what difference does the amount of ram make on 6600 and 6600GT's?

[radio91]

Whats it the significance of haveing more on board ram on a graphics card?

Im going for a low end card and was looking at this card at first:

XFX GeForce PCX6600 Extreme XXX Edition 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (PVT43-PUDS7) (GX-058-XF)


Then i realised it only had DVI outputs and i have a 21" TRINITRON CRT monitor and its the best monitor iv ever seen picture wise so i dont wanna change it. So rather than use a converter i looked for card that had a VGA OUTPUT. So now im considering this card:

Leadtek WinFast PCX6600GT-TDH GeForce PCX6600 GT 128MB DDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-045-LT)


But i noticed this only had 128mb of onboard ram but its clock speeds are far higher. I also noticed you get a 512mb version of the xfx card and iv got to wandering what advantages does all the extra ram have? Surly it cant make it as fast as a 6600gt ?

Either which card would give the highest performace on games like doom 3 and why?

 

[Phil99]

128MB 6600 < 256MB 6600 < 128MB 6600GT < 256MB 6600GT < 512MB 6600 (The 500MHz+ XFX one)

 

[matt_fsr]

Agreed with Phil99.

Seems that the main reason manufacturers add extra RAM is as a selling point, I know someone who thought his 256Mb FX5200 card was a good card by todays standards cos it was 256Mb - people with less knowledge will just get a card with more RAM, regardless of other factors (and shop salespeople arent usually knowledgeable enough to explain any better)

512Mb RAM on a mid-range card is having a laugh tho!

Personally i've just gone from a perfectly adequate 128Mb 6600GT to a 256Mb x800xl - fairly pleased, will see how it goes for a while.

Any justification for not wanting to use a signal converter? I've never seen any noticeable degradation of quality through them.

 

[a1ex2001]

^^ I'd second that I've run the converter on a digital output on numerous ocasions without any noticable drop in quality so don't let it put you off a card.