Or have you discovered anything new? Most of the particle things online have very little trouble with rendering, and can do up to 10,000 before things get sloppy. huh. Maybe we could try seeing how to get the particles calculated on the gpu itself. That way there will be no bus restriction on particles.
Also, after a bit more thunkin' the calc thing wouldn't save THAT much memory.
Also, try running without drawing - where does that cap at?