RAM or GPU: Which makes a bigger difference?

[tohito]

I am about to buy a GeForce video card (or perhaps two), and I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice. Is it better to go with a lower-end GPU with more RAM, or a higher-end GPU with less RAM? I really cannot afford a 7900 GTX with 512 MB of RAM, but I might be able to afford the same card with only 256 MB. And I could definitely afford a 6800-based card with 512 MB. So, I guess my question is this: How much RAM do modern PC games need? I'm not much of a PC gamer right now, but I'd like to be able to play games like Star Wars: Empire at War or Age of Empires III at full (or pretty close) graphics settings. Is this going to require 512 MB of RAM, or will 256 MB suffice?

[dgrmkrp]

well, you have to think first at what resulation you want to play: bigger ones require more VRAM(think bitmaps, the bigger the size<resolution>, the bigger the.. size<disk and RAM requirements> but with more compression.) and if you don't have a gpu capable of working with that much RAM (read/write, compute stuff and read/write again.. so that u get the best out of the gpu..).. u have a problem.. generally, u'll have to find a matched pair of these.. u'r choice.. but of course u could wait a lil longer so you could afford a 7900gtx/512mb

[Cevinzol]

of the top of my head i'd say go with more RAM.
A faster GPU with less ram is like a stock car with a restrictor plate on the intake.

I agree with D.grm.krp. if this is some kind of stop gap then skip it, save your plat and get what you really want later.



did I just use plat in a sentance?
ok note to self: stop playing MMORPGs go outside.

[d_stilgar]

I thought it was common knowledge that the biggest things holding fps down today was the fsb and the processor.