Video Card Upgrade in the Future Question

[ecole9]

I just had a thought. I'm sure that two 8800gt 512mb cards are a great graphics system to have in a computer. I bought one but may upgrade to two if I can afford later on.

My question is....if I bought one 8800gt 1gb card, is that the same as two 512mb cards??? I would think the two 8800gt cards are better, but I'm not sure why.

Anyone care to explain?

Thanks,
Evan

[IM back!]

I'm sure that two 8800gt 512mb cards are a great graphics system to have in a computer

indeed

if I bought one 8800gt 1gb card, is that the same as two 512mb cards

NO, NO, NO, memory amounts have little to do with speed, a 8800gt 1gb s no faster than a 8800gt 512gb in any curent game.

[Heartborne]

A single graphics card with more video memory is just that... it won't go any faster than the same card with less video memory. 512 mb is plenty.
Even if you have 2x 8800 GT, you will STILL only have 512 mb of video memory. What SLI does is use two graphics chips to render your video textures, so you get approximately 80% performance gain. That is to say, if a game runs at only 40 fps on high settings with 1 card, with 2 cards you should get about 72 fps with 2 cards... from barely playable to playable with some wiggle room. But you will STILL only have 512 mb of video memory. That does not change, ever.