forgotten Hope with 128 vs. 256MB VRAM on otherwide identical and decent cards. I am sure it would benefit.

 

[Munky]

Well, this is kinda old, but in this article on tomshardware they compare a 128mb and a 256mb 9800pro, and at least in 2003 games did not even push the limit 128mb cards unless you were playing at something crazy like 1600*1200 + 6x AA. Modern games will no doubt benefit from 256mb but only if your card is fast enough to handle it at 1600*1200 +AA/AF. In other words, 256mb on something like a gf6600 would be a waste of money, but a 6800gt w/256mb is a good match.

 

[imported_DaveA]

Originally posted by: JBT

Originally posted by: Kalessian
Isn't the expansion called "Lost Coast"?

I don't think so? I think that was a just a trailer. I of course could be wrong.
Heres a link that says its called Aftermath link

lost coast was a movie about hdr in half life 2 IIRC

 

[imported_DaveA]

Originally posted by: munky
Well, this is kinda old, but in this article on tomshardware they compare a 128mb and a 256mb 9800pro, and at least in 2003 games did not even push the limit 128mb cards unless you were playing at something crazy like 1600*1200 + 6x AA. Modern games will no doubt benefit from 256mb but only if your card is fast enough to handle it at 1600*1200 +AA/AF. In other words, 256mb on something like a gf6600 would be a waste of money, but a 6800gt w/256mb is a good match.

9800 pro isnt powerfull enough to make use of the extra 128MB of memory.

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: DaveA

Originally posted by: munky
Well, this is kinda old, but in this article on tomshardware they compare a 128mb and a 256mb 9800pro, and at least in 2003 games did not even push the limit 128mb cards unless you were playing at something crazy like 1600*1200 + 6x AA. Modern games will no doubt benefit from 256mb but only if your card is fast enough to handle it at 1600*1200 +AA/AF. In other words, 256mb on something like a gf6600 would be a waste of money, but a 6800gt w/256mb is a good match.

9800 pro isnt powerfull enough to make use of the extra 128MB of memory.

No it's not, and neither is a 6600gt, or any slower card. I hope more people knew this, and stop asking advice about 256mb gf6200 cards or something stupid like that. Also, by the same count, I can 99% guarantee that a 6800gt or x800xt will not be powerful enough to use 512mb.

 

[imported_DaveA]

Originally posted by: munky

Originally posted by: DaveA

Originally posted by: munky
Well, this is kinda old, but in this article on tomshardware they compare a 128mb and a 256mb 9800pro, and at least in 2003 games did not even push the limit 128mb cards unless you were playing at something crazy like 1600*1200 + 6x AA. Modern games will no doubt benefit from 256mb but only if your card is fast enough to handle it at 1600*1200 +AA/AF. In other words, 256mb on something like a gf6600 would be a waste of money, but a 6800gt w/256mb is a good match.

9800 pro isnt powerfull enough to make use of the extra 128MB of memory.

No it's not, and neither is a 6600gt, or any slower card. I hope more people knew this, and stop asking advice about 256mb gf6200 cards or something stupid like that. Also, by the same count, I can 99% guarantee that a 6800gt or x800xt will not be powerful enough to use 512mb.

have to wonder though how many fx5200's with 64bit memory and 256MB of memory sold lol

 

[Auric]

Yeah, well, memory capacity (system and video) along with CPU frequency are the features easily sold to the average buyer. 'tis a cheap way to pad profits while simultaneously cutting back on more important things like aforementioned viddy bus, or indeed forgoing hardware audio.

 

[PrayForDeath]

Originally posted by: Kalessian
Isn't the expansion called "Lost Coast"?

The expansion is called "Aftermath". Long Coast is a map that Valve will release on Steam that will support HDR in HL2. You can read about it in the latest issue of PC Gamer.

 

[BFG10K]

Unless you play at 1600*1200 + AA/AF,

No AA is necessary, just 1600x1200 with 16xAF.