I gotta have a faster computer to even go 256 or so I've been told. (I'm at 1.6 now.) You might check minimum computer speed before buying. Man, 512'd be nice for some of the high-end games (if you don't need it now you will in a year or so); I thinks you'd want some good cooling to go with it. For just 3D modeling I think you'd be o.k. with 256. Computer memory and bus speeds play a role and might be as or more important.