Video Mem ????

[rgrizzard]

I am building a new PC and have a little money to burn, however I don't want to get to carried away. I am looking at the 7800 gtx or 1900xt and my question is should I go with 256 meg or 512 meg GDDR3? What does the step up in RAM actually buy me in terms of performance vs. cost?

Thanks,
Rich

[glc]

512mb doesn't really gain you anything - yet. It's more of a futureproofing thing. You really need a high end processor to be able to effectively use 512.

[rgrizzard]

A 1900xt or 7800gtx is pretty high end for a processor. My cpu will be a 9xx dual core Intel not sure which one yet...

[glc]

I was referring to a CPU, not a GPU. You also need a bucketload of system ram.

[rgrizzard]

As stated above I will have a presler type dual core pentium probably the 3.2Ghz.

The other thing that I am looking at is running 2 7800gt with 256meg. Is that better than 1 with 512? Besides processor do you get the benefit of the Ram?

[flawedreality5]

If I were you, I would get a 7800GTX 256mb for now, and have the option to do SLi later if you want it. Save you money now and I don't think the FPS difference is going to be all that much. Or if you'll even notice the difference. The GTX is a good card to begin with.

[FireByyrd]

Hmm, I agree with getting 1 GTX for now, 256MB, then later on the road get another 256MB SLI.

[jfk]

I'll give an alternate answer. Get the X1900XT now, as it smokes the 7800GTX in benchmark and gaming performance. It even equals or exceeds a single 7800GTX 512 in most tests. I saw another evaluation where it was as good or better than 2 7800GTX cards in an SLI arrangement, but I can't find that one right now (maybe Aandtech?). It is also in the same price range as the 7800GTX 256, and a LOT cheaper than the 512 flavor (in addition to being available). It will play any game coming for quite some time at HIGH levels, and you'll save a boatload of cash over buying two 7800GTX cards for an SLI setup. JMO. In either event, you're paying a whole lot of money for a toy.