I need to know

[Calyce]

I plan on getting an 8800GTS. What I want to know though is that should I spring for the 320MB version or the 640? I play all my games at 1280x1024, so I think that having 640MB is abit overkill. Though, I want to max out all the eye-candy available for the games I play, so could the GTS320 handle 16xAA and AF at 1280x1024? Or is that too much for the card to handle because of the memory restriction?

 

[happy medium]

Tell me what games you play. Also you might want to see if the drivers are working correctly before you buy a 8800gts 320. I think theres a driver problem when enabling aa/af with the 8800gts 320.

 

[jim1976]

You have to decide whether you care about AA or not..And that will only become more apparent in the near future..

Even @1280x1024 in the forthcoming games 320mb won't be enough to utilize the power of a core like G80. I'd say that 320 mb would suffice for the mainstream 8 series gpus that will be launched by Nvidia but surely not for a G80 core ..
Imho the 320mb GTS is a crippled G80, as far as concerns AA..
To give you an example look at how much memory does COH use even w/o AA, so you can have a look for the future memory demanding games..

Edit
From what I see though you care a lot about AA, so.. definately go for the 640mb GTS

 

[VIAN]

First, a good rule of thumb is to buy a graphics card for a game you already have.

With that in mind, tell us the games you have and we'll let you know.

 

[Calyce]

Well, the basics: FEAR, TrackMania United, War Rock, Phantasy Star Universe, BF2142...

Those are the games I play, though I play many others (though the graphics can be maxed on a 7600GT, they're more low-end). Also, I just want to go for general future-proofing.

 

[VIAN]

There is no such thing as future proof.

It sounds like you'll want the 640MB version if you want the AA & AF on newer games.

 

[PClark99]

640mb is worth the extra $, especially if you want to game at higher resolutions.

 

[cpl edge]

or wait for the 8600s...

 

[VIAN]

8600s won't handle AA and AF in newer games.

 

[jim1976]

8600 are on a different league.. 8800GTS 320mb no matter how crippled it is it's still a G80 core..