Advantages of 512MB over 256MB?

[d3moliti0n]

Hey there

Well I am planning on buying the HD3850 but what are the major advtanges of having 512MB rather than 256MB. I understand it will most likely be better but I was just generally wondering. May seem like a stupid question but just looking for an answer lol.

Thanks for your help and time.

 

[smsmasters]

Higher fps at higher resolutions with AF & AA.

 

[d3moliti0n]

Well, I play all my games on 1280x1024 (which is my desktop resolution anyway, so I prefer it). Would it help a lot more at this resolution?

 

[Darkwave]

Higher fps at higher resolutions with AF & AA.

What he said, but I'd also like to add that it also drastically reduces your chances of stuttering issues.

Well, I play all my games on 1280x1024 (which is my desktop resolution anyway, so I prefer it). Would it help a lot more at this resolution?

256MB really should be more than enough for the vast majority of games at 1280x1024, even with AA/AF.

That said, games are demanding more and more video memory recently with no sign of slowing down.

 

[d3moliti0n]

Well, I'll list some of the games I plan on playing: Crysis (I know you need like a supercomputer to run this well), Call of Duty 4, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Unreal Tournament 3, Battlefield 2 & 2142, Stalker and some upcoming games like Far Cry 2, Warhammer Online, Age of Conan, Spore etc. The spec I am upgrading my PC to is:

Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (2.0GHz, 1MB Cache)
2GB DDR (not DDR2) Ram
HD3850

How future proof do you think this will be in terms of the games I have listed above?

 

[keyser]

Isn't it about how large textures can be? So in a game if you feel that the walls + floor etc look pixelated try upping textures to high and/or buy gfx card with 512mb/1024mb.

There really is no way of telling if a 256mb (or whatever) card can handle 'low, med or high' textures since it depends how old the game is etc. That is, try it and if it stutters, lower it. Games should have memory ammount setting, rather than arbitrary 'low/med/high' imo.

 

[Monkeynut]

You will definitely need 512mb for those games, and a good GPU at the core too. The GPU is more important in most cases than the CPU, I have a slightly faster system than that (see sig) and run Crysis in 1680 X 1050. There isn't really a "future-proof" any more, tech is advancing so fast. The CPU and ram should do you until the end of 2008 fine I imagine.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Well, I play all my games on 1280x1024 (which is my desktop resolution anyway, so I prefer it). Would it help a lot more at this resolution?

Yes, ive used a 320mb GTS at 1280x1024, and had to start turning details down to medium in games, as well as only being able to use 2xAA, and in Crysis's case, i had to drop that down a res to 1280x960 to, get 512mb.

 

[d3moliti0n]

How well can you run Crysis on your rig Monkeynut?