However NVIDIA also has the 1GB version of the GTX 460, with more RAM, more L2 cache, and more ROPs for $30 (15% more. The 1GB GTX 460 isn’t 15% faster, but at the same time it’s difficult to ignore it. We already have games such as Crysis and Stalker that benefit from the additional capacity of the GTX 460, and this is the future of gaming. For as fantastic of a card as the 768MB GTX 460 is, it has one potential pitfall: it’s 768MB. It’s not a huge problem today, and NVIDIA will tell you it’s not a huge problem tomorrow either, but here we must disagree.
To purchase a $200 card with only 768MB of RAM today is shortsighted; it’s less RAM than last year’s $200 GTX 275 and Radeon 4890 cards had, and it’s going to come up short in tomorrow’s games. The difference is 256MB, but we’re willing to bet between that 256MB of RAM and the additional L2 cache and ROPs that the 1GB advantage will only grow from here. We would rather spend another $30 now for better performance in many of today’s games, knowing that we also will have a better shot at playing tomorrow’s games. NVIDIA’s marketing arm would seem to secretly agree – most of the 1GB cards will be coming with a pack-in game, while the 768MB cards will not. If nothing else we can’t accuse NVIDIA of giving too little for the extra $30.