There's no doubt a HD 4850 with 1 GiByte VRAM can beat a 512 MB version if you play at 1,680 x 1,050 with 8x FSAA. But are the results the same with the bigger HD 4870? Is it worth the additional 30+ Euros?

The doubled video memory is just right for the HD 4870. With the increased amount of VRAM the RV770 GPU is powerful enough to run up to 170 percent faster than the 512 MiByte version. To really get benefits of 1 Gibyte you need to have a crush on high FSAA modes and/or a big display (1,920 x 1,200). Texture mods for popular games reveal that the better equipped HD 4870 is ready for the memory hunger of future games, while the 512 MiByte cards are supposed to be beaten. It is striking that the HD 4870 only benefits from the bigger memory if the GPU is stressed but not overstressed. Because of the low price difference we recommend the investment into the 1,024 MiByte version of the HD 4870 for a partially guaranteed gaming future.