Radeon 9600XT ... 128MB or 256MB?

spuff

Big Geek
A couple of days ago, I placed an order for a Sapphire Radeon 9600XT 256MB card from overclockers.co.uk but they said it was out of stock and offered me the same card but 128MB as an alternative (with refund in price, of course!). I've actually heard that it makes more sense to get the 128 instead of the 256. Is that right? I've heard the memory runs slower or something. I won't be running resolutions more than 1024x768 in most games and I don't even know about AA etc. But which card makes sense to buy?
 
For the time being 128MB is the sweet spot. 256MB can be helpful, but the effects aren't always that pronounced especially for the price premium.
 
spuff said:
...I've actually heard that it makes more sense to get the 128 instead of the 256. Is that right?...
Well, unless overclocking is the #1 reason you are buying the card, more RAM is better. The more RAM you have, the higher the detail level you can play games at. New games like Far Cry don't run well with texture detail at maximum on cards with only 128mb. That's a trend I think you'll see continue, as polygons become more numerous and texture become even larger. ...but that's not to say that the 128mb version isn't still a great card. On most current games, you wouldn't even notice the slightest difference.
 
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