9600xt 128mb or 256mb

[super_saint]

i am about to buy a radeon 9600xt but can not decide on a 128mb version or 256mb version. I play lots of games ie Call of Duty / nfs underground etc BUT will i see much difference in performance in the 2 cards

 

[Guest]

Captain Obvious says No you will not!
Wellcome to Marketing.

Save alot of money and get a R9800 Pro 128Mb.

<b><font color=red>Captain Obvious To The Rescue!!!
Captain Obvious: Pointing out the Obvious and not so Obvious!</font color=red></b>

 

[Koopa]

No real difference except at inordinately high resolutions (i am told) and the 9600 series aren't really designed for that anyway. Get a 128Mb for the better memory or if budget allows, a 9800 series card.

I spend my time here hoping that one day I might learn something.

 

[Spitfire_x86]

The extra VRAM is just for marketing. It brings no extra performance.

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[addiarmadar]

Save the money and go for the 128mb version. Nothing out there would use that much and would at best give you 3% gain.

Barton 2500+ @ 2200mhz (10x220 vcore @ 1.775)
Asus A7N8X Dlx 440 FSB
1gb Geil GD pc3500 Dual Channel (2-3-3-6)
Segata 80gb SATA 8.5ms seek
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro(420/700)

 

[Vimp]

I dunno. I find it hard to believe that a game like Planetside wouldn't be able to make very good use of 256mb vram. Planetside is pretty much the sole reason I'm looking to get a new video card.

 

[Crashman]

Get the 256MB version, then get 256MB of RAM and a 256MB hard drive. Load Win95B, it will take around 100MB. The video driver another 15MB or so installed.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[HardWareBoss]

ROFL

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Realistically the impact will be very little, and likely only statistical, even on an XT. If it's the same price and the same speed, sure go for it. But check to make sure that the timings and speed match for both models.

It makes more sense on an R98XX or FX59XX series card like we saw in that THG review, but not even an overclocked R9600 will get MUCH out of the extra 128mb. Even the faster cards will only have a few good sweetspots where there will be a noticeable difference.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK

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[Crashman]

You know that system would work!

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Crashman]

Ever noticed the tendency people have to use 4x as much system RAM as video RAM? Take a look at these SUPER HIGH END SPECS for their day:

*1MB video, 4MB system, 286 12MHz
*2MB video, 8MB system, 386 25
*4MB video, 16MB system, 486 50
*8MB video, 32MB system, Pentium 100
*16MB video, 64MB system, Pentium 200MMX
*32MB video, 128MB system, Pentium II 400
*64MB video, 256MB system, Pentium III 800
*128MB video, 512MB system, Pentium 4 1.6GHz
*256MB video, 1024MB sytsem, Pentium 4 3.2GHz

Now, for typical systems just cut both number in half...

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Crashman]

Hey, but HARD DRIVES go at 3x that increase!

*1MB video, 4MB system, 286 12MHz, 40MB HDD
*2MB video, 8MB system, 386 25, 120MB HDD
*4MB video, 16MB system, 486 50, 360MB HDD
*8MB video, 32MB system, Pentium 100, 1GB HDD
*16MB video, 64MB system, Pentium 200MMX 3GB HDD
*32MB video, 128MB system, Pentium II 400 10GB HDD
*64MB video, 256MB system, Pentium III 800 30GB HDD
*128MB video, 512MB system, Pentium 4 1.6GHz 80GB HDD
*256MB video, 1024MB sytsem, Pentium 4 3.2GHz 250MB HDD



<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

But I want a 64bit cpu so I can get even MORE RAM!

Mmmm terabyte of RAM.... AAaaaaahhhhhh!

More = Better!

But imagine, a virtual HD all made of PC4200. Blazing, especially for video. *Shivers*

Of course that's different than what you're talking about, but it would be sweet for editing.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK

<b>-NEW PIC IN THGC ALBUM-</b>

 

[Crashman]

You know you can get a PCI RAMDrive, PCI is only 133MB/s, but that's 133MB/s minimum AND maximum with nanoseconds of seek time!

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Yeah I saw one in Maximum PC a while back. Very expensive, and rather small.

But yeah that's the idea. The SCSI RAM drivers found in some financial transaction servers have large capacity and wicked performance, but high cost (many many thousands of dollars). Being able to assign ram as a virtual drive would be much faster still. And from the looks of the Maximum PC review, cheaper too. I also like the flexibility.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK

<b>-NEW PIC IN THGC ALBUM-</b>