Worth the extra money?

[RupertAllen]

Hey guys, I have a quick gaming question. As far as performance on the latest games is getting a 256mb card versus a 128mb card (whether that be the Radeon 9800 or the nVidia FX 5900) worth the extra $50? Thanks.

[bob05]

No, it's not worth the extra $50. If it was <$15-20 difference though, I might consider it.

[PacNW CE]

If you asked me last week, I'd have said no. Now that D3 is alive, and kicking at Medium settings on my 9800 pro 128, I say No. Save up and get a 6800 gt.:D

[widget2003]

yeah 256 would be benificial now and for your info they recomend a massive 512MB in Doom3 for the Ultra high graphics setting, well thats at least what i read:x

[The Lodge]

I would say it depends on how long you’re planning on using this card. I would think that Doom 3 would benefit from the extra ram.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

While 256mb of Vram is becoming beneficial, its still a long way of a necessary purchase. Despite all the sales speile about Doom 3 needing 256/512mb of Vram to run well at higher detail, a lot of people are running high and ultra levels on 128mb cards.

A lot of it boils down to price, if you can get it for only a few quid more than why not, but if you could get an extra 512mb of RAM for the same price as the additional 128mb of VRAM, you would be much better off with the former and a 128mb card. Doom III in particular requires a "well balanced" system and a great number of peopel are finding their older cards can handle the game, but their system as a whole, as a result fo insufficient RAM/CPU cycles, is letting them down

--Jakk:t

[Rabbitrunner51]

I just read another review on the Doom 3 game and on one the good points the reviewer put forth was that this game runs and looks good ..even on lesser generation cards.meaning the pre-FX and lower ATI cards...so for this purose..no 256 does not really mean a whole lot amd I agree with the others here...as a good 128 card will suffice....just having a good one or later model will show the graphics off a little better.and run faster at higher settings....

If a person can wait and save the money..then getting a 6800GT or 800XT card is well worth it..but if not then the 9800 Pro or FX5950 or 5900 will do for most games all around anyway...just not as fast and not as high on the settings ( AA and AF );)