128mb 9800PRO vs 256mb 9600XT ??

Hi

I've been looking for info on this for awhile and I found this thread on the boards...

http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic16707.html

yet I can't really see the answer to my question there as people started talking about the 256mb version of the 9800PRO and of course that will be superior to the 9600XT...

I'm buying a new system (Athlon 64 3200+) and the my choices for video cards are the two listed in the topic.

So my question boils down to...
Does the extra ram in the 256mb 9600XT make it more desirable than the 128mb 9800PRO ?

Thanks

extra memory in video card is used for storing/loading textures in.having more memory will let you load more texture in a video card at one time,the bus thats used for transfer of this memory is also a very important factor ddr,ddr2,gddr3 these are some of the bus that transfer data upto the speed of 1000mhz(gdd3).there is also the argument that a lot of games dont actually need that much of video memory 128 is standard,256 is a bit overkill but might be useful in the future and soon 512 mb ati cards are going to hit the market.
as for your choice i would suggest you stick with 9800 pro,the 256 mb version are slightly slower than there 128 mb counterparts.since the 9600XT is based on the same gpu as the 9800 but clocked slower.the answer becomes even more apparent ...the 9800.
I would also like to suggest that you check out nvidia geforce 6600 gt,they are faster than a 9800 pro and beat even the 9800 xt in some benchmarks,it has a faster memory interface,shader model 3.0,free doom 3.

I agree with shadow29, the 9800 pro will bury the 9600XT in almost all the the games but the 6600GT would be a better choice for you since it almost costs the same as the 9800pro.

Agreed with both above...I'm about to order the 6600GT. Here's a few links worth a look at:

1) http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2277&p=3

2) http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1738299,00.asp

3) http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/xfx6600gtagp/index.shtml

4) http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1714&page=5

5) http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/nv6600gtagp/11.html

6) http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/150/

7) etc... Everywhere, and I mean everywhere I look as far as professional reviews go,(notice, I didnt include any forum 'fanboy' links...I think that's what you'd call 'em...correct me if Im wrong)..they all say the 6600GT is, by far the best price/performance card available. ANything that has been able to beat it was around $100 more expensive...and not $100 more faster, if you will. (obviously, there may be exceptions as far as $ goes)

You probably wont be unhappy with either card, but a few minutes of research might give you an extra year of card-value.

Hope this is useful.

True and according to reports from the GDC 2005 the unreal engine 3 will be able to run on 6600 GT cards or better and they expect games with this new engine to come around Q1 2006.