A few years ago when Doom 3 was released, many scoffed at the fact that you'd need a card with a massive 512MB of video memory in order to use the highest-res textures comfortably. At the time, 128MB and 256MB cards were the norm. Even today, 512MB cards aren't the majority. And yet, here we are, a few short years later, and the first desktop-class single GPU video card with a behemoth 1G video memory is being released. Using the Radeon HD 2900 XT chipset, Diamond is equipping this card with 1GB of GDDR4, making it the first in its class.
As the article brings out, Nvidia has 1GB desktop cards available that use two GPUs, but single GPU solutions currently max at 768MB. In three days when this card is released, it'll probably have a huge price tag to go along with its huge amount of memory, but is still very interesting. In comparison, Diamonds existing 2900 XT unit with 512MB ram is selling for about $450. All in all, there have been development-class cards, such as the Quadros, which have had this amount of memory available in the past. This one is unique in its aim towards enthusiasts.