512MB on a video card is useful mainly for high-resolution gaming, antialising and anisotropic filtering. In most cases todays games will play just fine on a 256MB video card. The sole exception now is Doom 3 released by iD Software last year. That game had 3 default settings, Normal, High Quality, Ultra High Quality. Ultra High Quality mode has extra textures in some levels of Doom 3. Honestly, playing through the game, I noticed no real image quality differences. I was able to play Doom 3 at 1280X1024 and Ultra High Quality mode throughout. If you want maximum antialiasing and anisotropic filtering, I would suggest waiting for a faster card.
Half Life 2 is fully capable of being played at maximum resolution and settings even on a 256MB card. My X800XT on my home computer plays the game at maximum settings and resolution. In this game, I would suggest buying a faster 256MB X800XT or X850XT card over the slower 512MB X800XL, as no visual image quality differences exist and performance is higher on the lower memory version. Act of War is the latest and greatest RTS (Real Time Strategy) game from Atari. Set in the same mode as Command and Conquer Generals and other military strategy games, Act of War is a lot of fun. On the 512MB X800XL the game played like a breeze with maximum resolution and settings. Truthfully, the graphics requirements on this game aren't anything special and only a low-end card like the S3 GammaChrome would play this game with speed loss.
