Far Cry

With the detail level set to Ultra, the difference in Far Cry is apparent as soon as we move beyond 1024. The gap between the 512MB and 256MB card grows to as much as 25% depending on the resolution.

Half-Life 2

At 1600x1200 with AA/AF, the ATI 256MB cards shed framerates significantly but not the X800 XL 512MB. The frame rate difference here is almost 50%, albeit only at a single resolution with AA/AF on.

DOOM 3

In our experience, the default DOOM 3 time demo does not accurately reflect texture thrashing as on subsequent runs, it caches textures and the differences in framerates at times are negligible. With the graphics settining at high, there is not an apparent difference between the X800 XL 256MB and the 512MB.