Video Card: 128 or 256?

[mikem0327]

Im going to get a new video card for christmas. Im looking at the ATI cards and cant decide whether to get the 9600 pro 128 or 256. Is there that big of a performance difference.

(Money IS a factor)

[nihil]

Mike, the real question is what are you going to do with it?

Yeah the 256 will be faster than the 128, but will you actually use it? Maybe 128 + faster/more RAM would be a better investment?

It is an impossible call as you give us no system/hardware specs.

I would say that modern games will be designed to run on 64 Mb video cards for at least the next two years. Then it will be 128Mb...and the latest cards will be 512 by then?....and so on...

Don't fall for the "bragging rights scam"........any one who really knows will spot it as grade one bullsh1t, and those who don't hardly matter?

Your box should be "balanced" so that components complement eachother and are relevant to your desired applications.

Finally, If "money matters"....take care of it

Cheers

[mikem0327]

i have a P4 2gz 256 ram i will be playing games like homeworld 2 and C&C Generals.

[nihil]

Hi Mike,

i have a P4 2gz 256 ram i will be playing games like homeworld 2 and C&C Generals

OK, I guess that you are running XP?

You really need to stick another 256 of RAM in there..............helluva lot cheaper than the videocard difference, and the performance will skyrocket!!!

I do not know the games, but the general rules are:

1. First person shoot em ups = videocard
2. Strategy/roleplay = RAM

If you are still on 9x/Me then no more than 512Mb RAM (or it will become unstable). With Win2K and XP you can go to 1Gb easily. You might like to check what your MoBo will support, and get the maximum amount of the fastest RAM (games need speed more than volume, although strategy games are somewhat different, and need RAM volume as well)

Your basic aim is to stop the box having to use virtual memory

Cheers

[SDK]

128 Memory = Better Memory Refresh Rate = Very litte faster
256 Memory = Slower Memory Refresh Rate = Little Slower = LAST LONGER

[cheyenne1212]

128 MB would do you just fine for C&C and homeworld.

I have a Geforce Ti 4200 which has 128MB of ram and it runs everygame great.
The games I play are UT 2003, Battle Field 1942, Command and Conquer Generals: Zero Hour. Civiliation, Age of empires, and a couple others.

[nihil]

One thing I forgot to mention: there is no point in fitting an expensive videocard if your monitor won't support it.

For example, this is a CTX 17" LCD flat screen and will not do better than 1024x768 resolution. The PC has a GeForce 4 MX420 (64Mb), which is capable of far better. I have also used it with a 32Mb card, and you cannot tell the difference. The 32Mb card is also capable of better!

Once again, it is all down to balance.

Cheers

[mikem0327]

Thanks everyone