256 mb vs 512 mb graphics cards

JSKILL

Is the difference between 256 and 512 worth the extra money. I am debating between these two cards.

ASUS EN7900GTX 512: 475.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121002

eVGA 256-P2-N564 Geforce 7900GT 256: 285 - 15 rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130015

Its been about 3 years since I last build a computer so I am kinda lost again trying to regain all my knowledge.

rapture

The GTX would be faster than the GT with 256 or 512mb of ram. The whole less is more thing doesnt really apply as much any more.

Sledgehammer70

Your comparing 2 different cards. The 7900GTX is a much faster card and is a lot bigger, the 7900GT is a smaller card and runs a bit faster than a 7800GTX. TBH once you pass 256MB of memory on a graphics card it doesn't matter much, as once you jump into 512MB you start seeing slower times as the memory access goes up...

rapture

TBH once you pass 256MB of memory on a graphics card it doesn't matter much, as once you jump into 512MB you start seeing slower times as the memory access goes up...

I don't think thats the case any more Sledge. Just look at the 512mb X1900XT and the 1GB 7950GX2

Sledgehammer70

Actually it is the case, Nvidia and ATI are both always looking for ways to bring the memory read times down. and the more memory you have on the card the more it has to read.

deicist

This article shows definite benefits to using a 512MB card in certain situations. I'm not sure how much memory size affects access speeds in graphics cards... it all depends on how the memory is mapped to the GPU I think. And any loss of speed is more than balanced out by keeping all the data on the card rather than buffering it in system RAM.