I just purchased a 6800 128 MB card. I paid $325 for it, but I read reviews that it wasn't the best value for the dollar to invest 100 more dollars in a 256 MB version of the same card. There was a 6800 for $280 on pricewatch-- and I was initially going to get that, but then I saw it was only 12 pipelines. So I got this one instead.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-145-084&depa=1I read in reviews that a big part of the new 6800 series being very good was the fact that it's higher end cards had a 16 pipe GPU, so I invested the 60 more dollars in that 16 pipe rather than the 12 pipe. I swear to god (it seems)every year like the emphasis on video card's hardware highlights are changed to different parts of the card.
Anyway, if I try to run Doom 3 on high detail with this 128 MB card, what will happen if it runs out? Will it get dumped to my 1 GB of DDR3200 memory or will it go to a pagefile on my harddrive? If this will be a performance hit, should I just adjust individual settings in Doom 3 and put texture detail on medium? Hmm.. =/ Anyone who could give advice would put my mind at ease.
Oh, and here's my video card history.
a 2 MB SiS video card
Creative Labs 3d Blaster Voodoo 2 12 MB w/ a SiS 4 MB video card.
Geforce 2 mx 64 MB
Geforce 4 ti 4200 128 MB
Geforce FX 5900 (non-pro)128 MB -I sold this to a friend after only 5 months of use, heh, I paid 210 and sold it to him for 150, which I used towards my current card;
Geforce 6800 128 MB.
Love thy wookie.