X1800XT 512MB worth it over 256MB?

[mattdp]

Looks like I'm going to get one of these

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/X1800_Series.html

Either the powercolour X1800XT with 512MB, which is on sale at £228 or the Sapphire X1800XT with 256MB which is £192.

Now that's quite a price difference for 256MB of RAM!

Am I right in assuming that for all intents and purposes these cards are going to perform the same except for that extra RAM?

If so, is the extra RAM really worth the money?

 

[cleeve]

512mb won't be really necessary for at least another year or two. I personally wouldn't spend the extra cash, you'll get more of a performance increase from some minor overclocking.

 

[bluntside]

in some cases, several games run much more efficient w/ 512mb of graphic mem, but there is only a few game that run better w. this upgrade. I'd get the 512mb version, it will last you longer w/ games in the future :twisted:

 

[FITCamaro]

36 bucks is that much a difference to you for double the RAM? Personally I'd get a 512MB graphics card with how big textures are getting at high quality graphics settings. You may not need it now, but you will in the future.

 

[mattdp]

36 bucks is that much a difference to you for double the RAM?

It's not 36 dollars, it's 36 pound sterling (I live in the UK). That's 63 dollars. That seem much more of a difference for a mere 256MB of video RAM? I could buy a gigabyte of DDR RAM for not much more than that!

Or put it another way - it's also about the price difference between a 256MB 7600GT and the 256MB X1800XT. I suspect buying the better chipset is going to yield a much bigger performance boost than buying more RAM!

 

[jrwriter]

512mb will greatly reduced stuttering, and loading pauses because textures and shaders are stored in GPU memory, not sytem memory. You will not see a FPS boost, and neither will you see one when you get some more ram if you already have 1 gig. What you will see is less pauses, and stuttering in games that don't compress textures for highly detailed enviroment. It will also benefit newer games too. It's up to you. Buying more system ram won't give you any more fps. Of course a better chipset or GPU is going to have better FPS. But going from a 1800Xt to a 1900XT, which is the next best thing, will cost you about $300, not the 60$ that you said you would save. But it's your choice