The amount of ram on the card is not the primary consideration, but only a choice to be made when more important decisions have been made.

An ATI 9800 pro for instance, is not in the same league as a NV 6800, no matter what ram is fitted.

The RAM quality actually has more effect on performance than quantity as well, but this subject gets a bit techy.

Suffice to say that different manufacturers use different quality components, so careful research is needed to make an informed choice.

Performance comparison charts between the various video cards are an easy way to shortcut the research, but beware, the card you buy may appear to be the one you wanted, but check the fine print carefully. Let the buyer beware.

Prices can be misleading also, use this site as a general guide, once you have made a choice.

www.pricewatch.com

Good Luck   

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You won't see a benefit with games right now, although a 6800 it is powerful enough to utilise the extra memory.  It is simply a matter of the card being a bit more future-proof, so when games that need more memory come out can use it.  Generally it is only good to get 256MB or higher (there will be 512MB coming out soon) if you have a high-end card like the 6800/x800 as they have enough power to use the extra memory efficiently.

What Gixer said. More memory is always good to have. Once again it's all up to what you can afford. However, with a 6800 or X800, that 256mb would be worth it.

I think Apple had it right with expandable VRAM rather than built in.  Don't you wish you could do that today, pop a 1gb DDR into your videocard. Thoes vintage computers had some good stuff in them.