I was planning on a 8800GTS 640MB but I'm thinking now that's overkill.

My LCD monitor is 19" 1280x1024/60Hz so I don't need higher resolutions or more than 60FPS. Maybe someday I'll buy a bigger monitor but not for a while.

Is there any disadvantage to the 320MB limit other than resolution?
I'd prefer to be able to run all visual effects at max and I'm just a little worried that less memory will force me to lower some sliders in future titles.

Not really. At that resolution, hardly at all. This may change in the future with dx10 games, future applications, etc.

But its up to you. You can always upgrade, or add another one for sli.

I'd go with the 320 (I'm also kind of stuck between the two, upgrading from a 7600gt) because of the huge price difference and the relative lack of performance between the gts & 2900xt series cards.

Only time will tell how they'll perform in dx10 games though. I think I'll just wait it out a little longer to see official benchmarks of the r600.

P.S. I game at 1680x1050/60.

I'm in the same boat as you psteele. Running a 22" 1680x1050 LCD with a 7600 GT. Trying to decide between the 320 and the 640 for my next upgrade. I might wait a while until Crysis and other nextgen games come out. For now my 7600 GT is handling most games just fine. (Helps that this is a factory OC'd 650/1600 version)

I don't own a GTS, but from what I've read on the subject, the higher price of the 640 is not justified at 12x10. Its a hundred bucks more for very little performance gain. A hundred buck that would be better saved for something else (future upgrade, beer, etc.)

The consensus seems to be, at least from what I've read, is that 1680x1050 is the tricky spot. Higher and there's a noticable fps increase in many games. Below it, not so much.

but in the future will the extra memory be needed for 1280*1024?

im also lookin at a GTS-320, with the same resolution, my monitor's mas res is 12x10 (60hz). i think ill be gettin it in like a week or so, mayb the prices will go down a bit with the release of the 2900xt.

My only worry is my CPU, its a pentium D 820, ill be hopefully buying also 2 gigs of 667 ram, and a new PSU. do u think my CPU will be able to handle a GTS-320? Some say it'll bottleneck the card, some say it wont, what do u think?

but, what if! If your monitor breaks in a near future your not going to buy a 19" so go ahead and buy that 640 mb card.

i think since its a dual-core cpu ill de fine.

also, i dont know if i can even upgrade the processor, im on a pre-built sony vaio and i dont know if C2D's r compatible with my mobo(chances are that they r not compatible but oh well...)

pentium D 820 + 2 gigs 677 ram + GTS 320 = good idea?

any1?

Take the <b>640 MB</b> if You can afford it!
There are games like <b>Quake 4</b> and <b>G.R.A.W.</b> that require 512 MB on the graphics card in order to play with <b>ULTRA</b> quality.
<b>Quake Wars</b> will be using very large textures to render the ground. The developers stated that this is more efficient (i.e. faster) given that the user has 512 MB + mem on the graphics card.
For most current games 320 is more than enough but, as I mentioned, there are (and more will be coming) games that need 512+ to run with the highest settings.

I am in the process of performing a big upgrade as I managed to swing a Dell 3007 and so need to perform some serious re-engineering to get the best from it.

Have DFI CFX3200DR, AMD64_X2_4400 at 2.6Ghz, ATI1900XT, 2Gb OCZ3338, XP32. Currently playing Quake4, WoW in most cases.

With the 3007 I was planning to upgrade the GPU and as a result the PSU and also the case to allow it all to fit. I have managed to freak the piggybank and have the Enermax 1000 and TJ09 sitting here....but which card ?

The MoBo offers Crossfire with 2x 16PCIE but everyone is saying buy the 8800 in some incarnation ?

The reviews/forum on this site (excellent and most useful to date) show that the 8800GTS will do most things however when the 3007 gets involved people say you must have the GTX and possibly two of them ?

This leaves me with a couple of questions for the final payment so I don't want to mess up given the costs involved.

1. Can I get away with an 8800GTS now and add a second in SLi later to up the frame rate or will it be too slow ?

2. If I do choose the GTS will the resolution involved mean a 640Mb is needed ? I have seen a few comments that show the extra memory really kicks in at higher resolutions.

3. Will the DFI MoBo (crossfire with 2 16xPCIE slots) support the SLi well

4. Should I just jump straight to the GTX and sell the other organs at the same time (sorry bad joke after the news this week in the UK) or will I need two ? As I don't have a twin this could prove problematic...

All help accepted, big jump being made so I need to get it right.

Im not sure there are any motherboards that support both crossfire and SLI.

1280x1024 shouldnt be a problem for 320, BUT there are still games that wont let you play smoothly if you crank up the settings (Serious Sam 2 for example needs about 450 MB with everything turned on).

Im not sure there are any motherboards that support both crossfire and SLI.

the 975x chipset supports crossfire, and supports SLi but only with some kind special drivers.

if your mobo supports crossfire buy the upcoming HD2900XT.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that the 975x supports sli. Apparently it can be made to work, but would you really want to be using some old hacked driver for SLI.

just go with 320 MB. future games will require more memory though. but future games will need future video cards too.