Clearly Canopus have stuck to their guns by opting for 4MB of texture memory. Their track record with the original Voodoo Graphics based Pure 3D bears testimony to the fact that they've always favoured 4MB of texture memory as opposed to 2MB, which is still found on 8MB 4/2/2 boards. And do you remember last year, when 3D Realms' head honcho (Scot Miller) raved about the importance of an extra 2MB of texture memory for future gaming? Well if not here it is again (and bear with me for a second):

"A 3Dfx-based card like the Pure3D with 4MB of texture memory will be great a accelerator for playing Prey, Duke Nukem Forever, and other advanced 3D games. The extra memory will allow us to deliver more action, more blood and guts and more realism to gamers that have these cutting edge cards".

Indeed, Scott was on the ball back then because an extra 2MB can theoretically really help quash jerkiness in texture hungry 3D first person shooters like Quake 2 (strange he never mentioned Quake2). Great eh? But even better news is that in utilising the Voodoo2 chipset, the Pure 3D II comes with two TMU's, each utilising 4MB of texture memory. And with the advent of games harbouring support for multi-TMU's in the not too distant future, it could well come in handy and harbour some advantages over Voodoo2 owners with only 2MB per Texelfx2 chip. If it's future proofing that you strive for then the Pure 3D II should lay a few of those demons to rest. Obviously don't expect miracles or anything but the word amongst games developers is that multi-TMU support will be pretty-much standard by Christmas of this year. If this is indeed proven right then spending that little bit extra might well prove to be a worthwhile investment. Personally I've not yet noticed considerable differences in frame rates between 8MB and 12MB boards but on the other hand the extra 4MB really does cast away any dark thoughts of 'what if only I'd paid $X more and gone for 12MB instead of the 8MB...'